The only Leg 1 match-up that didn't really live up to the hype was the 1-1 draw between FC Dallas and the Seattle Sounders last weekend. Yes, there were a few moments, and yes, the intensity was largely there.
But Seattle went to Texas playing for a low-scoring affair and got it, while Dallas went into the game playing without their best player and looked it. No Mauro Diaz meant no touch of magic for the hosts, and no need to risk getting exposed at the back meant not much endeavor from the visitors.
It'll be different on Monday night (10:30 pm ET; NBCSN, NBC LiveExtra, TSN2, RDS2). Diaz is back on one side, and Seattle will want to go to goal on the other. That's a good mix.
Here's what to expect:
Exploiting Dallas in transition
Since Dallas must press for at least a goal, Seattle will look to take whatever space FCD give them.
Unlike most teams, the Sounders don't look to use that space by getting in behind. They were last in the league in through-balls attempted and completed, and while they have some speed out there, nobody – not even Obafemi Martins – is the kind of "break away from the back and get in on goal" attacker that LA, New York and, yes, Dallas all boast.
Martins probably could fill that role, but he's better playing in combination than as an individualist. He and Clint Dempsey created a seemingly infinite number of goals like this in 2014:
They don't use their speed to blow by you (Dempsey straight-up can't); they use it to force you to collapse, then split you apart with the slip pass.
Dallas didn't give Oba & Deuce a real chance to make a play like that in Leg 1, which speaks to FCD's good shape and to the discipline in the backline.Dallas center back Matt Hedges has been legitimately great this season, while Zach Loyd has given them an added dimension – he can scramble to make plays like few defenders in the league. So they were able to wait, and wait, and wait, and never quite overcommit.
So those two guys won't be easy for Seattle to go at. And in what is perhaps a bigger concern, nobody else on the Sounders looked much like they could help get the attack going:
However, Seattle will have Gonzalo Pineda back to steady the ship in central midfield, so that overall number should jump. And even though the Sounders aren't a pure possession team in the way that LA, RSL or Columbus are, the ability to hold the ball in midfield remains crucial to what they want to do. Everything about them is "draw you toward us, then release Martins & Dempsey on the interior, or Marco Pappa & Lamar Neagle on the flanks, or DeAndre Yedlin on the overlap." It's about springing a trap.
Dallas just didn't allow them to play that game back in this series' first 90 minutes. Good luck stopping it over 180, though.
Tactical Outlook: 4-4-2 amoeba with Pappa getting the start wide left to add penetration.
X-factor: Yedlin's crossing has gotten so much better. The Galaxy gave him too much space three weeks ago, and he punished them. If Dallas do the same, he will serve up at least one good look for his attackers.
X-factor Part II:Andy Rose has popped up with a few goals out of central midfield this year, and is the only Seattle central midfielder who really loves making those delayed runs - the kind that we've seen a bunch of goals happen on in these playoffs. Just sayin'.
FCD's "right" balance
Dallas can win this game. They're that good.
They weren't that good in Leg 1, however. The problem was a lack of balance, with the "3" line of the 4-2-3-1 focused mostly on getting chances instead of playing together to create chances. Fabian Castillo had a breakout season and the talent to be an MVP, but, well, I agree with this:
Putting him out there on the same line as Tesho Akindele and Andres Escobar may have had some "on paper" merit, but on grass it was ugly. Seattle held Dallas to just six shots on the day, and as Castillo drifted higher and higher – he finished the game basically as a second forward – he had less and less of a say on how it all turned out.
Enter Diaz. He'll create chances from the hole just underneath the lone striker (sure to be Blas Perez), hopefully occupying the attention of Pineda and Osvaldo Alonso even when he's nowhere around the ball.
Diaz, you see, does magic:
When Seattle were busy closing down Dallas players in Leg 1, they really only had to worry about that individual battle. In Leg 2, when closing down Diaz they'll have to worry about him shielding them just enough to send Castillo or one of the other jackrabbits out there into space. And while Chad Marshall has been Defender of the Year-worthy, he's not going to win footspeed duels against the FCD guys. Neither is Zach Scott.
This is always the worry for 4-4-2 teams when they face 4-2-3-1 teams. If you lose the numbers battle outright, you risk giving the playmaker chances to just rip you apart. We saw Peguy Luyindula just smash D.C. into little pieces like that, and Luyindula – who has been excellent, and the perect foil for Thierry Henry – is no Diaz.
Tactical Outlook: 4-2-3-1 with Diaz pulling the strings.
X-factor: Will Oscar Pareja line Castillo up on the left, going directly at Yedlin? Doing so could pin the Sounders man back and remove a valuable weapon from their attack.
X-factor Part II: Set pieces. Always.
One more reason to watch: The Sounders are working their way toward the first MLS treble, or as the one Seattleite in the office calls it, "the Trip."
