McCarthy's Musings: Ranking the 2011 MLS postseason field
The beauty – and, admittedly, much of the frustration – of the MLS postseason stems from its ability to upset the order established through the long and arduous regular season.
Time and again, favorites fall and underdogs flourish. One look to the Rocky Mountain underscores the point: few, if any, observers expected Colorado to lift the trophy last year or Real Salt Lake to stampede through the postseason the year before that.
Despite the topsy-turvy nature of MLS postseason play and the inevitable upset that ultimately arises, it is worth trying to sort through how the playoff field sets up before all of the chaos commences.
The Musings sat down and ranked the sides in order of their MLS Cup chances at the moment:
10. New York
Why the Red Bulls can win it all In order to even reach MLS Cup, New York will have to oust three of the four best sides in the league: FC Dallas in the wild card round, Los Angeles in the Western Conference semifinals and either Real Salt Lake or Seattle in the Western Conference final. Throw in Luke Rodgers' untimely injury and the Red Bulls' Achilles heel on set pieces and the task seems far too large this talented and inconsistent side to complete.
9. Columbus
Why the Crew can win it all : Collective shape matters in the postseason and the Crew are particularly well-drilled in that department. Robert Warzycha's side can grind out matches with the best of them, but it also possesses a pair of potentially influential forwards in Andres Mendoza and Emilio Renteria and the scheming of Dilly Duka and Eddie Gaven through midfield.
: Warzycha faces a selection crisis in central midfield for Wednesday's wild card date at Colorado after Emmanuel Ekpo unwisely procured a second yellow card in the season-ending defeat at Chicago. Kevin Burns will likely claim one of the two available berths in central midfield, but Warzycha will likely select one of these three potential options alongside him: Rich Balchan (rookie with injury problems), Danny O'Rourke (cortisone shot in knee) or Tony Tchani (zero match appearances with the Crew and not fully fit, per Warzycha). That central midfield formula seems destined to failure against the Rapids. If the Crew somehow progresses, it likely doesn't have the guns to compete with either Los Angeles or Sporting Kansas City over two legs.
Bradley Stout Seattle - News
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Cleveland Browns ride a relentless defense and kicker Phil ...
CLEVELAND, Ohio — At one point during a timeout in the Browns’ game on Sunday, the scoreboard showed video of a live wedding proposal in progress. It would be the best pass of the day.
The Browns and Seattle Seahawks engaged in one of those games that merit “instant classic” status for the wrong reasons. The Browns emerged victorious, 6-3, when Phil Dawson squeezed in field goals of 52 and 53 yards in between attempts of 48 and 24 that were blocked.
“The prettiest 2-for-4 day that we’ll ever have,” said Dawson, who never made two over 50 — and never had two blocked — in an NFL game before.
They were enough to level the Browns’ record at 3-3, giving them their first win in a month. It was a grinder, so painful to watch that coach Pat Shurmur remarked that he felt sore after the game.
But just think of how badly the Seahawks felt on their long flight home after falling to 2-4.
“I don’t want to disrespect Cleveland,” said Seahawks receiver Mike Williams. “But we are better.”
Another oddity of this game featured 44 runs by the Browns, including 33 by Montario Hardesty for 95 yards. Who’d have thought the Browns would have tried that against the stout Seattle rush defense and without Peyton Hillis, who was out with a hamstring injury?
Hardesty got some relief on third downs from practice squad-pickup Chris Ogbonnaya, who carried three times and became Colt McCoy’s favorite receiver for the day with five catches.
“Anybody who wants to watch running football, you got a chance,” said Shurmur, in what sounded like a veiled shot at critics of his offense. The extreme ball control game plan enabled the Browns to keep the ball for 42:56 — their most possession time since at least 1976.
This was the fourth 6-3 game in Browns’ history and fourth win, starting with Jim Brown’s rookie debut in 1957. There was a win in Kansas City in the 1988 season opener when Bernie Kosar’s throwing elbow was wrenched on a blitz. There was that dreadful 6-3 slugfest in Orchard Park, N.Y., in 2009 when Derek Anderson completed two of 17 passes against Buffalo.