three 1-0 results and a scoreless tie.
Take, for example, the last two seasons. In 2006, eight goals were scored in the first leg, 12 in the second. In 2005, five were recorded in the opening game, 12 in the second.
If the total goals series are tied after the 90-minute second leg, a 30-minute extra-time period will be played. If the things are still deadlocked, a penalty-kick shootout will determine who moves on to the Eastern Conference final next Thurs., Nov. 8.
Will history made and the lower seeds pull off a couple of upsets? Or will the favorites prevail?
From one extreme to the other: If there are upsets, the conference final could be a Cinderella affair between the Red Bulls (12-11-7) and Fire (10-10-10), a rare meeting of lower seeds. If the favorites prevail, the top two seeds vie for spot in MLS Cup.
In case you're wondering, bottom-seeded teams have met only twice before in conference finals and both were in the Western Conference -- the No. 3 Dallas Burn vs. No. 4 Colorado Rapids in 1997 and No. 3 Colorado vs. No. 4 Los Angeles Galaxy, the eventual champion, in 2005.
No. 1 D.C. United vs. No. 4 Chicago Fire, RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C. (Thursday, 7:30 p.m., ESPN2)
The first leg: Last week's game could not have worked out any better for the Fire, unless of course, Chicago scored a second goal. The Fire took advantage of defender Greg Vanney's failure to win a challenge some 30 yards out to allow Chris Rolfe to score in the 14th minute at Toyota Park -- the only goal en route to a 1-0 win.
Without the injured Luciano Moreno (league-best 20 goals) and Jaime Moreno (he is Mr. MLS Playoffs), United's attack was reduced to a shell of itself. Yes, those two strikers came later in the match, but goalkeeper Matt Pickens was not severely tested.
The second leg:> Both teams know what they have to do.
The Fire needs to defend well behind the likes of Wilman Conde, Gonzalo Segares and C.J. Brown and defensive midfielder Chris Armas and throw in a counterattack once in a while to keep United honest and -- who knows? -- perhaps get a second goal.
Chicago's key man is MVP finalist Cuauhtémoc Blanco, who has become the man -- some might say the convenient villain -- many fans (well know the Fire supporters) and observers love to hate. He has demonstrated he will do anything he can to win, even if it means throwing his body around, trying to secure a foul, free kick or card.
United needs Emilio and Moreno to be healthy, start and play long stretches and score to equalize and force at least extra time. If they can't, D.C. will be in trouble. They both practiced Tuesday and are hopeful of playing.
United doesn't necessarily have to score early, but it has to avoid playing nervously as it did early on last week, when it showed little confidence without its two main men up front.
However, there is no room for error this time around for United, which can't afford to make another mistake leading to a goal early on and fall further behind.
United is talking a good game.
"We're excited to be back home," coach Tom Soehn said. "I wouldn't want to play us in our building. Our guys are excited to get after them. We've got some unfinished business."
Brown, a veteran defender, realizes his team is on a roll, but he isn't bragging about any accomplishment, at least not yet.
"We squeaked into the playoffs," Brown was quoted in a blog Chicago Tribune. "Yeah, we've been playing well. People are going to open their eyes a little bit. But D.C. is the best team in the league. I'll never take that away from them.
"I don't think we deserve a lot of credit. Like I said, we squeaked in."
Outlook: Incredibly, the Fire are 5-0-1 vs. United in the postseason, scoring 11 goals and not allowing any.
Two years ago, the underdog Fire entered the second-leg match after playing a scoreless tie at home. Chicago romped to a stunning 4-0 triumph at RFK, jolting the higher-seeded side.
D.C. has several motivations to advance, including pride, embarrassment of not reaching its true postseason potential again after winning the Supporters' Shield for the second successive season (under two different coaches) and the carrot that it will play host to MLS Cup on Nov. 18. On paper, United has the better team. But in the playoffs, paper means nothing.
United can't afford another embarrassing early exit, no matter what the circumstances.
The Fire, on the other hand, would love to inflict some more capital punishment on the favorites once again.
No. 2 New England Revolution vs. No. 3 New York Red Bulls, Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass., (Saturday, 7:30 p.m., Fox Soccer Channel)
The first leg: There is ying to every yang, especially in soccer. The Red Bulls went out with an attacking game plan, while the Revs were content to sit back, defend and hope for a Red Bulls' mistake on the other side of the ball.
So, the Red Bulls enjoyed possession most of the match, but could not solve the Revs due to poor finishing and a solid defensive effort. New England walked out of Giants Stadium with what it had wanted after it struggled to get results down the stretch: a draw, a scoreless one at that. You knew it was one of those games as Revs standout defender Michael Parkhurst was forced to draw a rare yellow card, his first yellow card of the season (sorry folks, it's too late to pull back your Fair Play Award ballot), fouling Jozy Altidore.
The Red Bulls backline played well as did goalkeeper Jon Conway, who became only the second keeper in club history to start in consecutive years in the playoffs (Jonny Walker did in 2003 and 2004 when the team was known as the MetroStars).
The second leg: The soccer boots Saturday night should be on the other feet, so to speak, as the onus is on the Revs to score as they are the favored side and home team.
The Red Bulls say they won't sit back defensively like the Revs and try to play for a tie, but in soccer, actions speak so much louder than words. So, we'll have to wait until Saturday night.
The longer the game remains scoreless or tied, the more advantage to the underdog Red Bulls, who say they're not intimidated by their past record at Gillette (0-9-3. including playoffs). The last time they won there was a 2-0 win on June 29, 2002 (Clint Mathis, in his second stint with the team, is the lone current Red Bulls/MetroStars player who played in that game. He set up both goals, but admitted he doesn't remember a thing).
"That stuff, that's for stats," Altidore said of the Red Bulls record up north. "Who cares how many times we haven't won there. We can beat this team. We showed today. We showed throughout the year. They have been very lucky. Now it's time to prove it. We're talked about it so much. Now we have to do it."
If you take a look at the rosters, New England has the better side, from goalkeeper Matt Reis to defender Parkhurst to midfielders Shalrie Joseph and Steve Ralston and forward Taylor Twellman.
"We're confident," Ralston told The Boston Globe. "We've been in this situation before and we know how to get it done. We just need to go home and win. We'll be the aggressors."
The Red Bulls? Striker Juan Pablo Angel, an MVP finalist, is the class of the team. Altidore is an up-and-coming star (will Saturday's game be his last in MLS). But in comparison to the Revs, there are no impact players in their rest of their platoons.
Translated, coach Bruce Arena is going to need a collective effort to overcome their rivals.
Red Bulls left fullback Dave van den Bergh left Saturday's game with a left calf strain. He wasn't list on an injury report, although he did not practice with the team Tuesday. Goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus, who did not make the game roster after aggravating an ankle injury, trained with the team.
Outlook: It has been proven difficult to overcome the Revs at a home playoff game. They're 6-0-3, outscoring their opposition in the postseason at Gillette since the stadium opened in 2002. Not too shabby, not too shabby at all.
A loss could shatter that.
The Red Bulls will be fighting their history of a dozen years of playoff futility. They're in 6-12-4 in the postseason -- 1-8-3 on the road -- and have failed to reach the second round seven out of eight times. Not very good, not very good at all.
A win would make a whole lot of people get amnesia about the past.
Michael Lewis covers soccer for the New York Daily News and is editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He can be reached at SoccerWriter516@aol.com. Views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
