Major League Soccer Playoff Round One Preview

It's official: Bruce Arena is back in Major League Soccer and he's got his New York Red Bulls in the playoffs. It's hard to believe, really, after Arena was dismissed as U.S. national team coach and New York picked him up. But what's not hard to swallow is Arena's record in the playoffs when he was at the helm of D.C. United. And since he's up against his old team in the first round, you would have to think he's got a chance to make some noise in the East. And the Bulls may well knock off United, but they will need absolute perfect games from their old-as-dirt midfield and striker tandem. Something tells me Arena will likely play a 4-5-1 formation with Amado Guevara as the target, in an effort to somehow unsettle United's sterling roster of players and rattle Jaime Moreno. If he can manage that Herculean feat, the Red Bulls would then face either New England or Chicago. The Red Bulls were a paltry 0-1-3 vs. the Revs, but did manage to go 1-1-1 vs. Chicago in the season series.

In the West, the picture is just as crazy, with CD Chivas USA waiting to whup up on Houston in the 2 vs. 3 matchup, this after they finished dead last in MLS last season. A lot of that turnaround can be attributed to the job longtime MLS coach Bob Bradley has done and some can be given to the Chivas de Guadalajara club itself, which has a massive youth system and developmental program that the MLS team is benefiting from. Chivas has also done a lot of damage without the services of national team star John O'Brien and the addition of Ante Razov has done wonders for a team that only scored 31 goals last year. To boot, Ramon Ramirez and Paco Palencia have been in good form, leading one to believe that Chivas could go all the way in just their second season in the league.

EASTERN CONFERENCE
1) D.C. United vs. 4) New York
It's impossible to put into words the level of hatred the two teams have for one another. One thing is guaranteed though: You'll definitely see it in the stands. Each team will have at least ten "firms" standing behind, around and near them, most likely in buzz cuts and combat boots. That's just a prediction. Now back to the game: What makes this matchup even more intriguing is that the catalyst of all of the early D.C. United titles is now behind the bench in New York. In time Bruce Arena will have put his stamp on the Red Bulls organization and the ever-growing youth system will do exactly what Arena hopes it will. For now United just has better players and more firepower at every position. Look for Freddy Adu to use this playoff series as a coming-out party and an open audition for European teams watching. Jaime Moreno will experience a brief resurgence to old ways and put away the Red Bulls in the first game, leaving New York to try and battle back in the second match and continue their losing ways, at least for one more season. But the Bulls will play for Brucie in the opener to make it interesting at RFK. And look for the flares and flags (and fists, though you won't hear about that) to fly.
PREDICTION: D.C. United wins 3-1 on aggregate (2-0 at home)

2) Chicago vs. 3) New England
Chicago is probably the most underrated team in MLS at the moment, though they just won the U.S. Open Cup in convincing fashion. The reason for their success in the Open Cup is that they have a young, healthy and fast lineup of strikers who are very good at exploiting spaces in suspect defenses and stretching play as wide as possible. This opens things up for their better than advertised midfield, who are very good at setting up opponents with pinpoint passes and lots of possession. They are also adept counterattackers, which leads to lots of scoring chances for Nate Jaqua, their target striker. The two chances New England has is 1) Taylor Twellman regains his scoring form he had in the summer months and 2) Clint Dempsey stops bitching long enough about not going to England that he finally starts playing again stateside. And yet more news from the Dempsey camp and entourage: A Spanish club is interested, leading to more questions and probably more distractions. Just what New England needs, right? You can always count on two things from any Steve Nicol-coached team: The goalkeeper will be ready and the defense will lull you into thinking you'll be able to score. The Revs only allowed 35 goals in the league this year for a reason: They're good. Unfortunately for the Revolution the Fire have their number, winning three of the five matches the two played. There will be lots of goals and lots of drama.
PREDICTION: Chicago wins 6-4 on aggregate (4-1 at home)

WESTERN CONFERENCE
1) FC Dallas vs. 4) Colorado
Some would argue that a FCD/Real Salt Lake matchup would have been more intriguing, considering the Hoops owned the Rapids in the season series, 3-0-1 and that RSL has more starpower and Golden Boot winner Jeff Cunningham. Whatever; all RSL fans can do now is move on and look to next year, and possibly the fact they should have beaten the Rapids at home when they had the chance. Back to reality: FC Dallas has about three times as many playmakers as Colorado and though the Pids will do the damnedest to play their boring style of ball it won't work against the sneaky Hoops, who orchestrate everything through their midfield and then send Carlos Ruiz on a 30-yard run. To make matters worse, there is Kenny Cooper as the creative midfielder, a player who can strike bombs at will (his 11 goals compared to 13 for Ruiz). And even though Colorado somehow got the best of FC Dallas last year, the Hoops are too good of a team to let it happen again. The Rapids will win the first game in Denver, but it won't be by much. Colorado is hard to beat at home this year. But if you thought the Rapids were hard to beat at home, you haven't seen FC Dallas at Pizza Hut Park, where they only lost three games out of 16 this season and allowed just 14 goals. But the Hoops do have some problems at goalkeeper, which will keep the series close though the Hoops will prevail at the end, playing the second leg on the home turf and winning comfortably.
PREDICTION: FC Dallas wins 3-2 on aggregate (3-0 at home)

2) Houston vs. 3) Chivas USA
Folks, the Dynamo is about to get their butts handed to them and living proof are the last nine offensive breakdowns Houston has had prior to the playoffs. A lack of scoring along with a whopping four draws in their last seven games will be their downfall. In fact, other than the last game when Houston scored three goals, mid-July marked the last time the Dynamo scored three goals in a game. Now they're about to pay for it, playing a Chivas team that beat them 3-1 and 3-2 before Houston finally held them to a scoreless draw one month ago. The last time Houston played at the Home Depot Center, Chivas won it 3-2. The first game in the playoffs has the possibility of being ugly so you may want to tell your kids to leave the room while it's playing. With support from their rowdy fan base, Chivas could easily be up 4-0 before they play the return leg in Texas, and that alone will put them through to the next round. Also, the Goats only coughed up 12 goals at the HDC, meaning it's gonna be a Texas-sized headache for Houston to score. However, Chivas is downright dreadful on the road (the only team worse aomgn playoff teams is Colorado) and so if the Dynamo were to score two goals in L.A., it could make for an interesting game in Houston. But it's really the only chance Houston has now, to stay close in L.A. and bring the series home. Not gonna happen, though.
PREDICTION: Chivas USA wins 5-2 on aggregate (4-0 at home)

NEXT: Team-by-team breakdown followed by a Conference Finals preview