By J Hutcherson - WASHINGTON, DC (Nov 7, 2011) US Soccer Players -- Here are two quotes following last night's Western Conference title game.
“I thought we were okay. It wasn’t our best night for sure."
and…
"I thought they threw an awful lot into the game, and we told our guys… when this game slows down it will favor us."
The first is from Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis and the second from LA's Bruce Arena. Both are making the same point, one that probably won't get in the way of editorial exuberance. Last night's ticket to MLS Cup wasn't an astounding display of the type of soccer that will draw in the uncommitted willing to give Major League Soccer a chance. It was a workmanlike game that turned on one team growing increasingly frustrated and responding by what Arena rightly calls slowing down.
Back to Kreis.
"There are simpler options there, but tonight, probably not as much as I would have liked. It’s tough for me to say that when we hit the bar twice in that match. Once right before half time, once right after they scored their second goal. Either one of those go in and it’s a different night. Was it a night we didn’t attack well enough? Maybe, but we had chances to score and level the game, no doubt."
What the coaches of both teams had to figure out fairly quickly and in front of microphones is what actually happened over those 90 minutes at The Home Depot Center. Some would have it as a game that should've produced more goals, with the Galaxy still winning. Others would wipe out large sections including all of the second-half after Salt Lake did everything but score.
You don't have to be partisan to ask whether or not this was a fair result. Enough almost chances happened for both teams to call into question that 3-1 final score. Part of that is working through questions like whether or not on most nights Salt Lake gets a second and a third goal. Does LA in general, and Robbie Keane in particular, make it four or five goals for the Galaxy?
I would argue there's an easier case for RSL doing better on the night. Josh Saunders did his job in goal for LA, but there wasn't enough required to demonstrate why he was there instead of Donovan Ricketts. On the other end, Nick Rimando didn't need to still an LA onslaught of chances. The Galaxy's better opportunities weren't ending with a shot on frame. LA outshot RSL 14 to 10, but this wasn't one of those MLS games where one team ends up with over 20 shots taken and manages to put seven or eight on goal. Four shots on goal for each team, with Salt Lake wondering why they couldn't get anything going from the run of play.
For me, that's the story but with a twist. RSL should've expected more, no doubt and full stop. But that doesn't necessarily mean they should've or would've won.
Salt Lake's corner kick equalizer coming so soon after giving up what many of the players wearing RSL shirts thought was a soft penalty… that's a statement of intent. It's the counterpunch that reminds the fighter leading on points he has a long night ahead of him. Yet RSL never got the break they needed to dictate the game. Arena has them dictating the pace, but that all but ended by the half hour mark. Instead, Salt Lake was gamely trying to figure out why their moves weren't working.
Kreis is right in his post-game comments. This wasn't their best night, not even close. Instead, it was a display of what happens when a good team begins to breakdown out of nothing more than simple frustration. More so than the Galaxy's, Salt Lake's attacking moves should've resulted in goals. That's taking nothing from LA, but on the night they were reliant on what had worked in the past working again and the individual performance of Robbie Keane. Salt Lake was more about a team approach that didn't exactly stall, but ended up having to feel like they were ramming their heads against a wall.
Maybe you can make the case that the wall in question was LA's game plan all along. It certainly didn't seem that way in real time, almost as if LA was as surprised as RSL that the scoreboard showed only the one Salt Lake goal.
Landon Donovan has the game turning on the David Beckham to Mike Magee connection that's been the difference in these playoffs. Last night, that happened in the 58th minute.
“We could taste it. We know were that close. We had a few early looks. And David made another unbelievable play and Mike Magee had another fantastic finish. We knew at that point we were going to win the game.”
Fair enough, even if there's an argument against that chronology. Personally, I would return to the half hour mark when Salt Lake's quickness and energy didn't have them in the lead. It certainly wasn't the old cliché about a game of two halves, more like a half hour versus an hour. To return to the prizefight comparison, LA won on points in a game they had in control.
That's what should be of most concern to Houston as they wait two weeks for the final. LA can carry a fight through the later rounds without ceding opportunity. They can let a better team than Houston beat itself through frustration while playing their own game without producing problems.
Again, we return to Kreis.
“Tonight’s game for me was a microcosm of the season. We had our disappointments. We had some moments of brilliance. We had some moments of averageness. So we are up, down, middle, but one thing that never changes is that our guys fought and fought and fought. Even when they are down two goals, they are fighting."
Kreis's postmortem is pretty good, even if it describes every other team that has failed to advance in the playoffs. Had it been the Galaxy exiting a game early, that would in no way describe their season.
Comments, questions, solutions to problems that have yet to present themselves. Please, tell me all about it.
