Last year was a good year for one of MLS’s premier franchises.  The Sounders won yet another U.S. Open Cup and advanced past the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League.  While they could not vanquish their nemesis Galaxy in the regular season or playoffs (and were knocked out early by streaking RSL), the team again saw overwhelming fan support, some great moments on the pitch, and a fond farewell (on the pitch at least) to Kasey Keller.

Going into 2012, the team is looking at a three-front battle: in addition to defending their Open Cup title and trying to win that elusive MLS Cup, they face a tough road in the spring in the CCL.  Last season, the team relied on its impressive depth to compete in all three competitions, but that depth has taken a hit this offseason.  How they restock players will determine if they can take challenge for the Quadruple in 2012, or at least take home more than one trophy.  Let’s play “Three Questions” with the Seattle Sounders:

1. Will the defense take a step back in 2012?

Center back is solid on this team, with Jeff Parke becoming an excellent MLS defender and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado being more than an adequate defender.  Where the concern lies on this team is at the two full back spots and at keeper.  Let’s start with the man between the pipes; Michael Gspurning comes over from Austria after he fell out of favor with his current club.  Keller’s retirement meant more than losing one of the best keepers in MLS; it meant losing the heart and soul of the team, as well as a guy who knew how to boss a defense.  Gspurning is good, but how his skills translate to MLS and how well he can work with his defenders will be telling for this team.

As for the full backs, Seattle lost James Riley and Tyson Wahl both to Montreal so will have to be replacing two important players.  To do so, they signed Swedish international Adam Johansson to compete for one spot and took Marc Burch in the Re-entry draft for another.  They join Leo Gonzalez and Michael Tetteh in the starting competition.  While Johansson has proven ability (he has international caps), Burch is more of a spot/part-time starter at this stage.  How the LB/RB battles shake out will be important going forward.

2. Is the depth still there?

As I mentioned above, with three competitions going this season Seattle again needs its depth to come through if it wants to compete in all three.  That 2011 depth took a hit this offseason as they have lost some key role players.  Besides the full backs mentioned above, the team has lost Erik Friberg (Malmo FF), Pat Noonan (LA Galaxy), and Nate Jaqua (New England Revolution).  In the process, the team got younger and the salary cap shrank, but the team still needs some quality second stringers to fill in during the busy season.  Otherwise, they may have to make a decision like the LA Galaxy to push aside a competition (maybe U.S. Open or Supporters Shield?) to focus their goals.  Rumors are flying that they are looking overseas to fill gaps, trying to sign internationals like Christian Sivebaek.

3. What about Fernandez and Montero?

Two critical players are the subject of the rumor mill this offseason, and how these rumors are resolved will decide how this team will look in 2012.  The first is Alvaro Fernandez, who in light of some interest from Palermo has expressed through his agent a desire to play in a bigger league.  Or maybe, seeing teammate Mauro Rosales’ new contract, he simply wants to see the same kind of love (although he is already a designated player).  Regardless, the team needs to figure out his situation quickly before their midfield is dealt a major blow by his departure.

The Montero rumor is more vague, simply that he has gotten interest from Europe, but the bigger question may be will Montero take the next step forward in his development.  The young designated player has been streaky during his MLS career but when he’s hot, he simply racks up goals for Seattle.  If he takes that next step to being a consistent scorer, Seattle will be hard to stop.

From the pre-game Friday night to the waning minutes of the late Saturday game, MLS provided a number of compelling story lines for the American soccer fan.  Soccer Night in America received at least tepid praise from most commentators (see our review here) and the Los Angeles/New York match up was excellent all around, even setting up a compelling sequel in August.  Those on the Fox Soccer email list even got treated to a free preview of Match Day Live.

But the weekend was not all good news: Javier Morales became the latest MLS player felled by a major injury and will miss months with a broken ankle.  In addition, only 9 goals were scored between eight matches, with three scoreless draws and Toronto (!) scoring the most goals with two.

Before the weekend roundup, take a second to vote in the following poll, and leave comments in the comments section:

Portland Timbers 1, Philadelphia Union 0: Lost amidst the discussion of Soccer Night in America was a very good game.  The Timbers and Union seemed destined for a scoreless draw until a 72nd minute Danso goal broke the Philadelphia defense for the winning strike.  While it was the Timbers that had the most chances the Union held their own, especially on the 39th minute Le Toux follow-up that Troy Perkins corralled.  This match was a good contrast in styles as fans saw maybe the best defense in MLS (on the road even) try to contain a very good offense.  My only complaint was I wish more fans could have seen this match – it was a 10:30 start on the East Coast but would have been a good introduction to American soccer to international soccer fans.

Real Salt Lake 1, Chivas USA 0: Obviously the Morales injury impacted this game as did the two red cards early in this match.  From the injury on, Chivas packed it in to try and get a draw (a tactic quite understandable playing two men down) while RSL tried to navigate around the defense.  Will Johnson finally broke the draw in the 87th minute and got the home team three tough points.

