Defense Wins Cup for Portland

It's interesting how I noticed different things watching the game from the stands versus watching it now, on a screen.

To put it simply, on the screen it looks more like a loosely called MLS match. In person, however, I noticed a man for man difference in quality and comfort with and around the ball. The passing and possession might not have been there for the Timbers (~70% passing as a team, ~40% possession), but they had no problem dispossessing Columbus players when they got into dangerous areas. Nor did they have any trouble working out or around Crew players stabbing at the ball. This effectively shut down a Crew SC that was hellbent on getting the ball crossed into Kei Kamara all season from deep wing positions.

Going back over it, Caleb Porter's Portland team was never really in trouble (only one shot on frame). The Columbus gameplan was no real secret and, with the benefit of hindsight, teams in the playoffs were able to shut down - Crew SC finished the playoffs with a losing record of three losses, two wins. All three teams they faced in the playoffs were able to beat them.

My short little video above is one possession later on in the game that shows the Timbers having no trouble with what the Crew were doing. In it, you see that the Crew had resorted (a bit) to having to get the ball into Kamara from deep. When Higuain gathers it he sends it over to the left wing (again, familiar) but two Portland players are there and have no trouble clearing the danger.

During the post game radio show here in town, Dwight Burgess and Neil Sika touched on the need for Columbus to enact a "plan B" when things aren't working and I couldn't agree more. Interesting, Columbus has another way of playing. If you look back at the end of last year (not the playoffs) and the game against DC that closed out the regular season this year, you see that Crew SC have options in playing style.

Perhaps next year will see more of a combination of the two instead of running just about everything through Kamara. Though, that did get them within a stone's throw of the Cup.

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Columbus finished the playoffs with 1.40 goals per game vs. 1.71 in the regular season. Their defense did improve with Gaston Sauro in the back line, even towards the end of the year. Regular season 1.56 goals against per game, 1.20 in the playoffs.

Portland did exactly what Cup winning teams do. Improved goal scoring in the playoffs and built on an already stout defense. 1.15 goals against all season, 1.00 in the playoffs. 1.83 goals for in the playoffs, 1.21 in the regular season.

Columbus, Portland, Today!

MLS Cup Final kicks off later today - 4 PM to be exact. Best of luck to both MLS organizations.

There were a dozen or so good narratives to sift through this week, but most of them took a backseat to both "mid-market" cities being excited to have a championship trophy to cheer for.

One question that has lingered over my head all week that the narratives didn't answer is - "How did these teams wind up in the final." The last two years have seen MLS open up the checkbook a little more to allow teams in big markets to buy top talent, but where are they today?

The easy trap to fall into is the one that says these two built "teams" instead of focusing on two, three or four high-quality players, theory being: "A team that works hard, regardless of money, beats out talent." It's very American to think this way. We've seen this narrative ever since the "DP" rule was introduced back in the late 2000s, but before this season started I looked at the last five years and found out that the folks that spent the most generally win things over the long haul.


Work and player chemistry is certainly important, but just like anything, it's a combination of things that have put Crew SC and the Timbers in the Final.

The two big ones for me are - 1. Gregg Berhalter and Caleb Porter are capable tacticians and have out managed the rest of the league and - 2. The two organizations are "all in." from the groundskeepers to the primary operator / investor.

The latter feeds the former.

The MLS Cup is IT for Anthony Precourt and Merritt Paulson. They don't have any other major sporting interests outside what they are doing in MLS. In many ways their teams are little kingdoms inside the MLS system. No stadium or office sharing with other pro sports. No operators who also run NFL teams or disconnected man-children of former founders of the league.

I don't want to compare this game too much to the one two years ago when Sporting KC and Real Salt Lake wound up in the final, but it is like that in a number of ways. I wouldn't mind a league (or soccer pyramid!) filled with teams from Salt Lake, Kansas City, Columbus and Portland. Who wouldn't?

I'm looking very much forward to today's match. Money and expansion to more major markets (NY, LA, Atlanta, even Minneapolis) is going to make it harder for teams on a budget to continuously win hardware in MLS. Just like other leagues in the US, the larger the market, the more money it brings to owners / investors.

Let's look at the major pro leagues in the US and their recent winners:

NHL - Chicago (x3), LA (x2), Boston
NFL - Boston, Seattle, Baltimore, NY, Green Bay*, New Orleans*
MLB - KC*, San Francisco (x3), St. Louis, NY
NBA - San Francisco, San Antonio*, Miami (x2), Dallas, LA
*Not on the coast or in a huge market.

