MLS Review Week 29: And That’s the End of That Chapter

By: Daryl | October 21st, 2007

Beckham turns his back on MLS Thanks to Galaxy’s late season surge, we got the David Beckham vs Cuauhtémoc Blanco Designated Player West vs Mid-West showdown we all wanted in a game to decide the final and eighth playoff spot. And it was an injury prone former Manchester United midfielder who made the difference, scoring a 93rd minute winner to guarantee his team a place in the playoffs. Except it wasn’t David Beckham who covered himself in glory. It was Chicago Fire’s South African born American midfielder John Thorrington, who chipped the ball over Galaxy’s Joe Cannon to make it 1-0 and end Galaxy’s season right there.

In many ways football was also the winner in the DP showdown. Beckham would have been a big marketing draw in the post-season, but he’s still only half fit (he didn’t enter this game until the 58th minute) and if we’re honest he’s not as exciting to watch as Blanco. The broad shouldered Mexican looks likely to make something happen every time he gets on the ball. I would say he has ten times the flair of Becks, except that ten multiplied by zero is still zero. Blanco is one of the few MLS players people would genuinely pay money to see in action, and he’s also managed to be one of the flair players to successfully combine MLS showboating with direct results. It’s fair to argue that (along with Juan Pablo Angel) he’s been the most successful DP so far in MLS.

The other remaining playoff spot went to good ole Kansas City, who were third time lucky after screwing up their 2005 and 2006 two attempts. This time Scott Sealy hit two as KC beat Dallas 2-0, and MLSNet couldn’t resist the obvious headline. More interesting was Dallas coach Steve Morrow’s decision to bench DP Denilson. Is he just being rested before the playoffs start? Or is Morrow getting frustrated with the Brazilian, as most of his managers have at some point?

Elsewhere Chivas nailed top spot and homefield advantage in the West by drawing 0-0 with Houston, completing an outstanding regular season for rookie coach Preki.

And so the postseason starts this coming Thursday, and it looks like this (with full team names to lend the occasion some gravitas, playoff seedings so you know who did what and - most importantly reasons to watch)…

DC United (E1) vs Chicago Fire (E4)
- Best team in MLS vs the form team in MLS, plus the Blanco factor. Should be good.
New England Revolution (E2) vs New York (E3)
- It’s like Red Sox vs Yankees, sort of, except it’s not baseball so it might even be entertaining. Will be great to see NYRB’s JA x 2 strike partnership catch fire during the postseason.
Chivas USA (W1) vs Kansas City Wizards (W4)
How far can EJ take the Wizards? And how great that previously unfancied Chivas are in the postseason as top Western team? All -neutrals should be supporting the Goats because they’re the MLS underdogs.
Houston Dynamo (W2) vs FC Dallas (W3)
-The Texas derby is back, which means everyone gets to hate on Carlos Ruiz again. Ricardo Clark is still doing hard time, but the rest of the Dynamos will be out to get him. Also, if ever there was a time for Denilson to step up and prove he’s not an early has been, this is it.