Timing can be a fleetingly fickle thing when you’re dealing with a playoff race and the eventuality of the postseason. Though the performance of other teams is completely out of your control (unless you’re playing them, of course), you want to finish strong to close out the regular season without peaking too early. It’s quite honestly a ridiculously inexact science that shouldn’t be given too much attention at the risk of falling into the old “paralysis by analysis” trap.
Ultimately, it all comes down to taking care of business on the field when it matters. That said, it helps to get a favorable playoff pairing to start things off, especially if you’re a franchise like the Columbus Crew who haven’t experienced postseason play in three years. Of the four other teams who clinched berths in the 2014 MLS Cup Playoffs, it could be argued that the New England Revolution were the least attractive opponent for anyone, not just the Crew.
Though both teams were in blindingly hot form coming into the first leg of the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Revs did a much better job at translating that form into a successful start to their playoff campaign. On a cold late afternoon on the first day of November heralding the onset of winter and the impending loss of an hour of sunlight the following day, New England stayed hot and might have turned the lights off of the Crew’s postseason hopes after a single game with the 4-2 road victory over the Black and Gold.
The story of this game came down to Columbus’ inability to finish and their shocking vulnerability on set pieces. In the 29th minute of play with the Crew creating chances in the attacking third, a hastily cleared ball by New England’s Jermaine Jones came right to the feet of leftback Waylon Francis, who provided a wonderful through ball to Justin Meram into the left side of the box. With the Revs back line poorly spaced and massively bunched up around the penalty spot, Meram took full advantage and let off a shot that beat Revs goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth but unfortunately caromed off the crossbar. It came achingly close to bouncing on the inside of the goal-line a la England-Germany from the 1966 World Cup.
Though he’s been a great asset to the Crew defense in taking over the spot formerly occupied by the now departed Giancarlo Gonzalez, Tyson Wahl was a massive liability on Saturday. Five minutes after the Meram miss, Columbus would concede a free kick on the far right side of the field. Revs midfielder Kelyn Rowe would feed it into the box and Charlie Davies would come through virtually uncontested to head it into the net on one bounce. Wahl had his back turned to Davies the entire time, falling victim to the ever-present malady of ball watching instead of marking your guy.
Rowe would inevitably be the bane of Wahl’s existence on another key play minutes after the whistle was blown for the start of the second half. After receiving a Lee Nguyen cross that caught the entire Crew back line out of position including Wahl, Rowe would move down the right side of the box and center the ball to Teal Bunbury, who would’ve made it 2-0 if not for a brilliant Steve Clark save. Not long after that with Columbus struggling mightily to clear the ball, Wahl scissored Rowe to the ground in a challenge New England color analyst Paul Mariner described as “absolutely horrific” and it’s hard to disagree. Chris Tierney would bury the subsequent free kick in the back of the net to get the second goal that Bunbury couldn’t convert for New England.
Meram would cut the lead in half and it appeared Columbus might be able to work the magic they’ve had in recent weeks coming back from deficits. However, it didn’t take long before the Revs would get two more, the first off the foot of Nguyen, clearly one of the league’s candidates for MVP. Davies would get his second of the game after that and the hole that the Crew were staring out of with a return leg in Foxborough looming looked inescapable indeed. Then Revs defender and captain Jose Goncalves handled the ball in the box (and wasn’t carded, which would’ve been his second yellow) and Federico Higuaín converted the penalty to give Columbus fans an inkling of hope for the second leg.
Would the Knockout Round Have Been a Better Route for the Columbus Crew?
And now, I bring up the question most pertinent to the title I’ve given this article. Would the Crew have been better off as a four-seed having to make it to the conference semis via the knockout round? Would they have faced teams more conducive to a positive result? I’m inclined to reply in the affirmative. Columbus would likely have taken on the New York Red Bulls in the knockout stage, who they dominated 3-1 on the road two weeks earlier. I would’ve liked their chances at Crew Stadium.
If they were successful in dispatching New York at home, they would’ve welcomed DC United to town for the first leg of the semifinals, a team they never lost to in 2014, going 1-0-2 in their three meetings on the season. Now I know hindsight is 20/20 but given what I saw in Sunday’s duel between the Red Bulls and DC, a 2-0 win for New York, I couldn’t help but delve into hypotheticals and what-if scenarios in my head regarding what would’ve happened if it was Columbus instead of New York that occupied the four seed in the East this year.
I hate to sound like I’m putting a post mortem on a still breathing patient, and the Revs would’ve undoubtedly been an impending roadblock at some point during the playoffs, but the Black and Gold have an uphill battle to advance after their first leg failure. Due to the fact that the away goals rule is being used for the first time in the MLS Cup playoffs this year, the Crew essentially need to win by three goals in New England on Sunday. Has a road team ever won by that margin in the history of the MLS postseason? Believe it or not, the answer is yes. In fact, while were on the topic of what needs to happen in order for Columbus to advance to the next round, let’s see if it’s been done before.
Since the league went to a two leg, home-and-home format in the playoffs in 2003, a lower-seeded team that lost the first leg at home has come back and taken the overall series on three occasions. However, all three winning teams (Colorado in 2006, San Jose in 2010 and Los Angeles in 2012) only had to overcome a one-goal deficit and didn’t need to worry about away goals.
Only twice in MLS history has a team faced a two-goal aggregate deficit after one leg and come back to win the series outright with a three or more goal victory in the second leg. Kansas City trailed San Jose 2-0 after the first leg in 2004 only to come back in win the second meeting 3-0. That same San Jose team was down 2-0 to the Galaxy after game one of the home-and-home one year earlier yet took the series after a 5-2 win in the return leg. The fifth goal was in extra time though after the teams were tied 4-4 on aggregate, a luxury Columbus doesn’t have this year due to you know what.
Finally, you were probably wondering when I was going to get into the specifics about teams going on the road and winning by three goals or more in the playoffs. It’s been done four times, starting way back in the league’s second year of 1997 with Colorado beating Kansas City 3-0. Chicago demolished DC 4-0 in 2005 at RFK, the Red Bulls waltzed into Robertson Stadium and squashed Houston 3-0, and FC Dallas routed the Rapids 3-0 in Commerce City, CO back in 2010.
So you’re saying there’s a chance? The Revs are riding high with stellar play from their MVP candidate Nguyen, and others such as Jones, Davies and their underrated goalie Shuttleworth. But as they say to the point of it becoming mundanely clichéd, that’s why you play the game: to beat the league’s hottest team by three goals on the road after they thoroughly dominated you in your own house. It’s not like I’m asking too much, right?
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Main Photo Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports
