MLS Five-a-side:The skinny on five things that matter this week in Major League Soccer:
1: Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't: Columbus could surely have put the hammer down last week -- hard -- on its Eastern Conference Semifinal Series with Kansas City but for some un-Crew-like finishing. Robbie Rogers and Guillermo Barros Schelotto missed on terrific, early opportunities. Chad Marshall clunked one a bit later.
So, was it rusty finishing, the residual from an understandably deceleration late in the year when matters were decided for the Crew? Or was it just down to fickle fate? After all, when it comes to finishing, sometimes you do and sometimes you don't. That's the game.
Crew manager Sigi Schmid said it was the latter -- and he didn't sound too concerned.
"Some of it was due to that being a tough field to play on," he said Thursday, referring to the tight dimensions on the converted baseball grounds at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. "But we do need to be a little sharper in the final third. We worked on some things this week to address that."
Robbie Rogers didn't have his best match. But that in itself says a lot about how this young Californian has developed, because he still generated a couple of good chances for others and managed to pose danger in spots.
Just a year ago Rogers was a known unknown (to borrow from political parlance) in MLS, just another young cat with pretty whiskers, but one who hadn't caught many mice just yet. Now he's among the most dynamic of MLS attackers and surely climbing on European scouts' list of young Americans.
How did he arrive to this burgeoning state? Schmid says Rogers' main area of 2008 grown has been in consistency and in that purest and yet most habitually undervalued of soccer tenets: simplicity.
"That doesn't mean he's always getting a goal, game-in and game-out," Schmid said. "But his ability to be a threat has been very consistent, and that opens things up for other players."
In limited opportunities last year, Rogers sometimes pressed a little, pushing too hard to make something happen on every opportunity in possession. With a little more seasoning, the fleet left-sided attacker began to learn that the benign and "boring" actions, the less exciting passes and such, helped set up defenders. He figured out how all the little body punches are needed to arrange the KO haymaker.
"Now, he just knows a lot more about when to lay off passes and when to take on defenders," Schmid said.
2: The weekend's big job: None of this weekend's road teams can see calm water ahead as they study the tasks at hand. If one side has it just a little easier, it's Real Salt Lake, who need only a draw to advance.
Not that securing a tie at The Home Depot Center is a piece of cake. But here is the important thing to remember: form matters in the playoffs. While Jason Kreis' side has lost only one of its last five on the road, Chivas is winless in its last two at home.
On the other foot, we have what surely is the weekend's tallest order. That belongs to the Red Bulls, who face some daunting history as they chase the series outside downtown Houston at Robertson Stadium.
You may know that Houston was 10-1-4 on the University of Houston campus this year. But do you realize that's the best of the news for the Red Bulls? At least we know the Dynamo is actually capable of losing at their University of Houston campus home -- in the regular season, at any rate.
Houston's intimidating 4-0-0 home record in the second season is the best among all teams in MLS. And that plus-9 goals-against average looks pretty deadly, too. In fact, since the side was excused from San Jose only to land softly in south Texas, it is 5-2-1 in postseason matches and boasts the best offense in MLS playoff history (1.88 goals a game) and best defense (0.88 a game), too. Yikes.
Then you start talking about the atmosphere at Robertson. Does that raucous crowd help? Does Sinisa Ubiparipovic have an awesome number of vowels in his name? You bet.
A night at Robertson starts with the Texian Army and El Batallon marching in, rocking the drums, cowbells, assorted noise makers, flags, all things orange and relentless energy. Houston's 22,483 average attendance in home playoff matches is an MLS all-time best, too. To a man, the Dynamo will tell you their fans truly make a difference, and manager Dominic Kinnear is talking up the Orange's plans to apply heavy pressure early and get their fans into it.
And, finally, it doesn't help the Red Bull cause that goalkeeper Danny Cepero has exactly 270 minutes of professional soccer experience -- although it must be said that the young man from Baldwin, N.Y., has done quite well in emergency duty.
3: Get your popcorn ready: The foursome of first-leg matches were a little light on what veteran TV barker Tommy Smyth calls "putting them in the ol' onion bag." There were just five goals scored in those four contests.
