MLS Playoffs Thread

OK, here's the full list of scores, goals, and results from the Conference Semifinals:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

#1 DC United 2 - #4 New York Red Bulls 1
DC United Advances
Leg 1: DC United 1 - New York Red Bulls 0
Leg 1 Goal: DC - Christian Gomez, 77'
Leg 2: DC United 1 - New York Red Bulls 1
Leg 2 Goals: NY - Josmer Altidore, 70' DC - Christian Gomez, 86'

#2 New England Revolution 2 - #3 Chicago Fire 2
New England Revolution Advances on PKs (4-2)
Leg 1: New England Revolution 0 - Chicago Fire 1
Leg 1: Goal: CHI - Justin Mapp, 35'
Leg 2: New England Revolution 2 - Chicago Fire 1
Leg 2 Goals: CHI - Nate Jacqa, 18' NE - Taylor Twellman, 41'; Pat Noonan, 58'

WESTERN CONFERENCE

#1 FC Dallas 4 - #4 Colorado Rapids 4
Colorado Rapids Advances on PKs (5-4)
Leg 1: FC Dallas 2 - Colorado Rapids 1
Leg 1 Goals: COL - Terry Cooke, 23'
DAL - Carlos Ruiz, 15'; Abe Thompson, 55'
Leg 2: FC Dallas 2 - Colorado Rapids 3
Leg 2: DAL - Carlos Ruiz, 48'; Clarence Goodson, 92'
COL - Nicolas Hernandez, 57', 83'; Clint Mathis, 114'

#2 Houston Dynamo 3 - #3 Chivas USA 2
Houston Dynamo Advances
Leg 1: Houston Dynamo 1 - Chivas USA 2
Leg 1 Goals: CHV - Ante Razov, 45'; Juan Francisco Palencia, 68'
HOU - Brian Ching, 75'
Leg 2: Houston Dynamo 2 - Chivas USA 0
Leg 2 Goals: Brad Davis, 64' (PK); Brian Ching, 93'+

The Conference Finals (which are knockout games, begging the question of why do aggregate scoring only in the first round other than to give all 8 teams some piece of the playoffs? Wait, I just answered it...)
EASTERN CONFERENCE
#2 New England Revolution @ #1 DC United
November 5, 4 PM EST, ESPN2

WESTERN CONFERENCE
#4 Colorado Rapids @ #2 Houston Dynamo
November 5, 6 PM EST, FSC & HDNet

MLS Cup is on November 12 at Frisco, Texas (home of FC Dallas...aw, poor Super Hoops).

Personally, I think we're going to see a DC-Houston final with Houston taking it all in a relative home game. It'd be nice for the Team Formerly Known As The San Jose Earthquakes to get a title in their first year in Houston.

 

DC looked out of it. I think New England will be able to take them. I also see Houston in the final. Colorado when at their best can be tough but lack fire power.

So NE-Houston for the MLS Cup.

 

DC - Because one of my favorite play-by-play anouncers resides there and supports them.

v.

Houston - Because they have orange jerseys.

 

Must See TV!!!

Ha-ha! I am pissed at Arena for doing such a crappy job with the USMNT, but I also think Wynalda is a big-mouthed brat. Hmmmm, who to pick, as flip back and forth from American Football, for the ultimate fight in the booth????


Rumble in the Booth
Grant Wahl, SI.com

What happens when two of the biggest personalities in American soccer -- both of them loose cannons who can't stand each other -- share the same broadcast booth?

We're about to find out.

Only months after the World Cup left them in a war of words both public and private, Eric Wynalda and Bruce Arena -- the U.S.' all-time leading goal scorer and its most accomplished coach -- will provide commentary for ESPN2's broadcast of the MLS Eastern Conference title game between D.C. United and the New England Revolution (Sunday, 4 p.m. ET).

But will it be must-see TV, or is it just a really bad idea? "That's a great question," Wynalda told me on Friday. "People watch car crashes, don't they? This is the fender-bender that you can't help but slow down and watch."

A quick recap: Within minutes of the U.S.' first-round elimination from the World Cup in a 2-1 loss to Ghana, Wynalda was on ESPN becoming the first commentator to call -- forcefully, repeatedly and, in the end, successfully -- for Arena's dismissal. Hardly mincing words, Wynalda blamed the defeat mainly on Arena's 4-5-1 formation and criticized Arena's failure to shake hands with the Ghana coach on the field after the game. Later, Wynalda even went on the Mike & Mike radio show and lampooned Arena's weight.

After Arena was let go by U.S. Soccer and took over as coach of the New York Red Bulls, Wynalda sent him an e-mail in which he congratulated Arena on his new job, apologized for the weight comments and resolutely stood by all his other statements. Thus began an e-mail exchange in which Arena responded angrily to Wynalda, who fired back by, among other things, retracting his apology for calling him overweight.

When I spoke to Arena back in August, he said Wynalda was "a guy who was very unprepared and never analyzed anything that was happening on the field ... I have no relationship with him. I think he's been very unprofessional and dishonest. He made things personal."

"I didn't get personal until he called me a poor human being," Wynalda said on Friday. "That right there was kind of a personal deal."

What should make Sunday's broadcast even more fascinating is this: While Arena and Wynalda have exchanged a few terse e-mails since, they both say a clear-the-air session has yet to take place.

"What are we, a bunch of little girls?" Arena said on Friday. "What's the big deal? We're covering a game, not the past. Listen, the business we're in is a highly competitive business. People have egos and opinions and they say things they want to say -- sometimes right, sometimes wrong. If I get criticized, I get criticized. If I criticize people, so what. It's all part of it. We're not shooting each other. We say things we believe in and you leave it at that."