Toronto FC 2, Houston Dynamo 1: All of that talk about Houston’s momentum towards a top two finish in the East can be put on hold after this week.  Their visit to BMO Field saw Toronto create most of the early scoring chances and allowed Joao Plata to remind MLS fans why he was a hot prospect going into this year’s draft.  The 5’3″ forward converted a penalty in the fiftieth minute then assisted on the Maicon goal in the 81st minute; his speed was almost too much for the Houston defense to handle.

New England Revolution 0, Colorado Rapids 0: Two teams with shuffled lineups faced off in a scoreless draw, the first of the weekend.  New England welcomed back Matt Reis and started Ousmane Dabo for the first time this season.  Colorado was without Omar Cummings and Jamie Smith in addition to their other long-term injuries.  There were only three total shots on goal in the defensive battle, although New England saw two shots hit the post.

Columbus Crew 1, Seattle Sounders 1: Rain made for a sluggish tie at Crew Stadium as a Renteria penalty allowed Columbus to claim their first point against Sigi Schmid since he left the Crew.  Fredy Montero scored his fifth goal of the season for the Sounders on a seventh minute header, continuing his return to last year’s form.  The Emilio Renteria penalty in the 67th minute allowed the Crew to run their unbeaten streak to seven games.

DC United 0, FC Dallas 0: A Kevin Hartman save of a Fred header in the 89th minute allowed Dallas to grab a point on the road and preserve a scoreless draw at RFK.  Much of the talk in DC has been about the improved play of the DC back line, but I remain skeptical of declaring the fullbacks as set for a few more games, particularly on the road.  Both teams pushed at times and had their chances, with Dallas’ best possibly being a Dejan Jakovic deflection that almost trickled in DC’s net.  However, this was an appropriate and good result for both sides.

Chicago Fire 0, Vancouver Whitecaps 0: Possibly the two worst teams in MLS playing to a scoreless draw may be an appropriate result here.  Statistically Chicago dominated: they had eleven shots to Vancouver’s eight and had literally 2/3rds of possession during the game.  Dominic Oduro had a great chance in the 32nd minute when he got some space in the box but his shot went over the bar.  Congratulations to the Whitecaps for getting their first MLS road point.

Los Angeles Galaxy 1, New York Red Bulls 1: Daniel has this match covered for the site and the analysis (and praise) is all over the Internet, so I have little new to add.  Both goals were incredible and it was great to see the superstars play like, well, superstars at the same time.  I am having a hard time remembering when such a hyped MLS match lived up to the hype and I argue it was a level of excellence of play equal to some of the larger European leagues this weekend.

Photo by William Holtkamp

One would be tempted to overlook the two matches going on tonight in MLS and focus on an incredible slate of games this weekend, with LA/NY as the headliner.  To do so would be to miss some important storylines as the four teams taking the pitch tonight are all in a critical stretch of games that could define their place in the playoff race.

Each match is analyzed separately below, and feel free to offer your own pre- and post-game thoughts in the comments section.

DC United v. Seattle Sounders, 7:30 PM ET

Fun Fact: Seattle has never lost at RFK

Momentum: Momentum is all on Seattle’s side, as the team is winning despite high-profile injuries to their starters.  The Sounders have not lost since March and are coming off a 3-0 stomping of woeful Toronto this weekend.  Fredy Montero looks to finally be getting on track and the club is actually undefeated on the road this year, winning once and drawing twice.  They are also third in the Western Conference and can create some daylight between themselves and Colorado/Dallas with a good road trip.

The Black-and-Red, meanwhile, are struggling of late.  They were thumped by New York and Houston in MLS play and dumped from the Open Cup by New England last week.  The defense is in shambles and, as Steven Goff points out, the same buzz words used last year during DCU’s dreadful campaign are beginning to surface again.  They still sit sixth in the standings, two points behind New England and five behind Columbus, so if they can get it together they can make their own playoff run.

Key match-up – Brad Evans/Osvaldo Alonso v. Clyde Simms: There are rumors that Simms could sit this match as a result of his poor play the past few weeks, so we could see Kurt Morsink here or Dax McCarty drop back.  But the key match-up regardless of who starts is the midfield of DC stopping the midfield of Seattle.  For all the flack the DC backline has received, the midfield has done a poor job of controlling possession and playing a holding role, something they absolutely have to do against Seattle.  If Seattle is able to get on the run and create quick scoring chances, like they did against Colorado, this game could be over quickly.

Prediction: This is not the same DC team as last year and it has more talent, so I do not expect an implosion here.  Seattle also may be peeking ahead to Columbus on Saturday and may not start their entire best XI.  Regardless, I think Seattle controls possession and creates plenty of scoring chances, but the DC defense does just enough to hold on for a 2-2 draw.

Houston Dynamo v. Colorado Rapids, 8:30 PM ET

Fun Fact: Houston has never lost to Colorado in Robertson Stadium

Momentum: Colorado finally stopped their losing streak with their 1-1 draw with Chicago this weekend.  The fact is this team is banged up and their absences have hurt them.  Getting Pablo Mastroeni back helps the midfield but they are still thin up top without Conor Casey or Quncy Amarikwa.  Added to that is the fact that starters like Matt Pickens and Caleb Forlan are banged up, and Brian Mullan is out for a while, and you’ve got a team struggling to keep up in the West.  Colorado has fallen out of the top three and is being caught from behind by Dallas.  They need to right the ship and get a result against Houston.

