Sporting Kansas City players and coaches left CenturyLink Field on Thursday gutted and angry, believing poor officiating cost them a deserved win against the Seattle Sounders.
There is some truth in the sentiment, but emotion makes it easy to be blinded to all the realities of Sporting KC's 1-0 loss to the Sounders.
Did Nelson Valdez get away with being offside on the winning goal? Yes. Was Matt Besler extremely close to being onside on what would have been the opening goal of the match? Yes. Could referee Ismail Elfath have issued a second yellow card to Osvaldo Alonso for his sliding challenge on Benny Feilhaber? Yes. Three big calls, every one went Seattle's way, leading to shouts of conspiracy and another example of below-par officiating in American soccer.
In fact, Sporting Kansas City's official Twitter account expressed the team's disgust with the seemingly one-sided proceedings by tweeting a picture of Valdez being offside on the goal:
But they all even out in the end, right? pic.twitter.com/tkLffI9Xj4
— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) October 28, 2016
On Thursday night, the calls didn't even out. That happens sometimes. Sometimes home teams get big calls, which is why you want to have the homefield advantage in the biggest of games. Sporting KC was on the opposite side of the same situation three years ago, in the 2013 MLS Cup final in Kansas City. Aurelien Collin could have very easily been sent off in that match after a series of bad tackles, but referee Hilario Grajeda let him off the hook. Collin went on to score the game-tying goal, and eventually the MLS Cup-clinching penalty kick.
Sporting KC had its chances Thursday, and ultimately paid the price for not taking full advantage of the run of play in the first half, or of the several chances created when Seattle was on the back foot. Stefan Frei deserves his share of credit for that after his handful of top-shelf saves, but Sporting KC wasted a chance to put real pressure on the Sounders with a first-half goal.
Fortune smiles on Valdez for first time in 2016
You only had to look at Thursday's early knockout round game to see what an early goal could do for a road team. The Montreal Impact needed just four minutes to open the scoring, and that early deficit shook up a D.C. United team that never did recover. Would Seattle have buckled under the pressure if Sporting KC found an early goal? The Sounders defense did look shaky at times, with Roman Torres making several uncharacteristic mistakes. Poor finishing hurt Sporting KC, however, and allowed Seattle to stay close enough to grab a late winner.
What may have also made Thursday's loss tougher to take for Sporting Kansas City is the very real possibility that the team will lose some key pieces this offseason. Benny Feilhaber is out of contract and looks likely to make a move, while Dom Dwyer continues to be the subject of transfer rumors. Throw in the looming expansion draft, and Brad Davis' retirement, and Sporting KC will be shaking things up this offseason. Even without those departures, Sporting KC was going to need to add to its squad, particularly in the attack. If Feilhaber and Dwyer both leave this winter, then we could see a completely revamped front line come 2017.
Here are some more thoughts on the knockout round of the MLS playoffs:
IMPACT'S DEFENSE LOOKED BACK TO ITS BEST
As important as Didier Drogba's goals were to Montreal's success in the second half of the 2016 season, the excellent play of the Impact's defense was just as important. Led by MLS defender of the year Laurent Ciman, the Impact were downright stingy last year, and came into 2016 expected to be just as tough.
Things didn't quite work out that way during the regular season, but on Thursday in RFK Stadium, we saw that same organized and tenacious defense reappear against D.C. United. Coach Mauro Biello deserves credit for how he chose to go after D.C. United's attack, stifling playmaker Luciano Acosta and negating DCU's wingers, which had been a major key to the team's recent success. Marco Donadel and Patrice Bernier led the charge to neutralize Acosta, who was largely ineffective, while Patrick Nyarko and Lloyd Sam failed to put their stamps on the game, leaving Patrick Mullins with little in the way of service.
