Name: Seattle Sounders

Coach: Sigi Schmid

Last Year: 18-7-9, 2nd Western Conference, 2nd Overall

Hashtag: #Sounders

Are Sounders fans too demanding?  In its current iteration, the club is entering its fourth MLS season and has made three consecutive conference semifinals. They own the U.S. Open Cup.   They have set attendance records that will be hard to surpass, and they have become the de facto face of MLS because of all of this.  Yet the team has a major road block that it just cannot overcome: the Los Angeles Galaxy.  The current MLS champs are blocking their ascent to the top of the league and until the Sounders can beat LA and win the MLS Cup, their seasons will feel unfulfilled.

This offseason, the team went for broke.  Rather than simply building up, the team took some gambles designed to keep up with the Galaxy.  While not gutting their roster, some moves were made with an eye on the next two years and not the next five.  Part of this is their participation in the CONCACAF Champions League but undoubtedly the franchise wants the MLS Cup.  Besides that trophy, however, the franchise is the envy of the league with the type of fan support, facilities, staff, and attitude that any team would want.  Isn’t that enough?

Coaching Staff and Front Office:  Sigi Schmid has reached the point in his career that when he makes a controversial acquisition, he always receives the benefit of the doubt (see Eddie Johnson below).  Schmid is one of the best head coaches in the league, a statement that can be easily backed up since he is the winningest MLS coach ever.  Working with the front office, the team consistently juggles the salary cap while still paying top-flight players and bringing up young talent.

Additions:  Let’s start with the most recent one and possibly the biggest one.  Eddie Johnson comes over via trade from Montreal to boost the Seattle attack.  Johnson returns to MLS after failing to latch on in Europe with rumors of dogging his tryouts following him.  A consistent scorer is what Seattle needs, so EJ needs to return to his previous dominant ways to justify this acquisition.

The most important new acquisition has to be the replacement for the team’s heart and keeper, Michael Gspurning.  The Austrian premier league veteran has no fear of replacing the legend Kasey Keller and is looking forward to playing in Seattle.  If for any reason Gspurning falters or is injured, the team recently signed Andrew Weber who of the four keepers currently on Seattle’s roster is the only one with any MLS experience.  To assist the keepers, the Sounders signed Swedish international Adam Johansson and MLS veteran Marc Burch to play fullback.  Johnsson could be the best signing of the offseason by any team.

Two additions to the midfield will give the team some intriguing options.  Forward/winger Cordell Cato was signed in the offseason as more of a depth/Open Cup player.  The 19 year old is a youth international for Trinidad & Tobago and presents some promise for the future.  A player who will provide a more immediate impact is Danish midfielder Christian Sivebaek who will be asked to support the attack while chipping in the occasional goal.

Subtractions:  In exchange for EJ the club sent F Mike Fucito and M Lamar Neagle to Montreal, two players that are not superstars but were an example of why Seattle competed well in multiple competitions: good solid depth by players on the cusp of taking that next step.  Neither loss is the type the redefines a team but both will be missed for the valuable depth they gave.  Fucito was not the only forward to leave this offseason as Nate Jaqua was picked up in the Re-Entry draft by the Revs and Pat Noonan was taken in that same draft by the Galaxy.  Erik Friberg’s departure also dents the Sounders’ offense.

Starting Lineup:  As mentioned, newcomer Gspurning replaces Kasey Keller in goal and has quite a task ahead of him.  Not helping matters is the number of new faces on the backline.  At right back will likely be newcomer Adam Johnsson, according to his preseason reps, and Leo Gonzalez will man the left side with some competition from Marc Burch.  In the center will be Jeff Parke and all-name teamer Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, who while not the most dominant centerback pairing in the league are two very good defenders.  If anyone falters, rookie Andrew Duran could push his way into the first team.

The midfield looks to be one of the best in MLS and it starts with Mauro Rosales.  The Argentine looks like a yearly MVP candidate and will spearhead the Sounders attack from the midfield.  Another danger from the outside is designated player Alvaro Fernandez who if not for his other talented teammates would star in this midfield.  Pushing for minutes will be returners Brad Evans and Osvaldo Alonso, two players that would start every minute for almost any other MLS team but will rotate during Seattle’s three competitions.  The two wild cards in the midfield are Steve Zakuani and Christian Sivebaek.  Zakuani looked like an MVP last season before breaking his leg and while reports suggest he is healthy again, it will be interesting to see how healthy he is when he takes the pitch in a competitive match.  As for Sivebaek, the 23 year old is talented and may be the best super-sub in MLS come September.

Up front it is simple: Fredy Montero and Eddie Johnson.  Montero has the chance to become an elite MLS player but needs to add a little consistency to his game.  Maybe playing next to Johnson will settle him, but once Montero stops disappearing for games he takes Seattle to a new level.  If these two falter, there is a mix of veteran (hello O’Brian White!) and young players that will contribute but cannot be counted on to be elite in 2012.

Player to Watch:  Gspurning will be the man under the microscope for two reasons: he is replacing a legend and he is the biggest unknown quantity on this team.  Every other part of the field is pretty settled, at least on the first team level, except for the keeper.  How he deals with being not-Kasey Keller and facing the likes of Edson Buddle, Kris Boyd, and Brek Shea will be the key to Seattle’s season.

Best Case Scenario:  The team gels quickly and once the Galaxy stars go abroad for their tournaments, Seattle passes LA in the standings.  May 2nd is a watershed day in Seattle history as the team beats LA at home and pushes the monkey off their back.  EJ reverts to his previous MLS form, Gspurning is a great keeper, the team keeps healthy and Zakuani gives Seattle three MVP candidates in the midfield.  Led by Golden Boot winner Fredy Montero, the Sounders beat LA in a game journalists call the best MLS game ever in the Western Conference finals and with a victory over DC United in the MLS Cup, win a historic treble.

Worst Case Scenario:  Trying to win in three competitions is too much for a team whose depth took a major hit this offseason.  Seattle loses in the U.S. Open Cup and falls into a battle for one of the final two playoff spots in the West.  They get in but bow out quickly, just like they did in the CONCACAF Champions League.  Eddie Johnson fails to support Montero and Montero begins to actively look overseas.  Injuries impact the midfield and Schmid declares the current situation unacceptable, ushering in a major retooling in the offseason.  Major publications – including Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, and National Geographic - rank Portland ahead of Seattle in their rankings of best soccer cities and/or cities to experience a superb game day atmosphere.

Prediction:  Even Portland Timbers fans acknowledge that Seattle’s MLS schedule is one of the “easiest” in MLS, so that is a distinct advantage.  There are serious concerns about depth, especially at forward, but this is too talented of a team to not challenge for an MLS Cup.  I expect the Sounders to again finish second in the West and add at least one trophy to their trophy case.

As the preseason gets into full swing and rosters begin to stabilize, it’s time to take a look at the men who pull the strings and have the greatest impact on the team itself.  The modern manager is part tactician, part showman, and part PR man.  The best are the ones who can bring a diverse team together and make it into a trophy-winning side.  Rarely can a side win an MLS Cup, Open Cup, or Supporters Shield with a mediocre or poor manager.  However, at times its the team that makes the man and only the perfect marriage of players and manager that can make a championship.  A manager is especially important in MLS, with the salary cap and built-in rules designed to promote parity.

These men are masters of the realm, the best managers in MLS today.  The following ranking is my own top five managers in MLS going into the 2012 season.  Keep in mind this is not an all time list but simply looking ahead to the 2012 season.  Agree or disagree?  Make your opinions known in the comments section.

5.  Piotr Nowak:  Maybe the restructuring going on in Philadelphia is Nowak’s way to challenge himself.  The veteran coach has taken a new franchise and by year two had made the Union into a Eastern Conference championship contender.  Building the team around a stout defense and the timely scoring of his offense, Nowak has made the club in his image and, even with the departures, Philadelphia is now a team to watch every year.  His work with DC United, leading them to their fourth MLS title in 2004, only adds to his coaching resume.  Although he does not have the large number of trophies some of the others on this list have, he is undoubtedly established himself as one of the best head coaches in the league.

4.  Schellas Hyndman:  Although at times his decisions are questionable (Brek Shea as a full back?), Hyndman is a long-time collegiate coach who finally got the right opportunity to prove his worth with FC Dallas in 2008.  His defining win was a 3-0 defeat of Los Angeles in the 2010 Western Conference finals over a team that looked like the best in the league with a healthy David Beckham.  Although Dallas lost the 2010 MLS Cup in overtime, the former SMU head coach has done a good job balancing his roster and replacing departed players, especially in the midfield.  Under his watch David Ferreira blossomed into one of the most dangerous midfielders in the league and with some promising youth coming up through the system this year, Hyndman may soon be able to chase down that elusive MLS Cup.

3.  Sigi Schmid:  For a guy who never played professional soccer, Schmid gets this league.  His uncanny ability to identify talent and his in-game ability to identify mismatches has made the former UCLA Bruin the brain behind the constantly-successful Seattle Sounders.  A team with a rich history and demanding fan base, Schmid gave the league a blueprint for how to compete in MLS from year one, a blueprint that teams as recently as Montreal are looking to emulate.  He is the most successful U.S. Open Cup head coach in the modern era and has guided the careers of many of MLS’s greatest stars.  His LA Galaxy team was also one of two MLS clubs to ever win an intercontinental cup.  He is the winningest head coach in MLS history and has the Sounders poised to challenge for the 2012 MLS Cup.

2.  Dominic Kinnear:  The coach of this year’s Eastern Conference champions narrowly edges Sigi Schmid in my rankings because since 2006, Houston has been one of the league’s most successful teams.  Besides winning back-to-back MLS Cups in 2006 and 2007, this year may have been his best coaching job, leading an arguably less talented team to the MLS Cup.  All of this is even more impressive considering the fact that the team has worked within a tight budget and a changing ownership situation.

1.  Bruce Arena:  The National Soccer Hall of Famer continues to prove that he is arguable the greatest American soccer coach of all time.  Even though he had three famous designated players, it was his work with the Galaxy’s defense that was most impressive about the 2011 Galaxy.  The keys to the defense were that the two major contributors, A.J. De La Garza and Omar Gonzalez, were Arena draftees.  Arena guided a dominant team through a dominant season, essentially staking claim to the MLS Cup early in the season and never relinquishing it.  His history is unparalleled in the U.S., but even going into the new season he is still in a class by himself and recognized by many as the best head coach out there.

The Seattle Sounders won a thrilling 2-0 victory in last night’s U.S. Open Cup as the Sounders have now won three straight Open Cup trophies.  Their opponents, the Chicago Fire, failed to become only the third team ever to win the Cup five times.  The first goal came in the 77th minute and Chicago had some good chances to equalize before Seattle sealed the victory in stoppage time.

In celebration of Seattle’s historic win, here is a video of maybe the best press conference celebration ever.  The comments section is open to discuss the match and what Seattle’s win means for the rest of the MLS season.  Enjoy!

Where were you when the news dropped that U.S. soccer fired Bob Bradley?

A day after the Manchester United blitz of the MLS All Stars, the U.S. Soccer Federation announced the immediate termination of head coach Bob Bradley.  According to the federation’s press release, the firing happened during a meeting in Carson City.

“We want to thank Bob Bradley for his service and dedication to U.S. Soccer during the past five years,” said Sunil Gulati. “During his time as the head coach of our Men’s National Team he led the team to a number of accomplishments, but we felt now was the right time for us to make a change. It is always hard to make these decisions, especially when it involves someone we respect as much as Bob. We wish him the best in his future endeavors.”

It was no secret that the poor results during the Gold Cup, which ended with a devastating loss to Mexico, hurt Bradley’s standing.  While the United State’s most recent World Cup run had some incredible highlights, none better than Landon Donovan’s goal, the team underachieved in the eyes of many.  The same mistakes also kept popping up in U.S. team matches: the failure of young players to step up, not scoring the first goal (although this wasn’t the problem against Mexico), and failure to settle on a system/formation.

The timing, however, is bizarre. If U.S. Soccer was unhappy with the Gold Cup, why not fire Bradley then?  Unless there is something we don’t know that happened behind the scenes, the timing does not make sense except that the new coach will have a chance to assemble the rosters for the fall friendlies.

So who’s next?  It is no secret that Gulati’s white whale has been Jurgen Klinsmann, who has repeatedly turned the job down.  With a new position and rebuild under his control in Toronto, it is distinctly possible the U.S. job is less attractive to him now.

If the USSF wanted to turn to MLS to hire its new coach, its most promising candidates are all in playoff runs.  Jason Kreis is trying to lead RSL to its second MLS Cup in three years, Sigi Schmid has Seattle points behind LA, Dominic Kinnear’s Houston is chasing the Eastern Conference teams but is in the race, and Hans Backe obviously is trying to win an illusive title for New York.  Bruce Arena is a possibility, but he’s been on this ride before.

