By Ridge Mahoney, Senior Editor
Soccer America Magazine
EASTERN CONFERENCE
1. Multi-pronged Revs attack threatens Metros
No. 1 New England (17-7-8) vs. No. 4 MetroStars (12-9-11)
Regular season: New England won the series 2-1-1, outscoring the Metros, 11-9.
Game 1: Saturday at the Meadowlands (7 p.m. ET) Fox Soccer Channel, Direct Kick.
Game 2: Oct. 29 at Gillette Stadium (8 p.m. Eastern) Fox Soccer Channel, Direct Kick.
Rundown: The Revs took command of the conference early and led wire-to-wire. The Metros needed a strong late-season surge and a collapse by Kansas City to sneak into the playoffs.
Revs: Taylor Twellman led the league in goals with 17 yet the Revs are multi-dimensional with Clint Dempsey (10 goals, 9 assists), Pat Noonan (8, 7) and Shalrie Joseph (6, 5), the league's best holding midfielder. Rookie defender Michael Parkurst got burned a few times late in the season but the New England defense will make corrections.
Metros: Two foreign midfielders and a young American drive the attack. Amado Guevera rolled 11s in both goals and assists. Youri Djorkaeff scored 10 goals and contributed seven assists. Eddie Gaven, just 19, added eight goals and re-sharpened his edge in the final regular-season games.
Goalie Tony Meola plugged a leaky back line with incredible saves, but is rookie Jason Hernandez — who has started the last three games for Mo Johnston after not playing a minute for Bob Bradley — the solution to what has been a revolving door of defenders? Michael Bradley, a wonderful passer, will tested containing the Revs down the middle.
2. Fickle Fire faces hot Gomez-Moreno D.C. duo
No. 2 D.C. United (16-10-6) vs. No. 3 Chicago (15-13-4)
Regular season: D.C. 2-1-1, edging the Fire on goals, 11-10.
Game 1: Friday at Soldier Field (9 p.m. Eastern) MLS Direct Kick.
Game 2:Oct. 30 at RFK Stadium (4:30 p.m. Eastern) on ESPN2.
Rundown: Replacing veterans Ryan Nelsen and Earnie Stewart took time but D.C. finished well. Chicago has been up and down.
United: Jaime Moreno (16 goals, 7 assists) and Christian Gomez (11, 10) are the league's best attacking tandem. Ben Olsen and Brian Carroll anchor the midfield. Freddy Adu's playing time isn't likely to increase with Santino Quaranta (5, 5) and Jamil Walker (2, 7) waiting in the wings. Rookie defender Bobby Boswell's inexperience has occasionally been exploited, but Facundo Erpen may be the starter. Keeper Nick Rimando was excellent in many late-season games.
Fire: Rookie Chris Rolfe popped in eight goals and opened space for Thiago (6, 7), Nate Jaqua (7,3) and Justin Mapp (3,8). Ivan Guerrero and Mapp will test D.C. on the flanks. Veteran goalie Zach Thornton has played in 28 playoff games. The Fire hasn't won two straight since mid-July and has little chance of against the defending champion, which is what D.C. stands for, right?
WESTERN CONFERENCE
3. Donovan must shine for Galaxy against consistent Quakes
No. 1 San Jose (18-4-10) vs. No. 4 Los Angeles (13-13-6)
Regular season: San Jose 3-1-0, with a 9-4 goals advantage.
Game 1: Sunday at Home Depot Center (3 p.m. ET) on ESPN2.
Game 2: Oct. 29 at Spartan Stadium (10 p.m. ET) Fox Soccer Channel.
Rundown: The Quakes set a league record by going unbeaten (9-0-7) at home, had the best away record (9-4-3) and were 7-3-2 against the tougher Eastern Conference.
Quakes: Goalkeeper Pat Onstad led the league in shutouts (12) and the Quakes allowed the fewest goals (31). Dwayne De Rosario bewildered opposing defenses to the tune of nine goals and 13 assists. Five Quakes scored six or more goals. DeRo and holding midfielder Ricardo Clark are a sweet duet. The central defense of Danny Califf and Eddie Robinson has been stingy and resilient in the air.
Galaxy: Landon Donovan (12 goals, 10 assists) is the league's most dangerous attacker when he's on. Herculez Gomez (11 goals) is a superb finisher. Coach Steve Sampson must replace the suspended Tyrone Marshall for the first game. He may use defenders Michael Umana and Pablo Chinchilla together. Who plays with Pete Vagenas in midfield — Marcelo Saragosa and Paulo Nagamura together at the expense of Ned Grabavoy? Does Donovan stay at wide mid?
4. Hot Ruiz could doom Rapids against Dallas
No. 2 FC Dallas (13-10-9) vs. No. 3 Colorado (13-13-6)
Regular season: Dallas went unbeaten (2-0-2) and led 5-2 in goals.
Game 1:Saturday at Invesco Field at Mile High (9 p.m. ET) Direct Kick.
Game 2: Oct. 29 at Pizza Hut Park (8:30 p.m. ET), TV TBA.
Rundown: Dallas led the conference early and faded. The Rapids were unbeaten in their last six games.
Dallas: If Carlos Ruiz (11 goals) is at full throttle, the series is over, although the goals might fall to Roberto Mina (7, 4), Abe Thompson (four goals) or Ronnie O'Brien (6, 12). The wild card is Ramon Nunez, who scored five goals. The defense stabilized somewhat after leaking 12 goals in five games in July.
Rapids: Late-season additions Jovan Kirovski and Diego Serna, who played only 13 minutes, have cloaked the attack in uncertainty. Another midseason acquisition, Dedi Ben-Dayan, scored four in eight games. He and Englishman Terry Cooke might benefit from attention paid to Jeff Cunningham (12, 3) and Jean-Phillippe Peguero (7, 6). Pablo Mastroeni played just 14 regular-season games; if Colorado advances, which it has a great chance of doing, he and keeper Joe Cannon will be among the heroes.