MLS CONFIDENTIAL: Semifinal Previews

Such wisdom isn't so wise. Champions have staggered through the final weeks only to gear up just in time, and teams riding long unbeaten streaks the past two seasons have been dumped in the first round.

The four-game mini-season known as the playoffs punishes teams that peak at the wrong time. That's the paradox of parity: this year, it showed up in October after laying dormant during a regular-season of soaring flight (New England, San Jose) and plummeting dives (Chivas USA, Real Salt Lake, Columbus). In the playoffs, the meek overcame the strong more than once.

Not simply a characteristic – some would say a glaring flaw – of the MLS playoffs, it's a trait of the sport itself, magnified by boiling down a long regular season and fortunes of teams and whims of fate to a pair of games, rife with funny bounces and inexplicable refereeing decisions.

Now, we're down to one-game showdowns, which are most ripe for the most perplexing upsets. An entire competition, the English FA Cup, has enthralled fans for decades doing just that.

In the West has unfolded a bizarre scenario once decried by U.S. coach Bruce Arena. During the 2003 playoffs he lamented that the team ranked ninth in a 10-team league, the Galaxy, could vie for the championship. Only by staging the grandest comeback in league history did San Jose oust Los Angeles, and the Quakes rode that momentum all the way to the title.

No. 4 Los Angeles at No. 3 Colorado
Saturday, 9 pm ET/6 pm PT (Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Sports en Espanol, Direct Kick, HDNet; FSN-W2)

The Galaxy has yet to score at Invesco Field at Mile High, having lost, 1-0, and, 2-0, in the regular season.

It also lost in last year's conference semis, 1-0, before capturing the series with a 2-0 win at home. Is another shutout on the cards?

Los Angeles torched the San Jose defense in their first playoff meeting, and won't need to match that performance to pierce a Rapids back line that conceded an unbelievable 37 shots in tying Dallas, 2-2, last weekend and probably won't have Nat Borchers again.

If the Galaxy generates even half that number of shots and a fair share fall to Landon Donvoan, Herculez Gomez and even Ned Grabavoy, all the gyrations and heroics of Joe Cannon won't be enough for the Rapids to win.

The Rapids will need goals, and if perennial poser Jovan Kirovski finally comes through in a big game and Terry Cooke provides the deep crosses as he did at Pizza Hut Park, Colorado will get chances. But still, those chances have to get past Kevin Hartman, who on his best day can be impossibly impregnable in his own right.

3. EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL:
Revs aim for 'full game' performance

No. 3 Chicago at No. 1 New England
Sunday 3 pm ET/noon PT (ESPN2, ESPN Deportes)

The underdog Fire beat the Revs, 1-0, on July 9, and knocked them off, 3-2, in the U.S. Open Cup. There's more than hope, despite the Revs winning the other battles, 2-0, 3-0, and 1-0. Both teams favor a 3-5-2 formation and their personnel could force the other into tactical changes defensively.

Livewire midfielders Thiago and Ivan Guerrero and winger Justin Mapp can push up alongside the Mutt-and-Jeff forward combo of Nate Jaqua and Chris Rolfe, and thus leave the Revs backliners without cover.

The Revs don't have a lot of size in the back, so Jaqua's aerial prowess might require Shalrie Joseph to occasionally drop deep, and Rolfe's nimbleness and nose for seams is an ideal complement.

Blanking D.C. in back-to-back playoff games belies Chicago's defensive problems much of the season; the Fire conceded at least two goals in 15 of its 32 regular-season matches.