MLS Thoughts....

So we are now heading into the swan song of the 2007 MLS season. The Conference finals were damn near replica's of last seasons conference finals. Taylor Twellman scores a highlight reel goal to carry the Revolution into the finals, this time their third straight. On the other side of things, Houston marches in to the finals to face their foe from last year. Funny how we go the entire season to find the same two teams in the finals, again.

So Seattle will join the league in 2009? Interesting choice, one that I think will be good for the league. One would assume that with Seattle joining in 2009, MLS will also be bringing in an Eastern Conference club to balance out the league, Philly or St. Louis? Adding teams increases the profile of the league, but in order to do this right, Garber & Co. are going to have to look at making other types of increases along with the league size.

The main increase that the league is going to have to do is increase the salary cap. I think, that the salary cap is right around $2.9 million, but I am not sure. In order for the league to truly continue to grow, not only domestically, but regionally and truly internationally, the salary cap is going to have to get a bump, at least up to something like $4.2 million a season. Doing that will allow for larger squads and for real salaries, two things that will help the clubs handle the regular season and help them make their stand internationally. When It is no longer a better option to decline an MLS contract and go and play for more money in the USL, then MLS will truly be on a good foundation. When clubs will not live or die through one or two players, then the clubs will be able to compete regularly in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, Copa Sudamericana, the USOC & the SuperLiga without having to pick and choose which to throw away.

I am happy that the league is expanding, it shows that the league has moved past the quick hits and is ready to be here for a long time. I just think that the league needs to start addressing the players more, in order to attract the best that we can get.

MLS Cup Final & LA Galaxy Guillit

The New England Revolution knocked off the Windy City Hunchback and the rest of the Chicago Fire to advance to their third straight MLS Cup Final. Will they finally get the 1000 pound monkey off their back? Will the Revolution pull of the domestic double?

On a different note, one of the Western Conference clubs that failed to make the almost all encompassing MLS Cup playoffs, the LA Galaxy, hired former AC Milan and Dutch National Team maestro Ruud Gullit as their head coach. Will Gullit, who has coached before for Chelsea, Newcastle and Feyenoord, do anything better than Yallop or Sampson before him? Will the Galaxy really see changes in their fortunes once the talking mouth of Alexi "I'm an ass" Lalas is no longer steering the ship?

Salary cap Sports and the Playoffs

So DC United fell in the playoffs to the Chicago Fire once again, this time losing 3-2 in total goals. The best regular season team in MLS fell to the #8 seeded side in MLS. Yes, I know that a #16 can knock off a #1 in the NCAA tournament, but when the regular season record for United against the Fire was 1-0-2, how does a club just fold like it did over two games? It folds because the best team wasn’t allowed to truly be fielded in either match, and that is Tom Soehn’s fault.

Let me first say that I think that Coach Tom Soehn did a great job with DC United this season. He was able to get the club through to the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup; correct the early season funk that United started the season with; was correct in sending a group of reserves to the USOC; steered the club to the semi finals of the North American SuperLiga; made a real match of the two legged CONMEBOL Copa Nissan Sudamericana series with CD Guadalajara; and won the MLS Supporters Shield which qualified United for both the SuperLiga and Champions Cup next year.

Coach Tom Soehn has done a great job in his first season as head coach. At the end, he stumbled a bit and that stumble did not allow United to really do anything in the playoffs. He stumbled because he was trying to manage the club in soccer, rather than manage the club in salary cap soccer. Salary cap soccer, especially in the playoffs, is a much different beast.

To say that I am blaming Tom Soehn for how United was knocked out of the playoffs is not 100% correct, I mostly blame the players for not showing up. However, I do blame coach Soehn for not managing the club properly at the end of the regular season. I blame him because he didn’t protect his players once the Supporters Shield and the “home field advantage” was secured.

To think of it in an other way, in the NFL, you never, ever see Payton Manning in an end of the season game when the Colts have secured home field advantage in the NFL Playoffs. If he does make an appearance, he maybe plays one or two offensive series, but never the entire game. He is held out to ensure that he doesn’t pick up any type of injury that would prevent him from playing in the playoffs, which is when the real NFL season begins.

Take that to MLS soccer. The regular season does “count” with the Supporters Shield. The club with the best regular season is recognized as the regular season champion and get one of the two berths into the CONCACAF Champions Cup. So after United secured the Eastern Conference regular season title, in the scheme of the Supporters Shield race, it made sense for Soehn to keep Gomez, Emillio, Fred and Moreno (while not on Bolivian National team duty) in the line up. That said, the minute United secured the Supporters Shield, those guys, along with Ben Olsen and Troy Perkins should have been sent to the dressing room and only allowed to train lightly during the week. They should have never been allowed to play in the final match of the regular season.

