Five years is an eternity (or thereabouts) in the world of soccer. Managers change, players change, tactics and strategies evolve, expand, or disappear entirely. Entire rosters are torn down and remade. That's the way it goes in this business.
Except for Real Salt Lake and the LA Galaxy. When those two sides take the field in the first leg of the Western Conference semifinals on Saturday night (8 pm ET; NBCSN), no fewer than 11 players who featured in their 2009 MLS Cup showdown could see action. Nine of them are likely to start.
Death, taxes, and these two teams meeting in the postseason.
Here's a look at what to expect:
Make the game small
You have them trapped against the touchline, you have numbers up, and you've cut off the long switch. Your shape is good. This is textbook pressure.
And then, in a blink, it turns out you're just series of orange cones.
RSL are still the best in the league at working the ball through tight spaces, and thus turning your commitment into over-commitment. It's been part of their gameplan since 2007, and it will be once again against the Galaxy. They'll be more composed when the game is compact than when it’s wide open, and they'll do everything in their power to make the game small on one side of the field, then dare you to chase them.
If you follow their overload, they'll slide it back central and go right at you, usually down the left-central channel. RSL own that spot of the field like no one else in the league, and if you can't stop them there, you can't stop them.
In true "the team is the star" fashion, there is no one guy who's the key to the whole thing. Javier Morales finished second in the league in chances created, and he's one of the great playmakers the league has ever seen, but there's also Ned Grabavoy. And Joao Plata. And Sebastian Velasquez or Luis Gil off the bench, or Kyle Beckerman pushed up into spots where d-mids don't usually work, and even Luke Mulholland shows that he's not out there just to make up the numbers.
It can go static, however. RSL are perhaps more reliant upon "sharpness" – and no, I can't specifically define that – than any other team in the league. And one guy who hasn't been particularly sharp lately is Alvaro Saborio, the big No. 9 who needs to do two things: hold the ball in possession and be goal-dangerous without it.
Still, though, this is RSL in the postseason. This group knows what it's doing, as has been the case since 2009.
Tactical Outlook: 4-4-2 diamond that they've been using forever
X-factor: How much rust will Chris Schuler have to shake off after missing most of October with a broken face?
Built for the postseason
Bruce Arena's has made nine previous trips to the playoffs. He's made it all the way to MLS Cup in six of them. The man knows how to win postseason slugfests.
I've written reams about how great the Galaxy's attack has been this season, and I honestly think that from July through early October, they were the single most entertaining team in league history. They went HAM on all comers (except the Crew) and scored some absolutely dazzling goals.
But while offense wins during the regular season, it's defense that rules the day in the playoffs. And that's why Arena's teams are always, always a factor.
That should be the same again in 2014. The Galaxy tied for the league lead with only 37 goals allowed, and they did it by limiting looks. LA only gave up 131 shots on goal all season, which was - again - tied for the league lead.
Defense is boring, though, so let's talk about the attack. LA, like RSL, are a strong possession team. But rather than making the game small, they want to go side-to-side and use the entire width of the field, stretching the opponent out before finding the right seam to run through:
Robbie Keane, who will probably play after missing last week's regular-season finale on Seattle's turf, is the focal point, but Landon Donovan's timing and precision is the force magnifier that makes LA so tough to contain. Add in Gyasi Zardes – who only does like three things out there, but all of them well – and the clever "extra man" work of Baggio Husidic, Stefan Ishizaki and Marcelo Sarvas, and the Galaxy end up throwing too many moving parts out there.
The Galaxy scored 69 goals because of stuff like this:
But... they only scored two against RSL in 270 minutes this year. And they're winless in three. LA may be favorites, but this series will be just as tight as it's always been between these two teams.
Tactical Outlook: 4-4-2 "Y" midfield with Donovan pinching in from the left and Robbie Rogers overlapping
X-factor:Jaime Penedo. He can be awesome at times, but he was bad in October
One more reason to watch:Nick Rimando might do something like this:
