Obviously the big talk coming out of FC Dallas' 2-1 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps on Wednesday night is going to be about the handball referee Mark Geiger called on Kendall Waston late in the game. It gave Michel a penalty kick, and since Michel is the best PK taker since either Patrice Bernier or Matt Le Tissier (you pick), that was pretty much game over.
It was a debatable call. It was a harsh way to lose. And sometimes, the game can be cruel like that.
Here are a few other thoughts from the first game of the 2014 MLS Cup Playoffs, presented by AT&T:
1. Pareja rolls the dice
Oscar Pareja took the Colorado Rapids to the playoffs in 2013, and once he got there he was possessed by the ghost of Eddie Firmani and decided to move Shane O'Neill - who'd been a rock at center back all year – to right back. And the Rapids got steamrolled.
Fast forward 12 months, and there was Papi again playing around with his lineup and formation. In came Walker Zimmerman, who'd played just once since August. That pushed Zach Loyd, who'd been converted from right back to central defense, out wide to left back.
Out went David Texeira, and in came Mauro Diaz, who had been mostly injured since April. Out went the 4-4-2, in came the 4-2-3-1.
It wasn't pretty. FCD's network passing graph is a jumble in midfield, which speaks to the spacing issues they struggled with throughout:
That's incredibly narrow, and in large part played right into the hands of Vancouver's deep banks of four. Dallas were rarely dangerous in possession, which continues a trend we've seen from them over the last couple of months.
But this is FC Dallas, right? They don't have to be dangerous in possession, because they beat you in other ways.
2. Dallas in transition
The gameplan when going up against Dallas is to prevent them from getting out on the break and just running away from you. If MLS teams got together for a 4x100 track meet, FCD would be prohibitive favorites to take gold, and they're not just runners - they can dribble you, too.
So it was pretty much all hands on deck for the 'Caps, and clutch and grab as much as you can to slow Dallas down. Fabian Castillo was a particularly ripe target:
That play right there represented one of just two times all night that Castillo got loose. The other came late in second-half stoppage time with most of Vancouver's back line pushed up in a desperate attack. The 'Caps did well to mark him down for the vast majority of the evening, and Matias Laba was my choice for man of the match;
A lot of things go wrong here from a Vancouver point of view. I have no idea what Waston was doing on that play, and Andy O'Brien seemed to have an out-of-body experience between the second and third hops.
But without Diaz's quickness, balance and touch, the 'Caps get away with it all. He had just enough of the first two to get away from O'Brien and into space, and his overabundance of the third meant he was able to slip Tesho Akindele the perfect ball in the 18.
You don't really get too many chances like this in the playoffs, so you've got to make good on the ones that cross your path. Both Diaz and Akindele came good.
3. Go long and don't prosper
While the 'Caps had the right ideas in defense, their decision to go with almost exclusively long balls in attack had me scratching my head. Playing over the top to poor Erik Hurtado, who was matched up against two giants in Zimmerman and Matt Hedges, just wasn't going to work.
They really suffered for it in the first half:
Things got better after the break, and they deserved to pull the goal back. Hurtado got it on a scrum in the box after Dallas couldn't quite clear their lines following a Mauro Rosales (who was fantastic) set piece.
It wasn't enough, though, particularly with Pedro Morales hobbled. His injury prevented the 'Caps from matching Dallas on the break, and forced for a more compact game once he was subbed off. While they threatened more following the insertion of Kekuta Manneh, they still didn't threaten a lot, and ended up hoping for chances rather than crafting them.
The numbers told the story as the 'Caps completed just 65 percent of their passes, their lowest number all season, and only had two shots from inside the 18 all night.
In other words: this year, Pareja's gambles paid off.
