First off, recapping the opening round:
Columbus Crew vs. Kansas City Wizards
I picked Columbus with some difficulty
Well, as I expected with this matchup the Wizards put up a good fight and managed to keep things all even in Missouri. However, also as I expected the Crew’s quality came through in the Buckeye state and the Supporter’s Shield holders still look good to me for the league double.
Chicago Fire vs. New England Revolution
I picked Chicago in a close shoot-out series
In defense of my pick, Twellman was still expected to play when I called for the high scoring. I still think with at least one of their offensive tools available the Rev’s could have put up some goals in this series. Especially with all the injuries it looked like a mismatch coming in and it looks like one heading out as well. Despite the two shutouts I still believe the Fire will either live by McBride, Blanco, Rolfe and the rest of the offense or die by the guys lined up directly in front of standout Jon Busch.
Real Salt Lake vs. Chicas USA
I picked RSL in a close one, calling for a possible extra frame
I must admit that this series turned out almost exactly as I predicted, but only on the score sheet. The first leg in Utah was one of the most dominating 1-0 games I’ve seen in awhile and if the royals had more finishing finesse the second leg could have easily been nothing more than a formality. I give Preki’s men credit for sticking in, but RSL was really the better side for the vast majority of the series, certainly almost the entire first game.
Houston Dynamo vs. NY/NJ Metrostars Red Bull New York
I picked the Dynamo in a lopsided cake walk
Say it ain’t so DeRo, say it ain’t so! I think overall Houston looked the better side in the series, but soccer isn’t a judged sport (which means we can’t have any French judges, so it’s a good thing). As anyone who has played any sport for any amount of time can tell you, sometimes it’s just not your day. Sometimes it seems that all the bounces, calls, and other small intangibles simply don’t go your way. In this series it simply wasn’t the Dynamo’s day. They performed well to equalize the opening leg, but in the second leg they redefined the term bad luck. The Bulls of Red didn’t exactly stink up the joint themselves with some fabulous individual performances (Cepero and Richards for starters) but overall they should consider themselves a bit lucky to have knocked off the two-time champs.
Prediction results:
Series: 3-1 for 75.0% - it would work out to a C and that’s passing, so I’m happy
Game-by-game: 5-2 for 71.4% - I called one as basically too close to call and it resulted in a tie, so maybe 6-2 would be more accurate
Moving on to predictions now, the Conference finals:
East – Columbus Crew vs. Chicago Fire
Regular season matchup: tied 0-0-2
The regular season saw two different 2-2 matches between these two sides and I suspect this playoff tilt will be similarly close. The real question is have the Fire fixed their troubles in the back or were those shutouts more a product of the Rev’s injury woes. I think the Crew will be, as they have been all year, solid all over the field. The question for Columbus is will Schelotto step up as a shining playoff hero or continue as just a strong component of the whole. Personally I think this one will be hard fought and a bit scrappy with the Crew emerging on top. However I wouldn’t be too surprised to see the boys in yellow picking up a late tally (or tallies) to make it look more decisive, on paper at least.
West – Real Salt Lake vs. FC Red Bull Salzburg
Regular season matchup: Red Bull 1-0-1
Oh yes, the lovely MLS playoffs gives us a western conference final matchup of the west three seed hosting the east five seed. The really sad part is that this year's first round had less surprises than we’re used to seeing (although the big one we had was bigger than usual). At any rate I think this match has a few key questions: Was it Houston’s bad luck or the Bull’s good luck and will it hold? Can RSL get away (again) with the poor finishing they displayed to open the playoffs? How many fans in Salt Lake will be overjoyed to have another home game they didn’t expect (and how many already had other plans)? Will Clint Mathis continue to be a solid performer or will he do something bizarre, crazy, and distracting? Will any key Red Bulls test positive for using a banned hair growth treatment? (Note to MLS: Donovan is looking pretty sparse up top, he might be looking to go to Europe so he can use the good stuff) Well, ok, so maybe those won’t all be key factors, but this is certainly a matchup few predicted and there are, accordingly, a number of unknowns going in. I think it’ll be close and again we’ll see some great individual performances from Osorio’s side. However, RSL is looking good and they certainly do love playing in Mormon country. In the end I pick Salt Lake to squeak through with a result not quite as dominating in the score line as on the field (again). I wouldn’t be surprised at this point to see them do it late (again), perhaps even in extra time or, god forbid, the horrid penalty kicks.
Overall we’ve had a couple weeks of great playoff action and I predict another one in store with these matchups. Chances are good we’ll see a first time champ (of the teams alive only the Fire have claimed past MLS cup honors) which, I believe, is good for the league. So, enjoy the conference finals and I’ll see you next week when I will hopefully be able to pick the Crew over RSL for all the glory.
