Canales Daily: Getting It Started

By Andrea Canales

This first round of Major League Soccer's playoffs is over and I'm not surprised at two things. One, that the games were less than thrilling. Two, that certain fans are less then thrilled with that.

But like the slow-bubbling lava flow that first predicts a volcanic eruption, the first round of games has set the stage for the playoffs to blow wide open.

It's close in all the contests. Every team still has a chance, and not just a "We can be like the '03 Quakes and score five goals in a game!" once-in-a-lifetime shot. No team is more than a goal behind in the current playoff contest. Most are even.

That's nailbiting, nothing to lose, go-for-the-goal territory. It's now or never for all the teams.

Home-field advantage can be something of a deceptive balm for some teams. When the '05 Chicago Fire headed out to DC United's ground for the second leg of their playoff series, many assumed D.C., the defending champions of MLS that year, would cruise to victory. After all, DC had played Chicago tough in the first leg, finishing with a scoreless result. Instead, a desperate and inspired Chicago team struck early on and rolled to a 4-0 victory.

Looking back, though, I think no MLS team managed to cram more drama into the first-round playoff games than FC Dallas. I miss that they're not around in this edition to give another mindboggling version of how-to-come-so-darn-close,-but-still-not-make-it. They lost in 2005 and 2006 on penalty kicks and in 2007 in overtime after leading the match for most of the game.

For now, though, Real Salt Lake are bringing the drama with their 90th minute man, Yura Movsisyan. How could anyone think about leaving a game until the actual blast of the final whistle when Movsisyan is on the field? He's only getting warmed up as the referee starts to count down the final seconds.

In the second game of the two-legged series, teams are done with the tactical, somewhat tentative feel out that is partly the result of the transitional period from the regular season to the more cutthroat nature of the playoffs.

Sometimes it seems that teams that survive the first round aren't the ones who really win - they're the ones who manage not to lose. The playoffs are the greatest indicator of strength under pressure that exists.

 

It is interesting that the team who seemed to have the coolness under fire down pat the most, the Houston Dynamo, are composed largely of a team who made classic first-round mistakes. In 2005, the squad was still in San Jose. The Earthquakes had compiled the league's best recod that season. But they came out recklessly in their away match against a desperate Galaxy team and paid dearly for it, losing 3-1. A jittery 'Quake team couldn't make up the deficit once they got home. They were eliminated.

 

Yet the squad learned to not repeat their history. Though the organization moved to Houston, many of the same veterans of the 2005 failure against the Galaxy became the core of the cool, calm Dynamo dynasty that has ruled MLS since then.

 

Most teams have learned to begin the playoffs cautiously, but just makes the contrast more intriguing when they throw that caution to the wind as time starts to run down.

 

It's as if the dull, defensive action of the first game is the vegetables of the playoffs that one has to eat before the dessert of the furious fighting finish in the return leg. Because in a way, the playoff action doesn't really start until the curtain rises on the second act.

Andrea Canales is Chief Editor of Goal.com USA