Houston is playing the exact opposite right now.  The Dynamo are coming off a dominating performance at home against DC where Will Bruin and Brad Davis had their coming out parties.  They sit on 12 points which is third best in the East and if they can keep their momentum going can go a long way towards securing a playoff spot in the inconsistent East.

Key Match-up – Brad Davis/Pablo Mastroeni:  Davis recently took over the league lead in assists and played very well in the DC match.  He looks to be the kind of difference maker in the midfield that can help a team with inconsistent forwards find good chances to score.  If Mastroeni or the Rapids midfield can shield him from getting the ball to Bruin and Weaver, they have a chance to win.

Prediction: Houston’s tough at home and on a roll, but Colorado is too good to just roll over.  The Dynamo edge the Rapids 2-1.

Photo by Ryan Healy

A great weekend for MLS soccer was overshadowed by some high-profile injuries that may close the door on some struggling teams.  Meanwhile, the top of the pack looked stronger: Donovan’s return coupled with New York’s victory Thursday has two of the big name teams clicking on all cylinders at the moment and threatening to open a divide in the standings.  The East is still the East – three teams will take the playoff spots but no one’s sure who and in what order.

But the big takeaway from this weekend is, of course, Lambeau Leaps are not allowed in MLS.  Here’s your weekend recap:

Seattle Sounders 1, Colorado Rapids 0: We’ve covered the match and implications in-depth on this site, but I can’t emphasize enough how big of an impact Zakuani’s injury is on the Sounders.  Fredy Montero looked to be on his way back to form and they finally looked to be clicking on offense at least.  Now they have to replace one of their best playmakers.  Their schedule over the next few weeks is critical: Toronto, Portland, Kansas City and Dallas at home; traveling to DC and Columbus.  This is not murderers row, but the kind of schedule that could show us if Seattle are contenders or pretenders this year.  Look for a Colorado post this week to talk about their travails.

Toronto FC 1, Columbus Crew 1: I mentioned last week that Columbus is facing an easier part of the schedule, and if they want to be considered a playoff contender, they need to win these type of games.  Instead, they settled for a draw and only after Toronto were down to ten men.  Tony Tchani’s celebration made it clear that MLS officials will not tolerate goal celebrations off the pitch; players be warned.  The Toronto goal snapped the Crew’s impressive scoreless streak and gives some hope to a side that was pretty down after last week’s loss.

Chivas USA 2, San Jose 1: This is a bad, bad loss for San Jose.  While Chivas got a long deserved win, this is the kind of match San Jose needs to win to be considered a playoff team.  They are winless in their last four and while losing to New York last week is no disgrace, losing at home to the Goats arguably is.  An additional footnote, this match was the first time this season an MLS team came from one goal down to win a match.  Chivas is also now undefeated in their last four matches.

FC Dallas 2, Vancouver Whitecaps 1: Dallas may have won the battle but in the process lost the war.  The home side looked like they were finally gathering some momentum this season and beginning to play as well as they should be; Brek Shea was even returning to the right side of the midfield.  Credit to the team for rallying for a win after David Ferreira went off with a broken ankle, but make no mistake this is a serious blow.  He is their best playmaker and one of the best in MLS.  For the ‘Caps, it was another blown lead and another yellow card for Eric Hassli, who will miss their next match due to this card being his fifth.

New England Revolution 3, Sporting Kansas City 2: So many storylines, so little space.  Let’s start with Benny Feilhaber’s debut in MLS: he played the whole match and assisted on the Marco Perovic goal.  He also was responsible for the red card to Aurélien Collins: the KC defender and Revs midfielder got into a tussle after Collins collided with Matt Reis.  While KC fans may argue it was unjust, Collins was sent to the showers with a straight red.  The Revs also saw Steve Nicol’s newest formation – Shalrie Joseph playing as a forward, not a midfielder, to provide support up top for Lekic.  Kansas City, meanwhile, needs some help on defense.  The team’s backline leaks like a sieve and cannot keep giving up 2.4 goals a game.

Chicago Fire 1, Houston Dynamo 1: The ageless Bobby Boswell continues his strong year.  The defender scored the equalizer late in the match and, don’t look now, but Houston’s on a nice hot streak.  They are unbeaten in their last five and are climbing the Eastern Conference standings.  Chicago, on the other hand, can’t buy a win at the moment and their upcoming schedule won’t help that effort: they travel to Colorado then host the high-scoring Whitecaps before traveling to Toronto and Philadelphia.

Los Angeles Galaxy 3, Portland Timbers 0: Welcome back Landon Donovan.  The Team USA midfielder scored twice, including a penalty, but the match may have been over in the fourth minute when Chad Barrett scored.  LA fielded their strongest lineup of the year and looked like one of the best teams in MLS since maybe their opening night win over Seattle.  Portland, despite their good karma at home, just does not play well on the road.  They are two different teams depending on where the game is played.  For Timbers fans, the one bright sport was getting to see their new DP in action as Diego Chara was subbed on in the 46th minute.

