All throughout the late summer and early autumn, I predicted that the Seattle vs. LA home-and-home to end the regular season would be the best regular season games in league history. My rationale was that these are two high-octane offensive teams, both better at going toward goal than defending it, who would come out for blood with a title on the line. The games would be amazing.
But they really weren't. Seattle had a nice comeback in the first game (a 2-2 draw at StubHub), and then finally cracked open the Galaxy defense in the last 15 minutes of the second to clinch the Supporters' Shield.
They were great results for the Sounders, but... meh. We'd seen both these teams play so much better this season. I was left wanting more.
So now I am happy. LA and Seattle get the Western Conference Championship started on Sunday evening (5 pm ET; ESPN), and... well, I think we're finally going to see those fireworks I expected in October.
Chalk on the Boots
LA started this season as maybe the narrowest team in the league. In retrospect, I'm not exactly sure why.
Their transformation over the course of 2014 has been pretty magnificent, including a two-month late-summer run that produced some of the best attacking soccer this league has ever seen. From July 28 through October 4, LA went 10-1-3 with a +25 goal differential. That run started with a 3-0 win at CenturyLink over Seattle:
Oof. Ok, so the Galaxy were good in transition in that one. What else is new, right?
The answer is "the positioning of Marcelo Sarvas," the do-everything No. 8 who is quietly crucial to LA's gameplan on both sides of the ball. He's been absolutely superb at taking up that spot between the opposing central midfield and central defense this year, playing a more attacking role with the Galaxy on the front foot so often. And as on the play above, Sarvas has shown the ability to unlock the defense with his vision and touch.
This is a problem for Seattle, who will be playing with - at best - a hobbled Ozzie Alonso. After the way he grabbed his hamstring two weeks ago, I'll be surprised if he plays at all.
Alonso is expert at covering not only that area of the field, but also at flaring out to the sidelines to cover for overlapping fullbacks (we'll get more into that in a minute), or to jam up passing lanes to cut off opposing wide midfielders.
Uh oh:
That GIF is the start of LA's first goal in the 5-0 demolition of RSL two weeks back (you can watch the whole thing HERE), and it's notable for two reasons: first is that both Stefan Ishizaki and Landon Donovan, the wide midfielders, started out on their respective touchlines; second is that Sarvas had set up camp in that spot of his between the lines.
With Robbie Keane and Gyasi Zardes commanding so much attention in the 18, that allowed Donovan to use his speed and get around the outside.
It's a lot to keep track of.
Tactical Outlook: 4-4-2 "Y" midfield with Donovan and Ishizaki starting way out wide
X-factor: Underlaps When Ishizaki plays right midfield, he stays wide in order to open an inside channel for A.J. DeLaGarza or Dan Gargan coming up from right back. This is danger for a Seattle team that has, at times, struggled tracking runners.
Attack to defend?
Compounding all of the above is that LA have one of the widest fields in the league, and now use it to their advantage. They go side-to-side more than anybody else in MLS, and are particularly adept at attacking down the left. Keane likes to set up in a channel there, and then let Donovan come around left, or dart inside to give Robbie Rogers space to get around the outside on the overlaps instead. Or he'll play square to Sarvas and then dive straight into the box himself.
Getting a handle on all of that can be problematic. Better to not face it in the first place, right?
Seattle have, in DeAndre Yedlin, a tool in their kit that no other team in MLS can claim. He's become the best overlapping fullback in the league, using his speed more selectively in attack and more proactively in defense:
That kind of coverage is eye-opening. Even more valuable, however, might be this:
You can see on that play that Donovan didn't really want to get tight and defend. Rogers, meanwhile, has turned into a better-than-expected left back very quickly, but he's not exactly Paolo Maldini out there. So if Seattle are willing to push Yedlin up into the attack, he will find space to be dangerous. And every moment the Galaxy are thinking about that is one fewer moment they get to think about going on attack themselves.
Will Sigi Schmid take that gamble, though? He had his team playing very conservatively in the semifinals vs. FC Dallas, with Yedlin pinned deeper than he had been all year. The US international has just four final third touches across the two games, which is less than half his per-game average for the regular season.
If you're still looking for the reason that FCD were able to put the clamps on Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins, well... there ya go.
Tactical Outlook: 4-4-2 with Yedlin pushed higher than against Dallas
X-factor:Marco Pappa changed both legs of the regular season home-and-home, adding another technical, creative attacker to the mix. When he stays wide LA will have to come out and meet him, which should leave room underneath for Dempsey and Martins
One more reason to watch: We're into the final days of Landon Donovan, professional soccer player.