Yet both men have different ideas of which topics may be on the agenda Sunday. Will the World Cup come up? "If it does, it's pretty stupid," Arena says. "The idea is to cover the game. What disturbs me the most about the coverage of MLS games is they don't talk about the game. If they want me to talk about other things, we can have a studio show."

Wynalda, by contrast, thinks the U.S. national team is definitely in play. "I think it has to be," he says. "We've gotta talk about direction, about Jürgen Klinsmann, about who's going to be the next guy."

And what if Taylor Twellman -- Arena's most controversial cut from the World Cup team -- scores a goal for New England?

"I'm going to say, 'Well, Bruce, there's your boy! Boy, you could have used that!'" Wynalda cracks. "No, I'm not going to do that. But I might. I don't know. I'll know the audience is thinking, 'Oh, Wynalda wants to say it.' And if I want to say something, nine times out of 10 it comes out of my mouth."

I, for one, can't wait to watch the broadcast. There's about equal potential for TV gold and record levels of unintentional comedy. And if they actually do stick to analyzing the game, they both should have compelling viewpoints. Consider, for example, Arena's take on the ongoing feud between D.C.'s Alecko Eskandarian and New England goalkeeper Matt Reis, which has simmered since Esky suffered a serious head injury after Reis crashed into him in the box last season.

"I was at the game," says Arena. "In my opinion I don't think it was a premeditated play on Reis' part. His timing was poor, and it resulted in a very serious injury, which is a shame. But that happens in a game."

That's a solid opinion for a television broadcast. One can only hope that more of those are on the way.

"I really don't know how this is going to go," says Wynalda. "I'm excited about the game in the sense that it's a good game. D.C. is stumbling and New England has a chip on its shoulder. Their playoff game two years ago was one of the best I'd ever seen, and 20 of the 27 players from that game are still here. Now Bruce's interjection is probably going to be somewhere between Tony Kornheiser and Bill Parcells. I'm not sure what that means, but we'll just have to wait and see."

Who knows? Maybe these two enemies will somehow find some common ground.

"When you make the decision to do this job you have to tell the truth," says Wynalda. "I'm here to deliver a certain element of entertainment, but I don't want Bruce or anyone to think I don't respect him. I have an enormous amount of respect for what he's been able to accomplish. I just wish I could say the feeling's mutual. This is where I get to prove to Bruce Arena, maybe for the first time, that I can be professional."

 

Re: Must See TV!!!

And you arent the only one who had that impression of him from his work in game commentary...

But this WC, in the studio, and on mike and Mike, Waldo came across as fully developed, professional as well as entertaining. I talked to a couple other guys on matchnight, as well as some who post on BigEvil and they got the same impression.

I think the problem MIGHT be that he is looking for something entertaining to talk about during match play, assuming he might not really be that interested in that particular game.

 

Hatter, if you saw the Houston game, you might think twice about this.

NE was garbage today (with the exception of the goal they couldn't replicate in the 85 minutes following it), and as much as I hate to go against East Coast, I think Houston has the better chance this year.

I'm glad NE knocked DC out, but I'm gunning for Houston next weekend. They really perform.

 

HatterDon, you're currently in Minnesota?

Well, my dream of a D.C. v Coloradical final was shattered (realistically I thought it would end up being D.C. v Houston).

eh, I think I'll be cheering for Houston. I suppose this means N.E. will win.

 

Well at least the weather is bearable this week. Last week was just nasty :wow:

 

The MLS Cup Final on November 12 should be exciting. The New England Revolution looks to throw out a 3-5-2 against the Houston Dynamo's 4-4-2 diamond formation (projected lineups from MLS' main site). Houston will be without Ricardo Clark for picking up 2 yellow cards in the playoffs; so it'll be interesting how they make that adjustment.

THE TV: ABC
THE TIME: 3:30 PM, EST
THE PLACE: Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas (home of FC Dallas, who are likely gnashing their teeth that Houston's there and not them)

I hope the Dynamo win. Sure the Revolution stymied DC United (as a RBNY fan, I'm compelled to dislike DC), but they're the Revs. It'd be a good story for Houston to win a championship in their first year in a new city.

 

The Houston Dynamo defeated the New England Revolution for the MLS Cup. The Houston Dynamo are YOUR 2006 MLS Champions.

The Score: Houston Dynamo 1 - New England Revolution 1
Houston wins 4-3 on penalty kicks
The Goal for Houston: Taylor Twellman, 113'
The Goal for New England: Brian Ching, 114'

Hope you enjoyed Clint Dempsey, because he's likely going to Europe somewhere.

Just before the MLS Cup, MLS announced their Best XI for the season:
GK - Troy Perkins (DC United)
D - Jimmy Conrad, Jose Burciaga, Jr. (Kansas City Wizards); Bobby Boswell (DC United)
M - Dwayne De Rosario, Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Justin Mapp (Chicago Fire), Christian Gomez (DC United), Clint Dempsey (New England Revolution),
F - Jamie Moreno (DC United), Jeff Cunningham (Real Salt Lake)

All awards for the 2006 MLS season can be found here

The MLS Commissioner announced a ton of things: First and foremost: The "Beckham Rule" is a GO. Each MLS team will have one designated player spot in which a player can go over the cap. Players already being paid over the cap (e.g. Landon Donovan and Eddie Johnson) are grandfathered into this rule. More competitive initiatives are announced here (link goes to the article at Toronto FC's site.

We have an Expansion Draft coming very soon: Toronto FC will add 10 players to its roster via the Expansion Draft on this Friday, November 17.

 

I hope the next shirt Dempsey is wearing will be the white and black of Fulham.