Davis: Managers' influence shows in playoff openers
Tactical moves from MLS coaches had positive, negative effects on their clubs
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Indeed, it is all about performance from the 22 between the white lines.
On the other hand, how the chess pieces are arranged and what players are asked to do surely affects it all. And this is where managers can and do stir their influence into important matches.
Mistakes helped decide three of four contests in the opening playoff weekend. But the managers gave us a lot to talk about, too.
True, no one on the Columbus sideline told Frankie Hejduk to lose concentration uncharacteristically in the late minutes of his team's 1-0 loss to Real Salt Lake.
And no one instructed L.A. rookie Omar Gonzalez to react so tentatively in the first half on Chivas USA's first chance. Nor did they teach the poor choice he made in a second-half blunder. Same for two sloppy sequences for Chivas USA near its goal that the Galaxy punished with no prejudice in the "Hallway Series" in Carson, Calif.
Chicago Fire coaches had surely warned against conceding too many set piece opportunities to an injury-depleted New England attack, one that might have had little else to lean on. But Chicago did just that, and now it's "advantage New England" as that series heads into Illinois.
So, players surely decided the matches. But just as surely, the managers have given us a buffet of talking points to bat around between legs.
Columbus manager Robert Warzycha's personnel choices will surely be a touchy topic in Ohio soccer circles. Faced with a short turnaround and mulling an offense that's gone a little stale lately, he elected to leave reigning league MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto and first-choice striker Alejandro Moreno on the bench during Saturday's loss in the Utah mountains. Steven Lenhart and Emilio Renteria were preferred instead.
Moreno had just four goals and one lone assist this year, and Renteria looks promising. So that one may be a push, although Moreno's big edge in experience could have made a difference. As for Schelotto, his 12 goals and three assists, not to mention his big-game savvy and general bull-headed competitiveness, were surely missed by the travelers at Rio Tinto.
It was a calculated gamble on Warzycha's part. With just four days (plus travel) between matches he opted for caution, resting the Crew's heart, soul and playmaking conductor.
"We didn't score any goals the last five games when they were on the field, so I felt like maybe we should go with a different combination," Warzycha said. "When were at home earlier this season against Real Salt Lake we had Jason Garey and (Steven) Lenhart and we won 3-1. We had to occupy two defenders, which we did, but we didn't create many chances."
The chess match was simply delicious inside The Home Depot Center, where Chivas manager Preki and Galaxy counterpart Bruce Arena engaged in 90 full minutes of tactical thrust and parry.
Preki arranged his team in an ultra-conservative five-midfield alignment, with Sacha Kljestan playing centrally behind a striker -- but WAY behind the lone frontrunner. It was more of a gamble because Kljestan has manned that role so infrequently this year. (On the other hand, it's not like he was tearing it up from his usual spot, so what the heck?) Meanwhile, Preki asked rookie midfielder Michael Lahoud to man-mark David Beckham, who finally got into an MLS playoff game.
That part worked well, as Beckham's shadow was always nearby, limiting the English international's time to spray those killer passes into Landon Donovan and others.
So Arena adjusted, switching Beckham out to the right and bringing Chris Birchall into the middle to sit in a dual holding role with Dema Kovalenko. The result was a watered-down Galaxy offense; Beckham influenced the match, but not as he has recently from that roaming central role.
Preki responded by re-aligning his team have into the 4-4-2 he typically prefers, with Kljestan supplying the attacking push from his left sided midfield post. Justin Braun moved up into a forward spot, while Paulo Nagamura and Marcelo Saragosa also shifted around in the midfield.
Searching for solutions to awaken his strangely lethargic side -- and with Lahoud safely on the bench and out of consideration for Chivas USA -- Arena moved Beckham back into the middle for the game's stretch run, and re-deployed Donovan into a second striker spot.
Preki's choice to have Lahoud shadow Beckham seems to have caught Arena off guard. It won't happen again, as the Galaxy boss will surely have a plan to deal with it in case Chivas does the same in Sunday's "return" leg.
Chicago manager Denis Hamlett has kept Cuauhtemoc Blanco on the bench lately, electing for influence by insertion somewhere near the 65th minute. But Blanco was in the starting lineup Sunday, providing immediate results. On the other hand, the Fire offense did gradually fade, with New England clearly in charge after halftime. So it's a choice that Hamlett will have to continue weighing carefully before Saturday's conclusion in Bridgeview.
On the other bench, New England manager Steve Nicol was forced into making a tactical adjustment when Lithuanian striker Edgaras Jankauskas took ill and needed to be removed just after halftime. Shalrie Joseph moved out of the midfield and into the striker spot as he has so often this year. Eventually, the Revolution do-all was in the right spot, once again manufacturing a decisive moment as he beat Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch to a bouncing ball in front of goal.
Not that Nicol had many choices. Still, some managers may have kept Joseph in his natural spot, playing things a little safer instead of going more aggressively for the series lead.
TACTICAL CORNER
So, in an unexpected twist, the first-leg goals came from the pair of matches that seemed like scoreless draws waiting to happen.
The defensive boo-boos created opportunities in The Home Depot Center, so that one was easy to explain. But what happened at Gillette Stadium, where the sides ran up and down the field like it was track and field day at the local elementary school? It really was entertaining match.
"Previously, I think the games between both of these teams have just been clogged down with real physical challenges and stuff," Nicol said. "But they make up for them on the break. It means that that doesn't happen. We're obviously at home, so we have to really push the game, which means we're going to leave some holes at times. So I guess that's probably why it was such an open game."
With the game squeezed into the midfield (especially with Columbus playing a fairly high line on defense), without the benefit of something special from Schelotto and with a match that turned quite physical, there really wasn't too much happening in a contest where the sides combined for a paltry four shots on goal.
In no particular order, there's also Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Brad Davis, Freddie Ljungberg, Javier Morales and others. So, who serves up the absolute gem of the first round so far in terms of dead-ball service? Yep ... Kenny Mansally.
The Revolution midfielder's free kick just before the break Sunday swung the momentum decidedly in the Revs' favor. Chicago had started so brightly, with Chris Rolfe and Marco Pappa owning the flanks for the game's first 20 minutes or so. Brian McBride was lively, too, getting on the business end of all that good flank work and coming oh-so-close on two occasions. (McBride was expertly locating the gaps around New England's young center backs, who just couldn't seem to keep him close enough in the early going.) But New England limited the damage and when Fire center back C.J. Brown imprudently fouled just outside the penalty area, it gave home team the needed opening.
"Sometimes that's what it's going to be in the playoffs," said Joseph, who later scored when Chicago couldn't clear a corner kick. "Set pieces can make or break you. (Osei's goal) came off of Kenny (Mansally) whipping a great ball. That's what playoff games are about, creating chances off of set pieces."
Pappa and Rolfe's work on the right, and Blanco's propensity to drift to the right made for an awfully long day for Jay Heaps. The Revs' left back has had a terrific season, but Sunday was a tough one for him.
Steve Davis is a freelance writer who has covered Major League Soccer since its inception. Steve writes for www.DailySoccerFix.com and can be reached at BigTexSoccer@yahoo.com. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