I've got 24 titles up there since around 2010 and only 4 (5 if you count St. Louis) are not in big-boy cities and this quick analysis doesn't take into account the opponents (which are usually large markets as well).

Each major league almost always has a large market playing in the final. In the NBA, the last time two smaller market teams played was 2007 when the Spurs played Cleveland (they did have that James guy, though) and before that? You have to go back to the mid 90s when Houston played Orlando. In baseball you have to go back nearly as far to find two little guys (1997, really, Marlins, Cavs).

The NFL is a little better. Two years ago had Seattle and Denver (if that counts). Anything with Pittsburgh doesn't really count because of their gigantic fan base but 2011 kinda counts with Green Bay and Pitt. Looking over the list, I'll have to say that my favorite Super Bowl matchup is 2003 - Tampa Bay and Oakland. I've looked up the ratings. Interestingly, NFL ratings have been growing since that game.

The league office likely preferred to have larger TV markets in the final for TV ratings as they have been dipping over recent years, but I truly believe the environment at the stadium today is going to be one of the best in MLS history.

It might not draw the figure they want on ESPN or Unimas and we will see lots of handwringing after the numbers are out... but, will show that dozens of other cities similar in size and history (not just another 4, 5, or 6) should have a chance to earn their way to a seat at the table. For me? Therein lays the key to unlocking the sport in this country. It might not be what the 20-28 MLS investors / groups want, but it would be awesome for tens of millions of soccer fans across North America and beyond.

[podcast] Red Cards in Helltown: MLS Cup Preview Show

RCiH team gets together to preview the MLS Cup - and a little bit more.

Wednesday, Cup Countdown...

Tony Tchani and Justin Meram are the last guys remaining from the 2011 Columbus Crew playoff season. That year they crashed out of the playoffs in the first round to the Colorado Rapids on a Thursday(?) in front of 8,000.

Meram didn't play that night, but Tchani did much to the surprise of just about everyone in Columbus. If you remember back, he was traded to Columbus in July and came into town unable to play due to injury. His start was a head scratcher. Looking back now we see that Robert Warzycha's faith in him as a player wasn't completely misguided. Tchani is one of the cornerstones of Gregg Berhalter's starting lineup.

2011 was a three team year for him. Starting in NY with the Red Bulls, then to Toronto and finally with Columbus. He's a good example of the league knowing he was a good player, just not able to unlock what he had inside of him.

Tchani has developed a large on-pitch personality. He's always involved in one scuffle or another. Pushing, shoving, talking, smiling, mean-mugging, or what have you. It's the type of player you see on a lot of good teams. Not quite the enforcer, per say. But, something close.

One thing is for certain - Tony Tchani is one huge reason Columbus Crew SC are in the MLS Cup Final.

Tuesday, Cup Countdown Continues

[continuing my freeform-ish posts for MLS Cup week, check out yesterday's if you haven't]

Woke up this morning to a Tom Reed article over at Cleveland.com on how a disaster of a Browns season will lead to a high draft pick. It's a built-in mechanism these days that the worst pick first. It's been this way for as long as I can remember, save for the NBA when I think they had regional drafts way back.

It's got me thinking about building teams in MLS...

The older I get the "last picks first" model comes across as elementary school recess nonsense. It's 100% anti-player. It does more to wreck potential careers than help and it's difficult to find a team in any league (save for the 1980s-90s NBA) where it as helped dramatically. It is what it is, though. Looking at how Golden State has drafted since they picked Stephen Curry back in 2009, you see a list of regular picks (as far as draft position) that most teams get up the championship team they are today. As a matter of fact, they haven't even had a draft pick outside of a guy named Kevon Looney since 2012.

[It's not just me, check out 538 and their 7000+ submissions to help fix the NBA draft]

How much of their success is picking the right guys and how much is it the environment they go into. I wonder if there is a formula. Like...

50% Coaching, development, training
25% Player Ability
15% Team location, environment
10% Media and press

If I were to grade, say, the Cleveland Browns it would look like this:

F - Coaching, teaching, training
B - Player Ability
D - Team location, environment
C - Media and fans

That's a poor overall 1.10 GPA on a 4 pt scale. For me, that first item is sort of a gate to the rest. If you have the development down then you can move on to the rest. That's the foundation.

