My preview article for the first round of the Major League Soccer playoffs was posted about a week and a half ago. In it, I provided a brief look-ahead regarding each series and chose a winner. Ultimately, I picked three out of four results correctly with Houston the only club raining on my presage parade. So what, right?
Honestly, I really do not care if I am right or wrong. I guess it could be fun to forecast just for the heck of it, but I feel like if you are put in the “knowing” position then you are expected to get it right. By “knowing” I mean that I write for this site and you don’t. Because of these two varying roles (me as writer, you as reader) I would assume you might expect me to get these picks right as well. After all, they let me write here so I should at least know what I'm covering, no?
On the other hand, maybe you want me to get them all wrong to fulfill the cliche of the no-nothing pundit (which is fine by the way). Maybe you don’t care what I think and you glanced over the article without giving it much thought. You know that I didn’t get one email congratulating me on my triumphant 75% record so far in postseason 2009.
I guess the point is to be interesting. At least that’s what one nationally-syndicated self-proclaimed new soccer lover says. He doesn’t care whether he is right or wrong, he is paid to be interesting. If he is right he can go on the air and call out all the listeners that slammed him. If he is wrong more people will tune in the next day to hear him take his medicine. Either way, interesting wins/ So let's look back at the Western Conference round one contests and see if I can keep your attention for the next 500 words or so.
Lets start with the one I missed. The Houston Dynamo and Seattle Sounders battled out a nil-nil draw in the first leg of this series in front of a raucous Emerald City crowd. In the end, this was a great result for Houston knowing they could go back to the dust bowl, er um Robertson Stadium, even on goals.
If it was great for Houston then it was contrastingly terrible for Seattle. As I mentioned in the preview piece, Houston is just tough as nails. These guys get after it and they're as professional as they come. When I say 'professional,' think hit men. No, seriously. Leaving Seattle without at least a one goal cushion was doomsday for the Sounders who were always going to find it difficult on the road in this series.
Now it took a Brian Ching wonder goal in extra time to finally see off MLS’s first season darlings, but in the end the most complete team probably won with extra emphasis on 'probably.' The sentimental, atmosphere loving side of me swayed my Seattle prediction. I mean, come on. How much fun would it have been to have the Sounders in the final at home with that crowd? Oh well, the practical realist in me probably should have chose the Dynamo in this one.
Moving on, the other Western Conference series was the big SuperClassico rivalry taking place outside of LA between the Galaxy and Chivas USA. I saw the fighting Beckhams running away with this series which didn’t quite end up being the case. This result came down to two things: Too many defensive errors from Chivas USA and not enough play-making on the other end.
Game one ended 2-2 with both LA goals served up on a silver platter by the Goats defense. Mike Magee capitalized on a terrible error from Yamith Cuesta for the first and Landon Donovan slid home the second off a nice entry ball over the top from Maicon Santos. The problem? Santos plays for Chivas USA.
Game Two was mainly dominated by the Galaxy, who ultimately won the match and series on a 73rd minute Landon Donovan penalty kick. End of story, if you thought it was a fair call.
As always the play was started by Beckham and Donovan. The former England captain played a stunning ball across field into the path of Donovan who was able to take the pass down and cross for a wide open Magee. The attacker's first touch was poor. As he went to settle on the second attempt Cuesta came flying though with a nasty challenge to what we will politely call the “midsection.”
My problem is not with the notion that a foul was committed. The problem is that Magee stayed on his feet initially, took a step, saw goalkeeper Zach Thornton closing down his shooting angle, and then went to ground. For me that’s poor acting, not a penalty kick.
Again, if the kick was awarded right after the foul then no problem. The fact that it took Magee going to ground to blow the whistle bothered me a bit. Oh well, I guess this is a moot point at this stage. I never felt like Chivas had a goal in them anyway.
In the end, my predictions or those of any other “expert” really don’t matter much. I just want you to care, take an interest, have an opinion, chose a side, read a little about why and why not and make up your own mind.
Graig Carbino covers American Abroad and writes a weekly column for USSoccerPlayers. Contact him at graiger11@yahoo.com