Photo by rula

What, you may ask, is Robert thinking.  Instead of a straight-forward and honest discussion and analysis of this weekend’s MLS action, he resorts to a cheap blogging trick and uses a popular band to help make his article different.  What does a popular moody British rock band have to do with American soccer, and is he just doing this because he had his Radiohead Pandora station on while writing?

The thing about Radiohead’s music is that often times the subject of the song is misleading.  Take, for example, Karma Police, one of their biggest songs.  If you listen to the words and music, it sounds like an otherworldly treatise on the importance of doing good to others, lest the universe exact revenge.  In reality, the song is an inside joke between band members promising revenge if they got too uptight.  That is what this weekend’s action was like in MLS – so many of the results were misleading.  Is Dallas better than Colorado and Philadelphia now the favorite than the East?  Possibly, but not likely.  In fact, the results of their individual matches were the factor of multiple factors that would not be replicated if the matches were played two weeks from now.  So while the results this weekend were relevant, they are somewhat misleading in most cases.  Just like many Radiohead songs, the meaning is deeper than the surface glance.  That is why every match will be accompanied by an appropriate Radio song title.

So for the first time in MLS Talk history (and with credit to ESPN’s Bill Simmons for popularizing such things), I offer a summary of the weekend’s action as described by Radiohead.

“Jigsaw Falling Into Place” (FC Dallas 3, Colorado 0): Earl got it right in his article on this site; Dallas wanted this match more.  They were facing a Colorado team that had coasted through the first three weeks, were missing two of their best players, and may have been looking ahead to their battle with Real Salt Lake.  Dallas was desperate for a win, and it showed.  They dominated the match from the first whistle and after a few weeks of struggles, everything fell into place for them.  Even Brek Shea looked good as a fullback, advancing up the sides to open up the Dallas attack.  I mentioned this before, but I continue to be impressed with Fabian Castillo.  His finishing isn’t quite there yet, but his speed and ball skills are very good.  Enjoy having him on your team Dallas fans.

“2+2=5″ (Seattle 2, Chicago 1): Just as 2+2 equalling 5 doesn’t make sense and symbolizes the man telling you what to think, so Sigi Schmid continues to try and convince MLS fans that O’Brian White is the answer for Seattle up front.  And on Saturday night he was right.  Schmid started three forwards and had White as the middle man, and he responded with a goal and an assist.  Realistically, this team needs a healthy Fredy Montero to be effective and a threat in the West, but maybe White is a short-term answer for this team.  Chicago trips up finally this year and maybe this is the beginning of their slide to the bottom of the Eastern Conference, as many people predicted in the preseason.  Their date with Portland next week will be a telling match.

“Fake Plastic Trees” (Philadelphia 1, New York 0): Much like Tim Ream’s mistake in this game, this song has been described by Thom Yorke as “a breakdown of sorts”.  The downside of really promising young players is that they tend to occasionally remind you that they are young players, and it can happen at the most inopportune times.  New York will be fine, but this one has to sting a little.  As for Philadelphia, a little confidence is a dangerous thing.  This team has a major scalp on its mantle and despite having some talent holes, the confidence from a quick start can easily turn into becoming the surprise team of the year.  See more from Daniel on this match.

“No Surprises” (Real Salt Lake 2, New England 0): The song’s title is a good description of this result, it was RSL again taking care of business.  What was a surprise were the players on the field.  The Claret-and-Cobalt played a number of second-string players to allow their starters a little breather, while Steve Nicol mixed up his lineup due to the suspension of A.J. Soares and Petrovic’s return from injury.  What also may not have been a surprise was that for the second New England match, one of the teams was reduced to nine players, except this time it was the home team that saw more red.  Shalrie Joseph and Pat Phelan were given their marching orders late in the match, as was Will Johnson with two yellow cards.

“Lucky” (DC United 1, Los Angeles 1): I’ve covered this match in my game write-up yesterday, but I couldn’t resist using this song title for the game.  It is bizarre that Charlie Davies is your current Golden Boot leader with four goals, and two of them have come from controversial penalties.  I mentioned this in my article, but you have to like how LA played if your a Galaxy fan.  Maybe they should have extended their lead earlier, but with no Donovan this team played well and created some good chances.  For DC, it may be time to be a bit worried. Despite the good result, this team keeps showing an inability to finish (except for penalties) and has some glaring defensive breakdowns every match.

“Paranoid Android” (San Jose 1, Toronto 1): Much like this Radiohead song, which is a mix-and-match of different musical stylings and homages, both of the teams are trying to establish an identity, as this game showed.  For Toronto, life after DeRo and the implementation of total football has seen some growing pains, flashes of brilliant play mixed with some less than brilliant play.  This was shown perfectly in this match as the Reds went ahead in the 27th minute on an Alan Gordon goal, but then had to play defense the rest of the match.  They gave up an equalizer ten minutes later to uber-loanee Simon Dawkins and relied on Stefan Frei to hold on to the tie.  San Jose still does not have a home win in three attempts this year.

