Review: USA – 2013 MLS Cup Playoffs – Conference Semi-finals – Second Leg

MLS Cup Playoffs Semifinals are over. All the matches have been quite entertaining and balanced, and all but one of them needed extra-time to be decided. The attendance has been quite good in every match and the most successfull franchises outside the field, proved to be the best one on the field as well. The winners of Conference Semi-finals will play two Conference Finals, whose winner will play MLS Cup Final to win the Title in a single match to be played on the ground of the best ranked team in Regular Season.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Semifinals:

Portland Timbers FC – Seattle Sounders FC 3-2 (5-3 on aggregate)
29′ W. Johnson (pen./rig.), 44′ Váleri, 47′ Danso - 74′ Yedlin, 76′ E. Johnson.
Attendance: 20.674 (sold out).

It’s been a big Derby, probably the game of the Season for Portland so far, and Jeld-Wen Field was very noise and the atmosphere was as good as than the one in Seattle. Seattle started the Season very badly, then had a very good milddle part, reaching the top of the table with a couple of games in hand, but then had an awful end and almost missed the Playoffs. Anyway that bad period seemed to be gone after the convincing victory against Colorodo Rapids in the Preliminary Round, instead it came back again in the Conference Semifinals. In the firts leg leg Seattle played quite well and missed a lot of opportunities, maybe they would have deserved something more than a defeat, but in the second leg in Portland they’ve been sleeping for almost 70′, and when they entered the match, the Timbers were already deservedly 3-0 up, and Seattle only managed to score two goals, from USMNT member Eddie Johnson and the very interesting young RB DeAndre Yedlin, just to make the defeat less humiliating. Goals for Timbers were scored by captain Will Johnson on PK, whistled because of a clear hand touch, by the Argentinian Váleri and by Danso, at the beginning of Second Half. Sigi Schmid‘s experience as Manager of the Sounders looks like very close to the end. Bob Bradley, current Egypt and former USMNT Manager, or Jason Kreis, current Manager of Real Salt Lake, could replace him, according to rumors.

Real Salt Lake – Los Angels Galaxy 2-0 (2-1 on aggregate)
48′ Velásquez, 102′ Schuler.
Attendance: 19.042 (almost sold out).

LA Galaxy confirmed that they aren’t anymore that dominant team they were last Season, and, this is the new, they won’t be able to win their third MLS Cup in a row, because Real Salt Lake confirmed itself as a very solid team, and kicked them out from the competion, reversing a 1-0 away defeat on the first leg. RSL managed not to concede any goal and deserved the qualification, though LA Galaxy missed a couples of golden opportunities. RSL went up thanks to Sebastián Velásquez‘s (1,70 meters tall) header, then they scored fifteen minutes before the end with a free kick from Argentinian Javier Morales, but the goal was disallowed for misterious reasons. So the match was decided in the overtime by a goal from Schuler, assisted by a free kick (very similar to the previous one) from Morales.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Semifinals:

Sporting Kansas City – New England Revolution 3-1
41′ Collin, 79′ Sinovic, 113′ Bieler – 70′ Imbongo Boele.
Attendance: 19.031 (sold out).

Another thrilling match, Sporting went ahead few minutes before Half Time, thanks to French defender Collin, that had scored in the first match as well. New England Revolution equalized on 70 minute and was virtually already at the Conference Final, but Sinovic ten minutes later gave Sporting Kansas City the chance to play the extra-time, and they didn’t waste it, because Argentinian Claudio Bieler sent Sporting to the Conference Final.

New York Red Bulls - Houston Dynamo 1-2 (3-4 on aggregate)
23′ Wright-Phillips – 36′ Davis, 104′ Cummings.
Attendance: 22.264 (almost sold out).

New York Red Bulls were the team to beat in this Playoffs, but their post season campaign proved to be disappointing again. The match started very well for the team from the Big Apple, or, better, New Jersey, because Wright-Phillips scored in the middle of the First-Half, but Houston equalized few minutes later with Brad Davis (both of goals were caused by embarassing mistakes from the GK and the defence). During Second Half there were no goals, so the game went to extra-time (no away goal rule in MLS), where Dynamo completed its second comeback (the first one in the first leg, from 0-2 to 2-2) thanks to a goal from Omar Cummings and confirmed itself as probably the best team from Eastern Conference in the recent years. Anyway NYRB have been very unlucky during the match, they dominated and missed several chances, probably deserving to go through, and Thierry Henry showed again that class has no age, and almost scored twice with bicycle kicks.