For the Columbus Crew SC under Anthony Precourt, you see how they have built around the first item. Not just Gregg Berhalter but also with Josh Wolff, Pat Onstad, Sixten Boström and the rest of the team. Their score looks something like...

A - Coaching, teaching, training
B - Player Ability
C - Team location, environment
C - Media and fans

3.25! Hey, I kinda like this. I may have to do a rating of more teams in the future, but you get my point. You've got to have the right coaching and create that environment for players to succeed and then give them the tools. Look at Tony Tchani, Justin Meram, Ethan Finlay. Guys who were a season away from no longer earning a MLS paycheck are now top in the league and playing in a final.

You see this with three of the four MLS Conference final teams. FC Dallas is likely the strongest right now with A, A, C, F (3.30 gpa) followed by Portland with B, A, B, B (3.15 gpa).

NY Red Bulls are the odd team out here. B, C, D, D (2.25 gpa). Looking at it this way, I don't expect them to have a good year next year. Impressive this year, of course, but you never want the situation they walked into this year as far as the supporter mess and big time players heading out. It can galvanize a team, but it isn't a sustainable practice that you can build around. I guess some teams like the headlines, though, in those cases, I would create a separate set of grading criteria.

MLS does all they can to control player movement and entry into the league. They are coming at the whole thing from a different angle because the are a small fish in a gigantic pond. It's part of the reason there are so many rules, as a whole.

I think what Crew SC the last couple offseasons in regards to the college entry draft has been stellar. With Berhalter running the show the college draft of 2015 yielded exactly one start. His talent is coming by way of experience. Steve Clark, Michael Parkhurst, Kei Kamara, Gaston Sauro, Harrison Afful, Mohammed Saeid and Cedrick are all players that didn't develop in the college system or even really in MLS (outside Kamara, but he has since gained a lot of international experience.

Non-of those guys were "last picks first" guys or even really "MLS guys" (think; Dax McCarty). They are smartly chosen professionals. In a lot of ways their careers sort of match Berhalter. Not a bad thing.

MLS BUZZ

Don't think anyone was expecting a rip-roaring build-up to the final this weekend but it does seem very quiet out there. Last night on the local news I saw NBC4 had a reporter stationed at the stadium for the evening news but there wasn't a whole lot of gravity to the report or the event.

There was also this, I guess:

Just cried happy/excited tears when I saw @keikamara on the news. Then I laughed, "CBJ Forward." #ForColumbus pic.twitter.com/4WUqk5FCwA

— Julie (@jjulesjenks) December 1, 2015

Meanwhile, over at Reddit (somewhere) is a conversation about TV ratings. Things aren't looking good, sad to say. I'm thinking the English language will be around the 500-750k range and Spanish around the same (closer to the low). It's due to a lot of reasons that I don't feel like getting into right now. League has a lot to sort.

On a bright note, Mapfre Stadium sold out in about 15 hours. What aided this was that it was pretty clear that both Portland and Columbus were advancing after the first leg. Stadium is going to be loud and fun.

All for now.

Monday, Cup Countdown Begins

I figure that since the team here that I've been writing about for the last five years has made the MLS Cup Final I'll get a little loose and journal-like leading up to this Sunday's game.

11-30-15 Dispatch

First up is a little housekeeping note; The site podcast "Red Cards in Helltown" will be recorded later this week. The plan is to have it ready for everyone Friday. We sort of expected Columbus to advance (and likely host) so we felt like a preview show might be neat instead of covering the result. We've been all over that the last few weeks, though. If you want to check those shows out head over to iTunes or Soundcloud.

Next up is the sports page of today's Columbus Dispatch. The paper does a nice job of providing team coverage despite some comments otherwise. Adam Jardy recently got moved over to Buckeye Basketball shortly after the paper was sold so it looks like Shawn Mitchell will have the job until this season is over. My understanding is that no one has been assigned the beat on a permanent basis. Nice photo on the cover by AP's Julio Cortez.

Speaking of... there were a lot of pretty pastel colors last night after the game ended. I took a quick snapshot of head coach Gregg Berhalter getting interviewed after the game because I thought it was so neat looking. Games at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ generally have a soothing blue hue to them because of the seats. The smoke muted that a bit and brought out some greens and reds, like what you get on a cloudy day.

The muted background also makes it look three dimensional in a video game-y kind of way.