Impact bury Drogba controversy
Ciman grabbed headlines by scoring the opening goal on Thursday, but Victor Cabrera also deserves praise for his contributions to Montreal's stingy defending, particularly in the first half. Cabrera has struggled at times to match his 2015 form in 2016, but he was at his best against D.C. United, and if he can maintain that level against the New York Red Bulls the Impact will have a chance to pull the upset.
D.C. United did score some late goals to make the scoreline slightly less embarrassing, but those late goals shouldn't take away from the credit Montreal's defense deserves for setting a winning tone on Thursday.
UNION ENDS YEAR WITH A WHIMPER
The Philadelphia Union were always going to have a tough time taking a young team to Toronto to win a road playoff game against a dangerous Toronto FC side, but the way they lost had to make the trip back to Pennsylvania particularly painful.
Mistakes helped gift wrap all three TFC goals in its 3-1 win on Wednesday, and while the Union never looked like a real threat to win, the fact that blunders ended their season had to be hard to take.
The loss pushes the Union's season-ending winless slide to nine matches, raising real questions about just how we should judge Philadelphia's season. As coach Jim Curtin rightfully pointed out, the Union weren't expected to make the playoffs this year, but they did. That should help cast a positive light on the season, ending the club's playoff drought, but what makes it tough to see 2016 as a success is the way the team fell apart in the second half of the season.
Now it will be up to Earnie Stewart to plot the next course of action. Does he stick with Jim Curtin as his coach, or does he go for a major shakeup. Stewart and Curtin appear to have a good working relationship, and Curtin does deserve credit for strong nucleus of young talent, but you always have to wonder what a sporting director may do with a coach they didn't actually hire.
Whether he sticks with Curtin or not, Stewart must hit the transfer market hard. The Union need a forward, a playmaker to replace the departing Tranquillo Barnetta, and a central defender. Fabinho's late-season swoon also makes him look expendable at left back as well. The pressure will be on Stewart to bring in some difference-making gems, what with his considerable connections oversees. His first-year pickups (at least the non-rookie ones) were a bit of a mixed bag.
As rough an ending as it was for the Union, the future is bright. The young quartet of Andre Blake, Keegan Rosenberry, Joshua Yarlo and Fabian Herbers will be a year older and more mature, and U.S. national team midfielder Alejandro Bedoya will have a full preseason under his belt. Chris Pontius enjoyed an outstanding first season in Philadelphia as well. With that foundation, the Union should be able to make another push to the playoffs in 2017.
IS IT TIME FOR AN RSL SHAKEUP?
Much like the Union, RSL watched a strong first half of the season morph into a forgettable second half, leading to questions about whether it is time for a major shakeup. Winless in its final seven regular season matches before a swift exit from the playoffs at the hands of the LA Galaxy, RSL is an aging team that showed promise early, but struggled to maintain that pace. The once-promising attacking trio of Joao Plata, Yura Movsisyan and Juan Manuel Martinez went from one of the best attacking trios in the league to one that struggled for goals down the stretch.
And then you have head coach Jeff Cassar, who has had to battle the ghost of Jason Kreis' legacy ever since he took over for Kreis. He did succeed in getting RSL back to the playoffs, but was a five-point improvement and sixth-place finish in the West enough to save his job?
RSL will have serious decisions to make about the remaining members of the 2009 MLS Cup championship team that are still around. Kyle Beckerman, Nick Rimando, Javier Morales and Jamison Olave are all in their mid-30s and it's tough to see RSL keeping all four. It may be time for RSL to rebuild, and it's probably time to turn the page on an aging generation in order to pave the way for the considerable talent in RSL's academy. Players like Justen Glad and Jordan Allen have shown serious potential, while Stanford star Corey Baird, on-loan Sebastian Saucedo and academy product Dani Acosta should be seen as the future of the club.
Is owner Dell Loy Hansen open to the idea of a major overhaul and potential rebuilding season, or will he pump serious money into revamping the roster with high-end upgrades? Given how stacked the Western Conference is, RSL will have no choice but to spend big this winter or risk becoming an afterthought in the West after so many years of being one of the conference's best.
