For such a long and grueling season we just experienced, these playoffs are going by awfully quick, aren't they? It seems like just yesterday when we experienced a dramatic match against New England at the Rio Tinto; look outside today, and there's plenty of snow. Not exactly July 4 weather.
With this snow comes an absolute flurry of doubt from outside the RSL camp. This, I suppose, isn't surprising. We're up against the Supporters Shield winners, who have looked pretty strong, and they'll have that Juninho chap back. Here's the thing, though: That doesn't matter. Not really. Our mission is the same, no matter who is on the pitch against us.
At any rate, we're seeing predictions from most sides listing quite heftily toward those "stars" from southern California. But we've got one thing they haven't got: A diploma. Wait, no, that's not quite right, is it? I think that's what the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz (ahem, Garth Lagerwey, ahem) says about the Scarecrow. See, that's one thing we're not: A scarecrow. We're not some lightly padded figure designed to scare away the big challengers but remaining essentially defenseless.
Here's the thing: Seattle, I think, presented the strongest challenge to us in the MLS. They have shown a dazzling ability to attack from all angles, from different approaches, from every position on the pitch. It's a bit remarkable that they hadn't conceded more in the league, as they play an even more attacking game than us. Of course, there's that thing about a good defense being a good offense. There is, you see, that.
Does LA present a stronger attack than Seattle? I think that remains to be seen. They've got that one guy with the long hair and the headband. Beck Daviham, I think. I wonder if he's related to that singer-songwriter. Anyway, I hear he's pretty good at attacking and releasing men on counterattacks. He's, like, 50 though, so I suspect he'll be more worried about fixing those crow's feet around his eyes than he will be about delivering set pieces on a dime. (Yes, I went there. Botox and whatnot.)
Beckham is clearly not good enough anymore for us to devote a man to, so I suspect we'll employ our typical zonal setup across the board, with Will Johnson likely taking on most of the marking responsibility there, but depending on how deep he plays, that may also fall to Kyle Beckerman.
Oh, also, if Landon Donovan could be as useless as he was in the first half of the second leg (of the third month of … never mind), that would be great. Thank you.
But seriously. What's there to be scared about? We've beat this team before. Sure, that was at our home, and it was a bit early (March!? It was snowing then, too.), but their lineup wasn't /that/ different from what it is now. Sure, they've got that Robbie Keane fellow — he wrote those heartfelt songs, right? — and they had Juan Pablo Angel at that point (wait, really?), but we weren't even at our strongest at that point. Yeah, we hit them for four and we weren't at our strongest. Now, I don't think we've seen our strongest this season more than once or twice, but still — makes a difference, doesn't it?
At any rate, I'll have a more focused match preview tomorrow (heh) but I think we all know what we need to do now. Smash 'em. Not literally. Figuratively. The former would be a bit rude, and we likely wouldn't have players left for a final if we did end up smashing them literally. Suspensions: Bad.
Right, let's go do this thing. Come on you Claret and Cobalt!
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