“Let Down” (Chivas 0, Columbus 0): Two struggling teams show why they are struggling as this match saw more yellow cards (8) than shots on goal (4).  Chivas held more of the possession but still played a defensive strategy and relied on the counter for opportunities, of which there were few.  On a positive note for both teams, they earned a point and a shut out.  But neither gave much reason for their supporters to be optimistic in the near term.

“My Iron Lung” (Houston 3, Vancouver 1): Just as My Iron Lung was Radiohead’s response to their mega-hit Creep, this match was a reaction to Vancouver’s high-scoring ways.  The Whitecaps lead the league in goals scored but as often happens to a high-flying offense, sometimes that forward push leaves a weaker backline exposed.  The match could also be described as the result of the ‘Caps last match, for they were missing usual starters Gershon Kossie and Eric Hassli on red card suspensions.  This match saw three goals scored within five minutes, as Bobby Boswell assisted on the Dynamo’s first goal in the 37th minute and scored the second in the 42nd.  In between those goals Camilo put a laser shot over Tally Hall’s head to put Vancouver on the scoreboard.

Note: As part of the MLS Talk preview, we will be examining some of the major trends in MLS that will have an impact on the league this year.  Feel free to suggest other big picture topics in the comments.

Four years ago, MLS swung a deal to bring David Beckham, the world’s most recognizable soccer player, to MLS for a very lucrative compensation package.  Seeing the increased crowds and buzz surrounding the acquisition, as well as needing a budget rule to account for his huge salary, MLS created the “designated player”, or the “Beckham rule” as it is commonly called.  Over the past four years, teams could go out and seek big names and add them to payroll without having them bust the very tight MLS caps.

The Beckham rule hasn’t quite turned out the way it was expected, though.  Instead of seeing major stars flock to the U.S. and boost the league’s image internationally, teams have used the cap relief to either lock-up their big name stars or attract non-star international players and matching their inflated European salaries.  Currently, there are twelve designated players under contract in MLS.  Only three can conceivably be called international stars: Beckham, Thierry Henry, and Rafa Marquez.  A fourth, Landon Donovan, is the most famous American soccer player in the world.  The others are mostly pretty good international players from small leagues who have come to the U.S. to raise their profile.

So, is the Beckham rule helping the league or holding it back?  I’d argue the former, even though it is not helping as was intended.

No matter how much money MLS throws at them, major European stars in their prime will not play in MLS.  In the near future you will not see Wayne Rooney or Lionel Messi in a Sporting Kansas City shirt, but realistically that should not be expected.  Europe is where the game was born and players naturally want to play where competition is the best.  I find it amusing that some American soccer fans bemoan American players going overseas to hone their craft, but when it comes to U.S. dominated sports we never have the same concerns about a French point guard coming to the NBA or Dominican catcher playing in the American League instead of improving the game back home.  Talent will always flock to where the game is at its best, and MLS isn’t that.

But that doesn’t mean the designated player rule has failed.  When European countries throw so much money into their soccer leagues MLS has to recognize (and has) that every thing else being equal, money will sometimes win out.  This is especially true of players from smaller European leagues or countries, who would want to play soccer in the U.S. for a while to raise their profile and make a little more money.  Take Branko Boskovic, who early in his career was a big name for Red Star Belgrade, a good club with a good European history.  After failing to get playing time at Paris Saint-Germain, he played in second-tier European leagues.  He is the kind of good international player MLS should attract, not a huge name but someone with skill and a solid reputation (setting aside his poor play last year).

Teams are increasingly using the DP rule in a new way: keeping their players who are growing in star-power and otherwise would go overseas to make more money.  Landon Donovan is the obvious example of this but Fredy Montero may be a better example.  Montero is indelibly linked to the Sounders, having scored the first goal in the current franchise’s history, and at 23 is young enough for a decent European club to swoop in and offer a tryout and contract.  Seattle and MLS are using the designated player rule to keep him in Seattle and buy out his original contract with Deportivo Cali (remember, he was originally on loan to Seattle).  Increasingly, I think we will see clubs in “less glamorous” markets using the Beckham rule to keep players instead of attracting big-name older players.

So currently we have three tiers of designated players: DPs who are older big names, DPs who are good European players from smaller leagues, and young MLS players who are receiving interest overseas.  All three categories of players improve the competitive quality of the league and give their teams an added dimension that would not be financially available otherwise.  But the league would be smart to expand the designated player rule in one way: MLS should create an American designated player rule.

As I have stated prior, some American players will go play in Europe and should play there to see if they can compete with the world’s best.  But some Americans are overseas playing in leagues or teams of lesser quality than MLS, but are being well compensated for doing so.  When Edson Buddle leaves MLS a year after being an MVP finalist for a second-division German team about to be relegated, it showed that MLS needs a way to keep its continental names in the league.  How can the U.S. national team build its profile in this country if its player toil away from the public eye in second division leagues?  What I would like to see is MLS grant every team an American DP (or American/Canadian) slot which would allow any team to handsomely pay American nationals what they deserve and try to at least be financially competitive with European leagues for our own talent.