As we all know, they all did. Our two main offensive players, Moreno & Emillio, both picked up injuries in the final match against the Columbus Crew. To add insult to injury, is there any way that anyone cannot believe that getting burned for three goals didn’t do anything to Troy’s mental approach to the playoffs? How else did the loss to the Crew affect the rest of the starting line up? The way our defense played against Chicago makes me think it had a small affect.

So heading into a knock out series with the Fire, we had our two starting forwards on the treatment table, when if they had just been held out of the final regular season game, they could have started in Chicago. This is why in salary cap sports, you hold out your star players before the playoffs.

The biggest reason is because in salary cap sports, you spend so much to get the primary guy (Emillio) that you have very little to spend on the guy next in line on the depth chart, so you buy who you can get (Kpene), rather than who you would want. The drop off from Emillio to Kpene is huge, as we saw in Chicago. The next guy in line (Adderly) is just about as much a drop off from Emillio as Kpene is. It’s not like in the Premier league where is Chelsea doesn’t start Drogba, they can start Sheva or in La Liga when van Nistelrooy wants a breather, Real Madrid just inserts Saviola into the starting line up. MLS doesn’t have that type of depth. In order to adjust, Soehn should have kept most of our starting line up out of the Crew match.

Hopefully, Coach Soehn and the rest of the United coaching staff learn from this. Next season is already in the minds of United supporters and hopefully we will see the same type of coaching adjustments that we saw earlier in this last season. The current format for the MLS playoffs needs to be tackled as an entirely different beast than the regular season. Once the regular season goals are accomplished, the coaching staff really needs to insert the reserves and get the first team focused on the playoffs.

Playoff Match Recap: DC United 2 - Chicago Fire 2

Boy, did I pick the wrong time to go to the bathroom.

Who the hell would have thought that the Fire would score two goals in three or four minutes?

As I didn't see either Fire goal, I am not going to bitch and moan about who messed up or whut not. I am going to bitch and moan about how I watched yet another DC United match where the players in the United jersey's didn't show up with any heart. The supporters in the stands should have asked for their money back.

You are down a goal and you go down two more. Yet you continue to play slow soccer. Passes were slow and guys routinely failed to close in on the ball. There were three or four chances that we lost to have scoring opportunities simply because a United player didn't run full speed to collect a ball.

We deserved to lose tonight. DC United didn't show up until the 73rd minute. That is damn near criminal to do. Why the hell did Soehn put Rod in the match? Adderly would have been a better choice, he at least runs. If Rod isn't on this roster next year, I won't shed a tear. I might actually have a beer thanking whomever it was that finally sent that guy packing.

So, now we all get to go to RFK on the 18th and watch two other clubs with more heart play for our trophy. Next you are going to tell me that the Red Bulls will be one of them and that they will win.

I expect several changes this off season. Gomez (despite having another great year and being one of the only guys to wake up in the last 20 minutes of that laugher of a match tonight) is most likely gone from the club. If Jamie returns I will be shocked as well. If Fred didn't return, well, don't expect me to bitch about it, I really haven't been sold on that guy either.

One last thing and this sounds like sore loser syndrome, which it probably is, but what the hell.

MLS needs to seriously rework the playoffs. What is the point of having anyone seeded if you are going to give the teams an equal footing in the first round? Why have two matches, one at home and one away? How does sending the higher seeded team away from home give them any advantage? The first match in a two legged series is what sets the tone for the entire series. The Fire didn't have to do anything and they waited for United to come at them. I won't be shocked if the Dynamo or Chivas get knocked out of the playoffs. Make the playoffs one match each and have the higher seeded clubs host the matches. That would be the easiest way to at least give the illusion that the higher seed gets some type of reward for finishing higher. If not, I say United just flounder next season as long as they make the playoffs.

Well, the 2007 season if over for me. I have a ticket to the MLS Cup final, but right now I really don't want to go. I will though, I will be wearing my Bayern Munich jersey and I won't care who is on the field nor will I care who wins. If the pitch were to suddenly open up and swallow both teams at the same time, I doubt I would even care about that.