But fret not. History has taught us the second legs will spew forth with goals aplenty. The recipe is simple: someone falls behind; someone must remove the hand brake and become less risk-averse; gaps spring open, begging to be exploited; nets are dented on one side or the other and, voila!
Witness how Chicago did its part in Thursday's 3-0 victory.
Since MLS adopted this current format in 2003, first-leg matches in the opening round have generated 1.5 goals a game. Second-leg matches have generated 2.8 goals a match.
Look for goals to spill over the rim, especially, in Columbus and in Houston. Preki's team has struggled to score lately, with just three in Chivas' last four matches. So, that may be the weekend's low producer.
4. Rolfe on a roll -- again: No one should be too surprised that Chicago's Chris Rolfe -- a fringe national team guy, although that could be changing -- is driving his team at the moment. Rolfe has always been a streaky scorer.
The University of Dayton product was off to a fast start in 2006, but a concussion and a thigh injury forced the versatile attacker to miss nearly a dozen matches, which accounted for most of the summer.
Last year was more of the same. He was off to an absolutely blazing start, with either a goal or assist in the Fire's first six contests. He had four goals and three assists on May 12 when, during matchday 6 of the campaign, he fell to an ankle injury against Toronto. Rolfe missed 11 matches this time.
But the fourth-year pro was back in the rotation by the fall and his contributions were massive in the Fire's late surge into the playoffs. His fabulous long-range strike on an ESPN2 Thursday broadcast propelled a 1-1 draw in Dallas. And he struck an important goal in a critical October win over New England with a postseason appearance in the balance.
Later, in the playoffs, Rolfe heaped misery on D.C. United, striking in each leg as the Fire eliminated its RFK opposition.
So on Sept. 25 this year Rolfe commenced another one of his scoring runs. He recorded five goals and three assists over the Fire's final five regular season contests. He punctuated it all with a goal and assist in Thursday's 3-0 series clincher against New England in Bridgeview.
"Chris is probably one of the most clinical guys around the goal," Fire manager Denis Hamlett said after the match. "Tonight he got himself in good spots. When our attacking guys step up and play their games, we are a hard team to play against."
5. More game-changers and heart-breakers: Rolfe was a product of the University of Dayton, one who fell quietly into MLS as an undecorated third-round pick in 2005. Similarly, two playoff game-changers right now are not exactly among the "usual suspects." Try these names on for size: Yura Movsisyan and Steven Lenhart.
Movsisyan has five goals in Real Salt Lake's last six matches. Three were equalizers and one was a massive match-winner. RSL's man of the moment followed his history-making 90th-minute equalizer in the regular season finale -- a strike that put his club in the playoffs for the first time -- with last week's 90th-minute strike that beat Chivas USA.
Not bad for a fellow who had just eight goals in 50 matches six weeks ago -- hardly an inspirational ratio.
Columbus's Lenhart is another surprise name as a difference maker. Lenhart broke hearts in the Midwest last week with that late crusher against Kansas City, which will send the series back to Ohio tilted heavily in the Crew's favor.
Lenhart has five goals overall in his rookie season, including last week's 92nd-minute biggie. Here's the gist: every strike so far as been an equalizer or match-winner.
Lenhart was just off the bench when he cleaned up a mess in front of the L.A. Galaxy goal on June 21 for his first goal. Los Angeles defenders failed to clear and Lenhart made 'em pay, leveling the match at 3-3.
Two weeks later, he came off the bench to strike in the 87th minute as the Crew overcame a two-goal deficit, matching Chicago at 2-2. His others included a game-winner at Colorado and a second-half equalizer at New York, although the Red Bulls would score twice afterward for the win.
Here's something else: Both Movsisyan and Lenhart played their college soccer fairly anonymously at small California schools. Movsisyan spent just one season at Pasadena City College before joining MLS. And Lenhart was the pride of Azusa Pacific University before draft-day selection by the Crew last January.
So eat your heart out UVa, IU and you other college soccer kingpins.
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