Doubt it will look like that post game in Columbus after the final on Sunday. Mapfre Stadium is filled with yellow and gray bleachers and seats. It creates its own brand of neat though. During winter games the stands are filled with people wearing black or dark colors. When the stadium is full you get this sort of wildly intimate atmosphere. It's a cross between being in a gym watching a basketball game and a spaceship with nothing around the stadium but the vastness of space.

I got my tickets for it early this morning at the stadium box office. There was a decent sized line when I got there a little after 9 am. I'm hearing now it is sold out, but I have a feeling they will figure out a way to sell more.

The folks standing around me seemed to be in it more for the event save for the group towards the front who seemed to be supporters. A group behind me talked about the 2001 final that was held at Crew Stadium. It was used as a neutral site then and featured the LA Galaxy and the San Jose Earthquakes. Lots of memorable players on both those teams. At least as far as MLS goes. Landon Donovan and Dwayne De Rosario scored that day to give the 'Quakes the win.

Speaking of that game - I hadn't looked up the logo until just now. It featured elements of the original Crew logo, including rivets and the color gray (which is the forgotten Crew color). The whole thing is gloriously ugly, haha. What a damn mess. I do like the practical nature of the rivets and how the old MLS logo fits in. It's like a physical thing. To the designers credit, it does have weight to it. You sort of have to strain to see it because of the rollercoaster ride your eyes go on because of the sash-type thing and the railroad-ish tracks the ball is on.

Within the world of soccer logos, that design could be seen as ahead of her time when you consider the eyesore that is the new Bethlehem Steel badge. That said, there are folks that have done a great job here in Columbus and the Crew SC aesthetic. I'll post more this week but here is an example of what they are doing well.

Could be I like it because it reminds me of a header image I did for Massive Report a bit back. Sort of makes me what to set up a FIFA or FM simulation and pit these two rosters against one another.

Running out of time so last up here is a Google photo-edited shot of the Eastern Conference Champs Trophy. They had it on display in the team shop this morning when I was getting tickets. One thing this hardware had me wondering today was whether or not there was a separate trophy for the regular season conference winner AND the Finals winner. Looks to be only one trophy. I hope it is anyway.

Let's make it nice and big.

Parkhurst, Man of the Match

I thought this was a neat short video of Crew SC Defender and Team Captain Michael Parkhurst. He was voted Man of the Match for his play in the second leg of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Video via @ColumbusCrewSC

MLS Cup Would be 1st for Crew SC

Crew SC badge with '08 Star

It may seem like a "game the game" type of scenario, but a goal is all that remains between the Columbus Crew SC and the MLS Cup final. Score one during the Sunday, November 29th match in Harrison, NJ and the Red Bulls will need four to win. The away side could lose 1-0, 2-1, or even 3-1 and still make it to the 20th iteration of the MLS Cup Final.

MLS is an ever changing animal. Fundamental things like rules, number of teams, competition formats (both regular season and playoffs) and the money involved are drastically altered from year to year. So, while there are moments of glory of which to draw, there is no long history or memorable 2nd leg moments on here for either side.

Back when the Hunt family ran the Columbus Crew that won the 2008 MLS Cup, 14 teams in the league were directly operated, or recently so, by a handful of groups. Eight made the playoffs. San Jose had a team of some sort again and KC was still the Wizards. Conference Semifinals were two-legged series, but the Conference Finals were single elimination and the Final was at a neutral field in warm weather.

Seven years and versions of the league later, things couldn't be more different. Especially for the MLS team in Columbus.

In just two years after Anthony Precourt purchased the team from the Hunt Sports Group, he has taken them from a floundering franchise playing under a burning scoreboard and in a half full stadium, to within a single goal of hosting MLS Cup. It's a remarkable achievement. One that is a first for him and his team.

As for the fans, supporters, writers and even those lowly bloggers - where does this fall in their trophy cases? Well, while you would be closer in saying The Ohio State Buckeyes College Football National Championship is more similar to winning an MLS Cup in 2008 compared to MLS 2015, don't be surprised when you see the aforementioned group tying the victories (or losses) of every team in the state of Ohio in some form or another to what Crew SC are doing here in town.

This isn't about them. What's happening here in Columbus for Crew SC is a unique achievement full of firsts and truly special for the organization and the city.

[podcast] Red Cards in Helltown: Conf Finals Special

Rick Gethin, David Burgin, Justin Bell and Larry Johnson talk about the Columbus Crew SC win in the first leg against The NY Red Bulls and look forward to next week's matchup.