Playoff Match Preview: DC United vs. Chicago Fire

MLS Cup Playoffs: Conference Semi-Finals
Match #2: DC United vs. Chicago Fire
RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.
7:30pm ESPN2

I usually don't do these anymore, but I figured that with how United's season hinges on the outcome of tonight's match, I figured I would toss out my two cents.

Forget the past. The Chicago Fire have this great record against United in the playoffs. Yeah, I heard that several places and I witnessed two of those matches live. Yes, they were able to get a 1-0 victory last week in Chicago and that gives them the goal and mental advantage heading into tonight.

Forget the past. All United needs to do is play it's own game. RFK Stadium is going to be rocking and all we need to do is play our game. We need to have Troy in the net and he needs to be the foundation that the entire defense is based on. His clutch performances this season and last need to shine through once again tonight.

Our best defense needs to be out there (Namoff, Vanney, Boswell, Burch). Without Boswell, we will honestly be helpless against the same type of goal situation we took last week. Boswell gives us the best chance we have to truly defend in the air, and we will need it tonight.

Our best available midfield needs to be out there (Fred, Gomez, Olsen, Simms) and they need to string better passes to each other and the forwards. Passing to a spot behind your teammate is not the way to go. If we can do the simple things correctly in the midfield, then we will have every chance possible to score tonight.

We need to have Emillio and Moreno start and get the bulk of the minutes up front. Moreno, as we saw in the second half last week, gives us an entirely different "vibe" on the ball. His pace and control when he has the ball as well as his positioning are all qualities that none of the other forwards have and we need that. Emillio is the lynch pin. We need his positioning and his attacking skills to get us the goal that we need to turn this ship around. If Emillio is given two chances, I honestly feel that we get a goal. That means we need a second from someone else and based on this clubs scoring record this season, that second goal could come from anyone.

If United plays their game, defends like we have seen them do match after match after match this season, then we will win tonight and have a date with either New York or New England. If our midfield controls their movement and passes like we have seen time and time again this season, then we will win tonight. If the Emilliboot shows up and shows the rest fo MLS why he should be the 2007 MLS MVP, then we win tonight.

If not, I am wearing my Bayern Munich jersey to the MLS Cup.

Match Recap: DC United 0 - 1 Chicao Fire

It's not that horrible, but damn we looked slow and our passing was off and late. I wanted a better result.

So now we have a week to get our heads back into playing mode and to get our focus back.

In my opinion, Fred needs to work on his passing accuracy. Four of five times tonight I saw him make a soft, slow pass behind his target. These weren't passes in the air, they were on the ground. Most of United's passes were to the spot that the target player used to be. Do they not practice leading passes? Do they not expect their teammates to make any type of leading run?

I am upset with the play of United tonight. I expected more, despite any injuries we might have had. Chicago didn't show me anything that suggests that they were the better club, besides one guy hitting a great shot. I demand better play from DC United next Thursday. I do not want to watch the damn Fire celebrate in our house next Thursday. I have seen it before and it makes me want to puke. I for damn sure do not want to see two teams, neither one being United, face off at RFK on November 18th.

Focus and step up like you guys are supposed to do and as I have seen you do.

Half Time thoughts: DC United vs. Chicago Fire

Here we are at half time, down 1-0 to the Chicago Fire. I have alot of questions from the first half. I want to know why Boswell isn't in the central midfield. I want to know why Kpene is the lone forward, couldn't Fred or Adderly been sent up front with Kpene? I know that Soehn must have tried to get out of Dodge with a 0-0 draw, but seeings how we aren't gonna get that scoreline, what change will he make in the second half?

I can definitely see that Chicago wants it more, at least in my opinion. They are closing in on our guys when they are on the ball. Chicago will not give our guys, Olsen, Fred and Gomez primarily any real time to collect the ball and see the field. We need quicker feet and we need to be doing the same thing to the Fire. If we put more pressure on them when they first get the ball, we will have a chance to get back into the match.

Our passing is horrible. Half the time Fred tries to pass the ball, he does so to an open spot, and because they are closing faster than we are, a Fire player collects the pass. We need to clean this crap up quickly or we will return home down 2 goals.

On a different note, I truly hope that ESPN didn't sprain anything kissing that much of Chicago's ass with their pregame coverage. I haven't seen that much of a biased love fest since the NLCS pregame coverage on the Colorado Rockies a few days ago. I couldn't believe how much Rob Stone was licking Blanco's ass in that pregame crap.

Anyways. We have a hole and we have got to get our asses out of it. I think we can do it, but if we play the same way in the second half as we did the first...we die.