Recapping the Conference Finals:
East Final: Columbus Crew vs. Chicago Fire
I picked the Crew pulling away in a hard fought match
The Crew continues to roll, all hail the Crew. In what looked to me like a matchup between the top two first round survivors the Ohio boys came out on top. Sigi’s side has been the best of the league all season, with no glaring weaknesses. They handled a very dangerous Fire squad with a solid, but not heroic, performance from their MVP finalist. They even reaffirmed their mental toughness by coming from behind after McBride put his new team ahead of his old.
West Final: Real Salt Lake vs. New York Goal Posts
I picked RSL to pull it out late (again)
RSL was just a little too late this time. In my opinion this game proved one thing; Houston’s loss was New York good luck more than it was Dynamo bad luck. Oh, ok, I guess two things; the second being that RSL (just like the US national team) desperately needs a sniper. They need the type of player who can simply finish and score goals. Of course that puts them in the same boat as many, many teams in the world, but I think in the case of Salt Lake if they get one they could easily be one of the powers of the league. In the end I boil this game down to three key factors: RSL can’t finish, the Bulls of Red are riding a great streak of luck, and sometimes one defensive breakdown can cost you the whole match (especially combined with that finishing and luck).
Prediction results:
7-3 for an even 70% - thanks to the Crew’s consistency I’m proud to still be sporting a C average.
Predictions:
MLS Cup: Columbus Crew vs New York Red Bulls
Regular season matchup: Red Bull 2-1-0
Most people making picks for this match are saying Crew and I won’t disagree, after all I’ve been telling anyone who’ll listen that it’s Columbus’s year since about three quarters of the way through the regular season. But, even though I don’t think it will ultimately happen, the Bulls of Red have a chance of taking this match. New York had an edge in the regular season head-to-head due partly to the quirks of MLS scheduling. The home team took every battle this season by two goals; the Bulls lead the series simply because they had two home dates with the Crew and only one road tilt. This time they’ll meet in a truly neutral site on the opposite coast, so I think the regular season results are even less meaningful than usual (so COMPLETELY ignore them) Basically I think and believe that the Crew are simply too good for New York. But I never like to go against hot goaltending or a lucky streak and it seems Cepero and company have both right now. In the end I’m going to stick to my yellow guns and the boys from Columbus, but I feel far from confident in my pick. I feel like the Crew shouldn’t have much problem, but New York is so hot right now I’m going to say it’ll be close. I don’t see penalty kicks (thankfully) but overtime isn’t out of the question.
Whichever side eventually comes out on top I’m very happy to see two of the original MLS outfits getting their shot, finally. And it’ll be a fitting end to another MLS season, especially one that involved so much expansion talk. I really hope we get a good match to close things out before we all move on to focus on transfer rumors, expectations over Seattle’s league debut, and expansion selections. Until next time, enjoy.
