1. Talking stadiums, old and new: Both conference titles are being decided for the first time in stadiums built specifically for MLS soccer. Beyond that, the venues in use this weekend represent the present bookends along the MLS facilities timeline.
Thursday night's Eastern Conference Championship blazed forth inside Crew Stadium, Lamar Hunt's leap-of-faith effort, the one that launched Major League Soccer's critical facility initiative. Crew Stadium opened in May 1999, about two months into the fourth MLS season.
If soccer stadiums were a genome project, all subsequent grounds in MLS would trace their lineage to the 22,500-seat venue built on the grounds of the Ohio Expo Center. Hunt Sports Group privately funded the $28.5 million effort.
Saturday's Western Conference Championship will play out in the newest of MLS parks -- and how shiny new it is.
Just more than a month ago officials at Real Salt Lake held their grand coming out party. Ironically, the same two teams were on display on Oct. 9, as the Red Bulls and Real finished the cool-but-electric night level at 1-1. Now they'll play with even more at stake, as both clubs take aim at their first MLS Cup Final berth.
As for the facilities, lessons have been learned at every step in between Crew Stadium and Rio Rinto. So the newest league venue, 15 minutes beyond downtown Salt Lake City, like the five other grounds constructed for MLS clubs since the one in Columbus, is a blend of the best of ideas from the entire set. That includes the ways and means of financing; Rio Tinto's $110 million price tag includes $45 million in public investment.
2. More fuel for the DP debate: In the ongoing question of whether to do the Designated Player dance or stay on the sidelines of the league's innovative marquee player project, so far the frugal sides are slightly ahead. But there's another round to go, happening this weekend.
The way the 2008 conference finals have aligned, each of the big deciders this weekend involve one team that has exercised the Designated Player option and one that has kept that important chip in its pocket.
Thursday, Columbus took down the Fire, which has DP Cuauhtemoc Blanco in the mix. For the Crew, casual MLS observers might believe Guillermo Barros Schelotto to be among the DP set. But the wily Argentinean playmaker, who is a league MVP finalist and most likely the frontrunner, doesn't command a DP salary and therefore doesn't fall into the Designated Player subset.
Saturday, we'll see more of the same along the DP divide. Juan Pablo Angel wears the DP label for Red Bull New York. (The Red Bulls had two DPs to begin the season, but Claudio Reyna's midseason retirement halved the club's total.)
Meanwhile Real Salt Lake, like Columbus, are showing everybody how DPs aren't necessarily essential in the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy chase.
This is the second year since Major League Soccer created the DP designation, which allows clubs to sign high-profile players, whose salary falls outside the team budget. As far as the salary cap goes, DP players count $415,000. Teams can pay their DPs whatever they wish beyond that.
Last year, neither team in the MLS Cup Final (New England and Houston) had made use of the DP designation.
So, depending on what happens Saturday in Sandy, Utah, we'll have another log to throw on the fire of the DP debate.
3. The habitual MVPs: When it's all said and done, has anyone ever meant more to a club than Jaime Moreno?
Moreno recently claimed D.C. United's season MVP honor for a record fifth time. With this one, Moreno matches Preki as the only five-team winner of the club awards.
But Preki won his for two different sides (four of Kansas City and one for Miami).
Steve Ralston just won his fourth, selected as New England's 2008 top man. He has two MVP honors for Tampa Bay and now two for New England.
Three-time winners include Amado Guevara, Joe-Max Moore, Kevin Hartman, Landon Donovan, Marco Etcheverry, Peter Nowak, Ronald Cerritos and Taylor Twellman. Donovan gained his third this year.
4. The last of the losing records?: One final word about the Red Bulls' stunner over the weekend, the 3-0 win in Houston.
In any other year -- very possibly next year -- the Red Bulls probably wouldn't even have qualified for the playoffs. See, this year's Red Bulls didn't have a winning record going into the postseason (10-11-9). Osorio's side was the only sub-.500 club to make the second season.
It's possible that Red Bulls will be the last side with a losing record to qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs. It all depends on how the postseason is structured going forward, of course.
But assuming the number of playoff teams remains the same -- which seems like a fairly safe assumption for now -- it will be increasingly difficult to slide through the playoff door with a poor regular season mark.
It's simple math, really. By next year Seattle will come aboard, increasing the MLS roster to 15 teams. Philadelphia climbs aboard in 2010, bring the total to 16. At that point, the regular season will eliminate half the field. All that means the records needed for qualification will probably need to improve.
Two teams with losing records made the playoffs in 2006, when 12 teams competed for the title. Last year, when 13 clubs filled out the MLS roster, one sub-.500 team qualified.
5. Credit where it's due in Utah: Real Salt Lake manager Jason Kreis has nothing but love for his higher profile players. Javier Morales deserves all the credit he gets, Kreis says, and U.S. clock punchers such as goalkeeper Nick Rimando and midfielder Kyle Beckerman are critical parts of the team core.
But Kreis wouldn't mind if a couple of others got some props for their considerable contributions. For instance, Kreis doesn't think enough is said about Chris Wingert, the club's steady and versatile fullback. Wingert started all but one match this year, sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right.
Just as much as he appreciates what Wingert has delivered on game days, Kreis is equally appreciative of what the fifth-year pro brings to daily practices. RSL's manager says Wingert is one the guys most passionately committed to getting better in each session and to doing the things that make others better around him.
Same for young midfielder Will Johnson, Kreis said. Johnson, who holds U.S. and Canadian passports, is all business on the training pitch, according to his manager.
And RSL's second-year manager isn't convinced that fans and media have appreciated everything Clint Mathis has brought to the side. Mathis has played in 13 matches (with 8 starts) between the playoffs and regular season. He's still looking for his first goal or assist, but maybe the numbers don't tell the whole story here.
"His willingness to work back, to get balls off the wide defenders and then turn and make good decisions," has been an important, if lesser noticed, asset for RSL, Kreis said.
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