The designated player rule will not go away, and although its usage has changed from its original intent, it has improved the quality of play within the league.  But the league needs to take the next step and realize that sometimes its own countrymen need a little special treatment as well.

Note: As part of the MLS Talk preview, we will be examining some of the major trends in MLS that will have an impact on the league this year.  Feel free to suggest other big picture topics in the comments.

Four years ago, MLS swung a deal to bring David Beckham, the world’s most recognizable soccer player, to MLS for a very lucrative compensation package.  Seeing the increased crowds and buzz surrounding the acquisition, as well as needing a budget rule to account for his huge salary, MLS created the “designated player”, or the “Beckham rule” as it is commonly called.  Over the past four years, teams could go out and seek big names and add them to payroll without having them bust the very tight MLS caps.

The Beckham rule hasn’t quite turned out the way it was expected, though.  Instead of seeing major stars flock to the U.S. and boost the league’s image internationally, teams have used the cap relief to either lock-up their big name stars or attract non-star international players and matching their inflated European salaries.  Currently, there are twelve designated players under contract in MLS.  Only three can conceivably be called international stars: Beckham, Thierry Henry, and Rafa Marquez.  A fourth, Landon Donovan, is the most famous American soccer player in the world.  The others are mostly pretty good international players from small leagues who have come to the U.S. to raise their profile.

So, is the Beckham rule helping the league or holding it back?  I’d argue the former, even though it is not helping as was intended.

No matter how much money MLS throws at them, major European stars in their prime will not play in MLS.  In the near future you will not see Wayne Rooney or Lionel Messi in a Sporting Kansas City shirt, but realistically that should not be expected.  Europe is where the game was born and players naturally want to play where competition is the best.  I find it amusing that some American soccer fans bemoan American players going overseas to hone their craft, but when it comes to U.S. dominated sports we never have the same concerns about a French point guard coming to the NBA or Dominican catcher playing in the American League instead of improving the game back home.  Talent will always flock to where the game is at its best, and MLS isn’t that.

But that doesn’t mean the designated player rule has failed.  When European countries throw so much money into their soccer leagues MLS has to recognize (and has) that every thing else being equal, money will sometimes win out.  This is especially true of players from smaller European leagues or countries, who would want to play soccer in the U.S. for a while to raise their profile and make a little more money.  Take Branko Boskovic, who early in his career was a big name for Red Star Belgrade, a good club with a good European history.  After failing to get playing time at Paris Saint-Germain, he played in second-tier European leagues.  He is the kind of good international player MLS should attract, not a huge name but someone with skill and a solid reputation (setting aside his poor play last year).

Teams are increasingly using the DP rule in a new way: keeping their players who are growing in star-power and otherwise would go overseas to make more money.  Landon Donovan is the obvious example of this but Fredy Montero may be a better example.  Montero is indelibly linked to the Sounders, having scored the first goal in the current franchise’s history, and at 23 is young enough for a decent European club to swoop in and offer a tryout and contract.  Seattle and MLS are using the designated player rule to keep him in Seattle and buy out his original contract with Deportivo Cali (remember, he was originally on loan to Seattle).  Increasingly, I think we will see clubs in “less glamorous” markets using the Beckham rule to keep players instead of attracting big-name older players.

So currently we have three tiers of designated players: DPs who are older big names, DPs who are good European players from smaller leagues, and young MLS players who are receiving interest overseas.  All three categories of players improve the competitive quality of the league and give their teams an added dimension that would not be financially available otherwise.  But the league would be smart to expand the designated player rule in one way: MLS should create an American designated player rule.

As I have stated prior, some American players will go play in Europe and should play there to see if they can compete with the world’s best.  But some Americans are overseas playing in leagues or teams of lesser quality than MLS, but are being well compensated for doing so.  When Edson Buddle leaves MLS a year after being an MVP finalist for a second-division German team about to be relegated, it showed that MLS needs a way to keep its continental names in the league.  How can the U.S. national team build its profile in this country if its player toil away from the public eye in second division leagues?  What I would like to see is MLS grant every team an American DP (or American/Canadian) slot which would allow any team to handsomely pay American nationals what they deserve and try to at least be financially competitive with European leagues for our own talent.

The designated player rule will not go away, and although its usage has changed from its original intent, it has improved the quality of play within the league.  But the league needs to take the next step and realize that sometimes its own countrymen need a little special treatment as well.

The story of the MLS playoffs coming into Sunday night was the futility of being a higher seed.  None of the higher seeds had advanced and the playoffs were seemingly wide-open for a new champion.  Then LA took the pitch against Seattle, and they showed the league who should be the favorites for the MLS Cup.  After an upset win in Seattle last Sunday, they took care of business at home and beat the Sounders 2-1, 3-1 on aggregate.

How did LA succeed where others failed?  It was more than possibly having the best players.  Here is a breakdown of how Los Angeles won their series where the other clubs could not:

1.  Neutralize your opponents best player(s)

This is easier said than done, but it is critical in the playoffs that the opposing team’s star not be allowed to dictate play.  This was Real Salt Lake’s downfall – David Ferreira set-up every FC Dallas goal and RSL’s vaunted defense could not find an answer for him.  Thus they lost 3-2 on aggregate.  Meanwhile, the Galaxy’s defense were able to neuter Fredy Montero, who needed a big series to help Seattle beat LA for the first time this season.  Credit goes to DeLaGarza especially shutting down chance after chance for Montero and the Sounders’ forwards, although Montero himself struggled leading up to and during the match.

