And so the 19th regular season of Major League Soccer came to a close. We've had our Landon Donovan retrospective, and we've bid farewell to Jay DeMerit and Carlos Bocanegra. The great Marco Di Vaio went out with a bang, as well. Logan Pause helped the Fire to a rare win in his last show.
And maybe – right? – Thierry Henry is next:
I've said it before, and I'll say it one more time: If you let them set up shop right there, they will rip you up. Chivas couldn't keep Joao Plata & Co. out of that sweet spot last Wednesday, and so the hosts took a comfortable 2-0 win and earned themselves 10 days of rest.
Plata is the Ecuadorian version of Nguyen – a player undervalued and overlooked because of circumstance. You can't rely upon finding treasure like that, but the success of New England and RSL this year shows that it's out there.
5. New York also took a comfortable 2-0 win, but they did so on the road – a new twist for them. Their victory in Kansas City was just their third road triumph of the season.
Wright-Phillips, as has been the case nearly all season long, was the star. He tied the single-season goals record jointly held by Wondolowski and Roy Lassiter with his 26th and 27th of the season, the first coming off a nice feed from Eric Alexander and the second after he just out-willed Aurelien Collin.
I'm of the opinion that the Red Bulls can and will compete for the Eastern Conference crown. Their defense isn't great, but it's gotten much better since pairing Alexander with Dax McCarty in central midfield, and that 6-2-1 record in their last nine is a pretty good indication of their current quality.
On the flip side, it's hard to make an argument for Sporting. They're exhausted and injured and, on Thursday, they'll play their fourth game in 12 days. They'll do it on the road against a confident New York with a rested Henry.
Things don't look good for the champs.
4. Things continue to look good – under-the-radar good – for the EasternConference leaders, though. D.C. got a 1-1 draw in Montreal on Saturday, which shows they still can't win when they play anything but Perry Kitchen and Davy Arnaud in central midfield together. That's OK, though, because those two will certainly be the pairing from here on out.
3. Two teams with plenty of questions, in central midfield and elsewhere, are the Fire and Dynamo. Chicago got a 2-1 win on Friday to end the season for both.
The big question in Chicago for 2015 will be how to get Harry Shipp and a hopefully healthy Mike Magee onto the same field and then onto the same page. For Houston, the questions are about age. Davis is about to turn 33, and Ricardo Clark will be 32 before next season starts. DaMarcus Beasley and Omar Cummings, meanwhile, both turn 33 in the middle of the 2015 season.
2. Our Pass of the Week goes to Martins. Yes, there were several this week that were better, but none meant more:
This is also a definitive play. More than anything else, I'll remember this season for how Martins and Dempsey were able to draw defenders to them, then viciously punish them with these little passes. It's already got them two trophies – HERE is the game-winning goal from the Open Cup final.
1. And finally, this is the best number of the year:
Nothing beats seeing the game live. Go enjoy the playoffs.
