For East clubs, don't call it a comeback
Crew, Fire must make home-field advantage pay off in second legs
Related
The Columbus Crew and Chicago Fire each face one-goal deficits heading into the decisive second legs of their Eastern Conference Semifinal Series after Real Salt Lake and the New England Revolution held serve at home last weekend. The razor-thin margins favoring the visiting teams mean the semifinals are poised precariously heading to the top seeds' turf, with any of the four teams still in the mix to progress.
Now that the first legs are in the books, the tasks are clearly outlined. For the favorites, it's time to make that hard-earned home-field advantage pay off with a season-sustaining victory. For the underdogs, a long 90 minutes filled with defensive attentiveness and opportunistic attacking forays awaits.
Will the chalk reign as usual or will the underdogs finally have their day? A closer look might just give us a clue heading into the do-or-die tilts.
(1) Columbus Crew vs. (4) Real Salt Lake
Real Salt Lake lead 1-0 after first leg
First leg in a sentence: Robbie Findley's opportunistic 88th-minute strike punished the Crew for their lone moment of weakness and handed RSL a narrow cushion heading into the second leg.
Leaving the bus in the parking lot: Columbus coach Robert Warzycha showed his commitment to frustrate RSL -- a side that scored 34 goals in 15 home games during the regular season -- by dropping 2008 MLS MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Alejandro Moreno to the bench for the entirety of the first leg. Central midfielders Brian Carroll and Danny O'Rourke set the tone for the Crew's relentless defensive commitment as Columbus closed RSL down consistently from the industrious strike pairing of Steven Lenhart and Emilio Renteria back through the remainder of the starting XI.
With RSL now carrying a one-goal lead into Thursday night's decisive match at Crew Stadium, the Crew will have to commit more bodies into the attack to overturn the deficit and permit RSL more space to operate, according to RSL head coach Jason Kreis.
"They're going to make it hard on themselves," Kreis said after his side wrapped up its training session in suburban Columbus on Tuesday. "The onus is on them to attack. The onus is on them to score two goals. I think there will be opportunities that will present themselves to us."
Schelotto returns?: Warzycha rejected the criticism he incurred for leaving Schelotto on the bench in the first leg, arguing that his side simply hadn't produced enough in the attacking third in recent weeks to merit his inclusion under the circumstances.
"I know there's going to be a lot of questions about Guillermo," Warzycha told MLSnet.com's Craig Merz. "Did you check his stats? How many goals does he have the last four or five games since coming back from his injury? I put out the players in my mind that can do the job and help the team. Sometimes in the games you're not scoring. Me as the coach, I have to find the solution. I'm not saying I'm right all the time."
Warzycha's thought process might change ahead of Thursday's second leg. Warzycha didn't come right out and say Schelotto would earn a starting nod, but the first-year head coach indicated he would earn serious consideration for a recall.
"It's going to be a different game," Warzycha said. "Usually at home, we play much better. I need to see what he does in practice. I need to see how he can best help the team. It's not like he's somebody that has a title to play. It's based on performance. If the team needs him, he is going to play."
Salt Lake's Real road woes: Conventional wisdom suggested RSL would need one of its patented offensive explosions at Rio Tinto Stadium to provide enough cushion to weather the second leg. RSL is 2-11-2 outside Utah this season and has mustered just nine goals on its travels this season.
In order to contradict those struggles, Real need to start solidly and avoid taking needless chances at the back, Kreis said.
"It's just like you're entering the second half of a game leading 1-0," Kreis said. "You have to tactically sort it out. You have to take less chances. You have to possess the ball for long stretches of time and you have to make sure everyone is focused and keyed in on set pieces."
Keep an eye out for...: ... Real Salt Lake trying to spring their forwards over the top. With Columbus pressing forward in search of goals, RSL may have the opportunity to counter quickly no matter who among its forward trio of Findley, Fabian Espindola and Yura Movsisyan features in the starting XI. Kreis called the speedy trio "a huge advantage" and said any of the three could be a "real threat to get in behind" the Crew defense.
(2) Chicago Fire vs. (3) New England Revolution
New England leads 2-1 after first leg
First leg in a sentence: Shalrie Joseph poked home in the 75th minute to decide an entertaining and wide-open game between the two grizzled playoff rivals.
Wide open spaces: After playing to a pair of less than enthralling draws during the regular season and spending the previous four seasons suffering through almost universally tight matches in the playoffs, the two teams were expected to provide similar fare on Sunday afternoon. It didn't happen as both sides enjoyed plenty of chances and struggled to neutralize the opposition.
"I wasn't surprised," Revolution defender Kevin Alston said. "I thought it was going to be a battle. It's the first playoff game, so both teams are going to come out with a lot of adrenaline. I predicted there'd be chances, I just didn't know there'd be that many."
Steady nerves for Fire: Several Chicago players and Fire head coach Denis Hamlett expressed a mixture of disappointment and resolve after Sunday's first leg defeat. Although the Fire would have liked to have escaped with a positive result at Gillette Stadium, there wasn't much in the way of panic in the Fire locker room despite the one-goal deficit.
"We need to get a win at home," Fire defender Brandon Prideaux said. "If we take care of business at home, we're fine. We would have liked at least a tie to give ourselves a bit more breathing room, but if we go and win, and hopefully win by more than one goal, then we'll be good."
Reinforcements arriving?: The Fire thought it might have Wilman Conde, Gonzalo Segares and John Thorrington back in the lineup in time for the playoff opener, but only Segares -- pressed into second-half service after makeshift left back Mike Banner struggled to contain Sainey Nyassi -- featured in the first leg. Thorrington remained on the bench as an unused substitute, while Conde didn't make the travel roster.
Hamlett said the missing players weren't an excuse for the first leg defeat, though one would expect any of the three to get the start if deemed ready to tussle in the second leg.
"With the guys we had today, we had enough chances to win the game," Hamlett said. "They scored two goals off set pieces. We'll make sure that we fine tune the final third as far as finishing our chances. If we do that, I think we'll be fine."
However, a routine play during his short shift apparently reinjured the knee and has left Segares unavailable for the second leg -- and perhaps the remainder of the season, no matter how far the Fire go. In the club's injury report ahead of Saturday's match, Segares is again listed as out.
"The only thing you want is to play and it's frustrating to not be able to. But that's football and now I have only to focus on recovery because I doubt I'll be able to play anymore this year," Segares said.
History slices both ways: Since the two teams have met in seven of the last eight postseasons, there is plenty of history to weed through to help predict the second leg. New England will almost certainly point to its unblemished 3-0-0 mark after winning the first game of a series, while Chicago can take solace in the fact that it has defeated the Revolution in all six previous visits by a 15-2 margin.
Keep an eye out for...: ... the physical tone of the second leg. Hamlett wasn't pleased with New England's robust approach in the first match, arguing that Brian McBride didn't receive enough protection and Shalrie Joseph didn't receive enough attention for his aggressiveness. McBride can handle himself up front, but the question is whether the Revolution can throw Chicago's other attacking options out of sorts by getting stuck in early and often.
Kyle McCarthy covers the New England Revolution for the Boston Herald and MLSnet.com and serves as a contributing editor for Goal.com USA. Kyle can be reached at kyle.mccarthy@goal.com.