2.  Your veterans play like its 1999

A major reason for the success of LA in the second leg was the resurgent play of Eddie Lewis.  The retiring defender not only played a strong backline but created scoring chances in the first half of last night’s match.  His cross into the box in the 19th minute was kicked out, setting up the Beckham corner that Buddle headed in for the first goal.  And a great example of a true veteran playing like a younger player was David Beckham.  Besides the glorious corner kicks he played hard all ninety minutes in the first leg and was all over the pitch.  His former EPL counterpart, Thierry Henry, did not have the same impact for New York when they needed his scoring ability.

3.  Defense wins championships

Seattle was not a doormat in this series, and especially in the first leg created some good scoring chances.  However, credit goes to the Galaxy defense for sticking to the gameplan.  DeLaGarza slides into the middle, and he muddles up the middle despite his unfamiliarity with the role.  The key for the Galaxy was not allowing the creation of shots, and instead forcing the Sounders players to create their own chances.  What resulted was Montero et al just putting the ball on net, making it even easier for Ricketts to make saves and minimize Seattle’s opportunities.  The ten shots in the first leg were misleading – Seattle had maybe 3 or 4 great chances.

4.  Details, details, details

The difference in the second leg was LA executing on set pieces, while Seattle could not defend them.  The first goal was a Buddle header where he was not physically marked on the kick.  While it was not an easy goal, it was too easy of a goal.  The second was even worse – Omar Gonzalez beat the offside trap on the corner kick and was unmarked completely by the defense.  At halftime, Sigi Schmid said the two things his team needed to focus on was defending corner kicks and completing passes.  When that is your focus for the second half, you may have already lost.

5.  Your coach out-coaches the other coach

I mentioned in a post last week how Schellas Hynmand out-coached Jason Kreis in the first leg of the FC Dallas/Real Salt Lake simply by making the right substitutions at the right time – Jeff Cunningham in the first half and Eric Avila in the second half.  I’ve mentioned ad naseum the DeLaGarza shift and starting Eddie Lewis, but Bruce Arena in his series out-coached Sigi Schmid.  His strategy in the first leg of the series snuffed out any Seattle momentum going into the second leg.  His club overcame a sluggish end of the season to put on a clinic in the playoffs.  Schmid, meanwhile, will go into the offseason being questioned why he didn’t play a more up-tempo match in LA or start Jaqua.

With San Jose’s dramatic victory last night, they will await this weekend’s slate of matches to see who their next round opponent will be.  Their upset victory has set the stage for an interest weekend of matches where we could conceivably see three more lower seeds win their playoff matches and once again throw the MLS playoffs into unexpected territory.  After all, the defending champions were an eighth seed (oops, fourth seed in the East) last year.

With that in mind, below are the remaining first round matches and the possibility of an upset (upset defined as the lower seed winning the series).  All times are Eastern:

Colorado Rapids v. Columbus Crew (Saturday, 4 PM, Telefutura)

Colorado leads 1-0 on aggregate

The storyline of the  first leg of this matchup was simple: Colorado failing to exploit opportunities to increase their lead and Columbus hanging on just enough to have a chance back home.  As a reminder, it was an Omar Cummings cross to Pablo Mastroeni that was the difference in the match.  However, Cummings was creating chances the entire first half by roaming wide around Chad Marshall and the Columbus defense.  For Colorado to win, it will have to keep doing what it did in the first game – allow Cummings to attack and create opportunities for Conor Casey and the Rapids’ midfield.

Columbus, as I mentioned in my post-match summary, should feel very lucky to have escaped only giving up a goal.  Now they will have to write-up a game plan that can help them score their own goals, and the key is as always Schelotto.  He looked his age in the first match, but the team has to have him involved to create scoring opportunities.  The Crew also have to solve Jeff Larentowicz, who controlled the midfield and disrupted the Columbus attack.  Of course they have to do this while stopping the Rapids’ forwards, but with the home crowd on their side this is a doable proposition.

Upset potential: High, because of two names.  The first is Brian Mullen, who was the silent partner for Cummings and Casey in the first match, but was critical to the attack.  The second is Andy Gruenebaum, who had a good first game but is still the backup keeper playing in his second MLS match this season.

Real Salt Lake v. FC Dallas (Saturday, 10 PM, Fox Soccer Channel)

FC Dallas Leads 2-1 on aggregate

FC Dallas and MVP candidate David Ferreira set up two Dallas goals to overcome an early Espindola score to make this an intriguing return leg and possibly give FC Dallas some breathing room.  Everyone knows Real Salt Lake has not lost at home this season, but Dallas can draw 1-1 or even “lose” 1-0 and still advance.  To do so they will need Ferreira to again turn in an excellent performance, where he makes plays against the RSL midfield and set up his strikers to beat the impressive RSL defense.

