Like always, the MLS Playoffs defy expectations

  • Major League Soccer

  • Paul Pierre-Louis

After the final whistle blew at Centurylink Field in Seattle, several players on the Portland Timbers threw their hands towards the heavens before embracing each other.

After 120 minutes of energy-sapping, end-to-end soccer, some of the Timbers players thought they had vanquished the Seattle Sounders to earn a spot in the Western Conference finals. MLS introduced the away-goals rule to the playoffs in 2014, but that tiebreaker has never applied after the end of regulation time. Looks like some of the players still aren’t hip to the rules.     

If Thursday night’s madness in Seattle is any indication, it’s hard to make much sense of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The Sounders, galvanized by the home crowd, took the initiative for much of the game. Striker Raul Ruidiaz continued to show why he has been Seattle’s most important player since joining the team in July. His 93rd-minute volley the took the game into extra time was part of a two-goal performance. But Portland slithered its way to penalty-shootout victory thanks to its very own Mr. November: Dairon Asprilla.

The Colombian forward/winger has tallied five goals and six assists in his Timbers regular-season career (79 games, or 3,579 minutes). However, over his 10 postseason games (563 minutes of action in total) Asprilla has three goals and four assists. For some reason, the dude transforms into a different player once it hits late October. Thursday was no different; Asprilla assisted Blanco on Portland’s first goal, headed the team into a brief extra-time lead, and scored the game-winning penalty kick.

Asprilla is proof that having one or two clutch performers makes all the difference in the playoffs.

Speaking of clutch players, Real Salt Lake just lost one of its own.

Albert Rusnak earned a suspension last Sunday for first-half yellow card against Sporting Kansas City. It was his second yellow of the playoffs, which sidelines him for the second leg at Kansas City.

I absolutely hate yellow-card accumulation rules in tournament soccer. Given the stakes of each game, it’s far too punitive. This time, the rule strips RSL of one of its best attackers, who happened to score what might end up being the goal of the playoffs.

There’s still hope for RSL. If it can disrupt Sporting Kansas City’s possession-based game like it did last week, Rusnak’s absence might be less noticeable. Sporting, on the other hand, need to continue its effective press, which led to its vital away goal in the first leg.

It would also help if Sporting defensive midfielder Ilie Sanchez — the team’s most prolific passer — completes more than 67 percent of his passes on Sunday. Averaging roughly 70 passes per game, Sanchez is the team’s fulcrum in possession. The Spaniard was 26-of-41 in the first leg. Needless to say, Kansas City will need better from Sanchez if it is going to avoid an upset. 

Would anyone be surprised if the New York Red Bulls underperform in the playoffs again?

Toward the end of just about every season, I get the same text from my buddy and fellow Red Bulls fan. It’s something along the lines of, “I can’t wait to see the Red Bulls choke in the playoffs again.”

New York has won four of the past six Supporters’ Shields, which goes to the club with the best regular-season record. Over that same six year span, the Red Bulls have reached the conference finals twice. 

This year it finished with the highest point total (71) and number of wins (22) in regular-season history en route to club’s sixth Supporters’ Shield overall. The Red Bulls have achieved all of this because they are the most complete organization — from youth development and coaching to designated-player acquisitions — in the league. Despite all of this, every playoff campaign is met with sheer pessimism from fans.       

And with good reason, sort of.

It’s not as if New York fails to show up in knockout competitions. It reached the US Open Cup Final in 2017 and made a run to the 2017-18 CONCACAF Champions League semifinals. An inexplicable scoreless draw at home to Chivas Guadalajara in the second leg sealed New York’s fate in the latter. 

Therein lies the Red Bulls’ problem in two-legged playoff matches. They have an awful history entering second-leg matchups after losing the first leg. In fact, they have never advanced after falling in the first leg.

With that in mind, last Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Columbus Crew SC feels like a death sentence. The Red Bulls probably deserved a 1-1 draw, but Crew goalkeeper Zack Steffen stood on his head — as he tends to do in the playoffs.

I’ll be at Red Bull Arena on Sunday hoping New York break its second leg curse. I’m cautiously optimistic. The Red Bulls haven’t allowed a goal at home since Aug. 5. Additionally, the Crew is one of the worst road teams still in the playoffs. But if the Red Bulls attack looks stale from the outset, I will be preparing myself for the worst.

If only the Red Bulls could grind out a result in the postseason like Atlanta. On that topic…

The playoffs have awakened a newer, grittier Atlanta United

During the World Cup, I voiced my disappointment toward the way France coach Didier Deschamps set up his team during the tournament. His squad was filled with players who specialize in playing fluid, deadly attacking soccer. But Deschamps was set on being overly conservative, a style which ultimately led to France winning its second-ever World Cup.

Tata Martino’s Atlanta United took some pieces of that pragmatism over to the Bronx for United’s 1-0 victory over New York City FC. Atlanta is known for playing the most attractive soccer in the league. It’s quick, incisive, build-from-the-back offense led to a league-best 70 goals during the regular season. Against NYCFC, however, United didn’t even bother to employ its usual style.

Once Eric Remedi bundled in a rebound off a corner to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead, the team began playing negative soccer the likes we have never seen from Martino’s bunch. United opted to concede possession to NYCFC and force them to break down a compact defensive structure, which it had no success in doing. Of its only eight shots in total, NYCFC failed to register any of them on target.

Atlanta will be back on home soil for the second leg, where it will get to play on a vastly superior surface at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Expect United to play its usual style Sunday, but if it can revert to its grind-out tactics at will, we could be looking at the MLS Cup favorite.