The depth in the federation is also lacking, with the firing of Thomas Rongen and not having named his replacement.  So a likely replacement will come from outside the United States.  But who is available?  The only big name Euro coaches are those who haven’t been picked up by a team – Carlo Ancelotti, Claudio Ranieri, Diego Maradona.  A big name that is available and has international experience is Marcello Lippi, the World Cup-winning manager for the Italian national team in 2006.

USSF will hold another press conference Friday; what do you expect them to say tomorrow?  Who do you think will or should be the next head coach of U.S. national team?

Seven or eight games into the season and teams begin to take a hard look at their position at the table.  It’s still too early to declare teams out of the race especially with a 34 game schedule, but the table is beginning to shake out and as the next few weeks go by, teams that are underachieving find themselves farther and farther away from the playoffs or their team’s preseason goals.  At this point, management takes a hard look at the head coach and tries to figure out if a new man would make a difference and inspire the team to go on a run.

So today let’s take a look at five head coaches who are starting to feel a little warm on the bench and should either be thinking about updating their resume or shaking up the lineup.  Managers are ranked in order of how close they are to being unemployed by their current club, but feel free to vote in the poll and share your thoughts in the comments section:

5. Robert Warzycha, Columbus Crew: Early in the year, the heat was rising around Sigi Schmid’s former assistant as Warzycha had no place for Robbie Rogers, lost in the CONCACAF Champions League and looked impotent early in the season.  A team record shutout streak and a nice undefeated streak later, the heat has been turned down immensely on Warzycha.  Yet the team is walking a fine line – they are tied for the second fewest goals scored this year and their offense is still not clicking 100%.  Adrés Mendoza is still not playing up to his DP contract and if the team’s defense falters, this team could find themselves sliding down the standings.  For a franchise with such a storied history in a conference with only one dominant team, that would be unacceptable, so Warzycha is walking a fine line.

4.  Steve Nicol, New England Revolution: The Liverpool legend and once-future USMNT head coach is someone I think could make the jump to England and manage a top-flight side in the near future.  But currently his seat in Foxborough is getting a little toasty.  The Revs are a team that have seen tough times in recent years after a great run in the beginning of last decade.  With the addition of Benny Feilhaber, a scoring threat the team was seeking since the beginning of the season, they have the talent to compete for one of the three automatic playoff spots.  But remember this team went through the process of a rebuild at the beginning of the year, and if they begin to falter management may begin to look in a new direction.

3.  Peter Vermes, Sporting Kansas City: There are plenty of excuses for Sporting KC’s struggles, beginning with their extended road trip and obvious rebuilding effort.  But don’t let the excuses cloud the way this team is playing right now – they have given up the third highest number of goals and have vacillated between terrible defense with potent offense and stout defense with lacking offense.  Vermes is one of the new wave of MLS coaches who were the league’s first stars, and he may be one of the first ones to learn that being on the bench may come with more pressure than being on the field.

2. Frank Yallop, San Jose Earthquakes: The former MLS Coach of the Year is hitting hard times this season.  Arguably a goal away from making the finals last year, the ‘Quakes have stumbled badly this year.  Their offense is weak even with Wondo (they’ve scored the second fewest goals) and their last three results are arguably all bad losses (blown out by New York, beaten at home by Chivas, and 1-0 loss to 10-man Philadelphia).  This team looks disorganized and it may take a new direction to right the ship.

1.  Carlos de los Cobos, Chicago Fire: This is only the Mexican head coach’s second season, but the Fire are not showing any signs of hope.  Last season they finished fourth in a weak East and this season, despite a quick start, they have begun a slide down the standings.  The backline is reorganized practically every game, the team scores but leaks goals like a sieve, and there is no direction to the franchise.  If Chicago can’t get results in their next two very winnable games, de los Cobos may be the first manager let go.

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.

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.

Editor’s note: MLS Talk writer Josh Pedley recently sat down with Sigi Schmid to reflect on the 2009 season, to take stock of Seattle’s successful season and to look ahead to 2010.

Here is the transcript of that interview:

Before the season, you stated that making the play-offs would be a minimum requirement. Having achieved that, are you disappointed to go out at the first stage?

