MLS Play-offs: Big should avoid slipping up (Part 1)
The MLS has come through leaps and bounds and is slowly becoming home to some of the biggest stars, especially the stars of this decade. U.S has finally started taking interest in ‘soccer’ owing to the national team’s brilliant performances
in the last few World Cups.
The regular MLS season is reaching its’ end as the top eight teams led by Los Angeles Galaxy and New York Red Bulls are eying glory in the MLS Cup and have already played the first legs of their 1stround ties. But there’s still
a lot to play for in the second round this coming week.
Real Salt Lake were tagged as underdogs last season as they were the 8th and final qualifier for last season’s play-off but defied all odds to reach the MLS Cup Final and winning it against L.A Galaxy on penalties.
However, it seems very unlikely that an underdog is going to tip the balance of MLS this time. The top dogs aren’t taking anything for granted and New York Red Bulls and Los Angeles Galaxy showed their intent in their 1st ties with
impressive victories away from home. Before the decisive return legs this week, let’s take a look at the ties and predict the winners:
New York Red Bulls Vs. San Jose Earthquakes
First leg: New York beat Earthquakes 1-0
The New York Red Bulls are enjoying a fairytale run of success this season, something; that they never thought could happen a year back. Last season, the Red Bulls were last in the Eastern Conference but the arrival of Thierry Henry and
Rafael Marquez from Barcelona sparked their season alive and New York Red Bulls beat Columbus Crew for the top spot.
San Jose Earthquakes were 6th in the Western Conference but qualified for the play-offs. They had Chris Wondolowski to thank for this though as the striker ended his year on a high and won the Golden Boot for being
the top scorer in MLS this season. The Brazilian Geovanni has started settling in and the Earthquakes are a very confident and adventurous side.
San Jose Earthquakes had a lot of chances in the first leg but were unable to convert these chances into goals and Joel Lindpere eventually grabbed the only goal of the game for New York Red Bulls. Going into New York this week, it’s too
much to ask for San Jose to get a win as the Red Bulls’ defence is not in a mood of taking prisoners these days.
Columbus Crew Vs. Colorado Rapids
First Leg: Colorado Rapids beat Columbus Crew 1-0
Columbus Crew were flying for much of the season and were destined for a top finish in the Eastern Conference. Then came the revival of New York Red Bulls as the New York team started piling pressure on the Crew with back to back run of
victories that panicked Columbus Crew as they stuttered and couldn’t hold on to their nerves and eventually finished behind the Red Bulls.
Colorado had a mixed year but they started grinding out results in the later part of the season and proved their goal scoring ability owing to the firepower they had at their disposal in Omar Cummings and Conor Casey. In the midfield,
Pablo Mastroeni gave the Rapids a one goal lead in the first leg of the play-offs against the Crew. Columbus Crew missed a lot of chances and were stretched by the Rapids’ attacking line constantly.
This tie is still wide open though as the Crew look to overturn the one goal deficit at home but an upset is in the cards as Colorado Rapids would be looking to preserve their advantage and just might be able to do that and will even have
a chance to improve on their lead.
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