New England Revolution, Colorado Rapids, Houston Dynamo and DC United advance to the conference finals
Just as most European leagues are getting on to the swing of things, America’s MLS is reaching its conclusion.
This weekend saw the Eastern and Western Conference semi finals played and highly entertaining they were, too.
The first Eastern semi saw New England Revolution triumph over Chicago Fire on penalties. Chicago had a 1-0 lead from the first leg and went further ahead in the 18th minute through a Nate Jaqua close-range finish after good work from Justin Mapp.
The Revs got back into the game when attacking talisman Taylor Twellman fired home from 12 yards and second-half sub Pat Noonan knocked in the second. With no away goals rule in the MLS, the game went into extra time and then penalties.
New England’s scary-looking keeper Jason Reis saved Ivan Guerrero’s penalty and it was Twellman who was the Revs hero again as he scored the winning penalty.
Twellman had a brief spell in the Bundesliga with 1860 Munch but never played a senior game – his record of 78 goals in 138 appearances in the MLS suggests that the 26 year old could have a successful second spell in Europe if he so wished.
The other match in the East was between DC United and NY Red Bull. The NY side had 38 year-old Youri Djorkaeff up front but it was his strike partner, twenty years his junior, who grabbed a goal for the visitors.
Sixteen-year-old Josmer Altidore headed home a Amado Guevara cross after 70 minutes to give the New Yorkers hope of taking the tie to extra time. Altidore is a powerful striker and with three goals in only seven appearances in the MLS this season, the young man of Haitian-descent has a bright future.
DC United managed to grab an equaliser on the night and the winner on aggregate when Christian Gomez squeezed home a near post finish with only four minutes to go that NY keeper Jon Conway should really have stopped.
Over in the West both semis ended with rather amusing scenes of chaos.
The match between FC Dallas and Colorado Rapids ended 4-4 on aggregate, the highest total score of all the ties, and was also won on penalties.
Colorado took the game into extra time by winning 3-2 on the night – Clint Mathis (remember his 2002 World Cup Mohawk haircut?) scored a blistering 20-yard half volley in the 114th minute to rescue the tie for the Rapids.
The decisive penalty was missed by Dallas keeper Dario Sala who then attacked the celebrating Colorado players as they were being pelted by the home fans with all manner of rubbish – good to see American fans swiftly picking up the habits of the Europeans.
Hunter Freeman and Jovan Kirovski were the subject of Sala’s ire with Kirovski saying: "He punched me from the back. I was minding my own business. It's a disgrace. They should fine him."
It’s the second campaign in a row that Dallas (who finished top of the Western conference) have been knocked out of the play-offs on penalties by Colorado.
The final game of the weekend also ended in anarchy. Chivas USA crashed out 2-0 to Houston Dynamo on the night and 3-2 on aggregate.
Chivas weren’t helped by the absence of top scorer Ante Razov through injury. Nor by captain and star striker Paco Palencia getting himself sent off on the hour by slapping Houston’s Ricardo Clark – who also deserved to be dismissed for his part in the confrontation but escaped with a yellow card.
Houston took advantage of their newly found numerical advantage by winning a penalty in the 64th minute with Brad Davis converting.
Chivas looked like they had done enough to take the game to extra time but with two minutes of the additional time almost up, they allowed the excellent Canadian midfielder Dwayne De Rosario too much room and his left-footed cross was eventually bundled home from three yards by Houston’s burly front man Brian Ching.
The final whistle went seconds later and it all went off with both squads facing off in a mass brawl involving both coaches and the police – hilarious stuff and a fitting end to a game that always looked like bubbling over after the Mexican’s red card.
The conference finals take place this weekend should provide as much entertainment as the semis last time out. It may lack finesse and skill, but the MLS certainly makes up for it with incident and drama.