The story of this match is who is not going to be on the pitch.  For the home club, they will be missing the red-carded Javier Morales, an important absence.  However, when he was injured during the month of September, Real Salt Lake went 3-0-1.  But coming back from injury will be Will Johnson, who Jason Kreis can use to shadow David Ferreira.  The visitors will be missing Atiba Harris to red card, Milton Rodriguez to a hip injury, and George John to a hamstring.

Upset potential: Moderate, simply because Dallas has the lead, an MVP candidate, and a quality keeper.  Salt Lake City is a very hard place to win, and RSL should be considered a slight favorite, but Dallas is positioning itself for an upset bid.

Los Angeles Galaxy v. Seattle Sounders (Sunday, 9 PM, ESPN2)

LA leads 1-0 on aggregate

The team with the questions heading into the playoffs may have answered them with their first leg win on Sunday, but the Sounders are still a quality team to contend with.  And for them to pull off the upset, they desperately need their star Montero as well as Zakuani and Nyassi to create quality scoring chances.  In Seattle, a combination of the Galaxy defense and only a few legitimate scoring chances led to the current deficit, and they need to create those chances in this match.  Sigid Schmid has said the larger dimensions of Home Depot Center will help his club create space and find holes for his team to exploit.

On the other side, the Galaxy played a near-perfect match to win in Seattle.  Their defense was outstanding, with DeLaGarza playing an unfamiliar position exceptionally well.  David Beckham received tons of praise for playing the entire match and playing it well, and the entire Galaxy squad looked fit and played their roles exactly as drawn up for the first time in a while.  Can they do it again is the million dollar question.  Also keep in mind it took a miracle strike from Edson Buddle for LA to have this lead, and while they had their own chances and settled for a defensive game plan in the second half, Seattle’s defense should still get some credit for the outcome being 1-0.

Upset potential: Low to moderate.  LA likely will not play the perfect match like they did in Seattle, and Seattle will find space to score.  But LA may not need to be perfect when playing at home and with the lead, maybe just good enough.

For all the talk of the LA Galaxy slumping towards the playoffs, Bruce Arena’s club showed no signs of rust as they dominated a resilient Sounders team in the first leg of the Galaxy/Sounders playoff matchup.  The difference in the match was an amazing and surprising Edson Buddle goal in the 38th minute that caught Kasey Keller off his line and caught ESPN2′s JP Dellacamera and John Harkes by surprise.  But the story of the match was defense, in particular how LA handled Seattle’s strikers and allowed very few legitimate chances on goal.  Veterans Eddie Lewis and Omar Gonzalez led the way for a defense that helped Fredy Montero disappear in the second half and left Seattle desperately seeking a decent shot most of the match.

But before delving into the match itself, I want to touch on the incredible atmosphere in Seattle tonight.  As much discussion as there has been on MLS Talk about crowds and lack of people watching MLS matches on TV, the crowd tonight was Don Garber’s dream.  The place looked full and was very loud; although we should not expect any less from the excellent Seattle fans it was great to have an atmosphere in the playoffs that match the occasion.  I suspect we will see highlights of this match in many MLS promotional videos.

Both clubs came out seemingly tight, with both committing and creating turnovers that the other club used to create goal-scoring opportunities.  The pace of the half was excellent; both clubs went up and down the pitch and rarely did they keep the ball in midfield.  Seattle actually could have set the tone early as Zakuani finished off an Alonso shot that Ricketts had blocked, but Zakuani was ruled offsides.  If it would have counted, it could have drastically changed the outcome of the match as LA would not have been able to deploy its successful defensive strategy.

It was Edson Buddle that broke the scoreless tie in the 38th minute, a goal that could already be the best in the MLS playoffs this year.  The U.S. men’s national team striker collected a pass well outside the box, then turned and blasted a rainbow shot that went past the outstretched arm of Keller and into the top corner of the net.  While Keller was a bit off his line, the shot would have been near impossible to stop anyway, as it was perfectly hit.  The Most Valuable Player candidate showed why he made the final three for the award with the shot, and I suspect will make the ESPN rotation of highlights in a busy American sports day.

The second half was a repeat of this first for Seattle – numerous times the Sounders were able to advance towards the Galaxy net but could not find the quality or creative shot to tie the match.  In fact, looking at my notes for the match, there were very few obvious opportunities for the Sounders in the second half except for an occasional shot that was offsides.  A ton of credit should go to Arena’s gameplan but also the play of the Galaxy backline – Eddie Lewis, Sean Franklin, Omar Gonzalez, and DeLaGarza.  Because of them, Montero was an absolute non-factor in the second half and Nkufo, Zakuani, and later Jaqua were unable to create chances in the penalty area.  Even later on the match when desperation set in for the home side and Galaxy had a tired Beckham playing practically rightback (according to John Harkes), they still had no great chances on goal.

So Seattle has a huge task next week as they travel to Los Angeles down a goal.  They need to find a way to solve the Galaxy defense, something they were absolutely unable to do tonight.  However, considering the Galaxy’s form coming into the playoffs the number one seed is definitely fallible.

Share your thoughts on the match in the comments section or on Twitter @roberthayjr.