Yeah it was disappointing but at the same time we were the first expansion team to make the play-offs in their first year since Chicago in 1998. But we had high expectations because of the squad we had and having experienced players like Freddie Ljungberg and Kasey Keller.

Houston Dynamos have been one of the strongest teams over the past couple of seasons but it was a close game. What did you think was the difference between the two sides? How key was their experience of previous playoff campaigns?

Best way to describe it is that Houston’s 4 starting midfielders have been playing together since 2006 and for us, as a group, we are in our first season. They had a little bit more belief, were harder, a bit more physical and their experience definitely helped.

It was a big decision to leave Columbus Crew for a new franchise. What was it that attracted you in the first place?

Well, the contract negotiations were going bad with Columbus and dragging on. I heard what was happening in Seattle and spoke to the club and liked what heard. And speaking to Joe Roth (Sounders FC majority owner), Adrian Hanauer, Paul Allen and Drew Carey (minority owners), I knew something special was happening here.

Seattle has a soccer history and a huge amateur scene. But still have you been surprised by the soccer fever that has gripped the city?

The atmosphere has been unbelievable from the start. The owners did a good job in keeping guys from the previous Sounders around, to provide that link with the past, and the support has been fantastic. I think our attendance puts us up in the top 50 clubs in the world and you just have to go around the city and you will see lots of people with Sounders jersey’s on and people honking their horns and wishing you well.

How do you plan to take the team forward? Will there be big squad changes or do you plan to keep the nucleus together?

The planning starts now, we are already having meetings about next season and providing the players with their off-season plans so there ready to comeback fit. We are also looking around at players and I’m going out to a few college games as well. I think its easier in year two. Last season we didn’t know what we had. Now we do, so we know that we need a couple of wide guys and we need to add a little bit of guts to the team.

How do you feel Freddie Ljungberg has performed this season? It’s the first time in a while that he has been injury free?

We signed him on the basis that he would have surgery on his hip to correct that. And he came into the side after our second game and apart from missing one or two games with a migraine he has played.

We had games against Everton and Chelsea this summer and they noted that it’s the freshest they had seen him in a long time.

How important have the experienced players been in helping this season?

Having Freddie and Kasey has definitely helped. We have a lot of young guys and they would help them out and talk to them about things on the field, which has been great especially for a wide guy like Steve Zakuani.

The players got to know him and like him but the best example he set was by training hard. That has more effect than any words.

And what chances are there of him following Beckham and moving to Europe for the off-season?

It’s a possibility but Beckham needs to play because he has the World Cup on his mind. Freddie doesn’t have that as Sweden didn’t qualify, so he’s not been motivated towards that goal. I think he wants to take a little time off and relax and then comeback ready for next season.

Freddy Montero has been a great signing for the club. There were rumours about a move to Europe with Fulham. How far do you think he can go in the game?

He’s still young, just 21, and he can still get better. The biggest difference to a player like Montero is the adjustment to training. Getting used to the rhythm and the hard work of a European or North American training schedule is a lot different to that of South America and he will get better and better the more he gets used to it.

Highlights of the season?

Obviously winning the US Open Cup was definitely a highlight and no one will ever forget the opening game. It was a great day for the city and a great atmosphere.

And if the league were a single table (instead of two conferences) we would have finished just two points off first place. Just one win away from winning the regular season championship and that would have been an amazing achievement in our first season.

What are your experiences of the 1994 World Cup? And what would getting the world cup for 2018 mean?

It was a pretty unique time, as we had no professional league, so except for the guys playing in Europe, we were training like a club and trying to get games against teams to be ready. We played against countries I had never even heard of, like Moldova and Armenia, just to play.

Bora [Milutinovi?, USA Head Coach] really set a rhythm and a way of playing. We weren’t the most entertaining side but he set a structure that gave us the best chance.

If we get the World Cup in 2018 the US team will be a lot better. There will be more depth in the squad and I believe we will have the quality to beat any team on our day.

1994 was massive in raising the awareness of the game but 2018 would be on another level. The atmosphere was great in 1994 but the landscape has changed and people are more aware know of soccer. For example, in 1994 Seattle wasn’t a host city.

We have fantastic stadiums and due to the sheer size of our population, the games will be played to full grounds of 60,000 – 80,000 people.