MLS Matchup Is Built on Speed
The one has trimmed his trademark dreadlocks and now sports a shorter, more streamlined look. For some reason, he also has colored them a lighter shade of pale.
The other has let his dreadlocks run wild and wouldn’t appear out of place down in the islands, hoisting a few Red Stripes, playing a little Bob Marley and watching the palm trees sway.
Both have a sprinter’s speed. Both play for their national teams. And both are trying to get their Major League Soccer clubs through to the next round of the playoffs.
But that’s where Cobi Jones and Jason Bent part ways.
Whereas Jones is an attacking player, out on the wing or up front as a true forward, Bent is a defensive standout, either at left back or in midfield.
And that means the two invariably go head to head when the Galaxy and Colorado Rapids meet, as they now are doing in the first round of the MLS Western Conference playoffs.
Bent, 22, was all over Jones, 29, for the better part of 90 minutes at the Rose Bowl on Sunday, the U.S. star finding his every step dogged by a relentless and seemingly tireless Bent.
All it took was one miscue by the Canadian, however, and Jones was around him in a flash, steering the ball into the net for the third goal in the Galaxy’s 3-0 victory.
This Sunday, they’ll meet again, in Game 2 of the best-of-three series, at Mile High Stadium in Denver. Don’t look for the individual battle to be any less intense.
The Rapids have to win or be eliminated from the playoffs. A Galaxy victory would put it in the conference finals against the winner of the Chicago Fire-Dallas Burn series.
Conditions will be a little different. It might even snow. But the Galaxy players figure that’s fine, it’ll prepare them for the championship game in Foxboro, Mass., on Nov. 21, when it will probably be even colder and more miserable.
Meanwhile, Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid wants to see Jones duplicate Sunday’s performance.
“One of the things I said to Cobi was that I wanted to see him get a goal a game in the playoffs,” Schmid said. “He’s the guy. I was very happy with his effort. I was very happy with all the running that he did.
“And when somebody else got up [another Galaxy player moving forward into the attack], he got back and covered for them. So I thought he was very good.”
So did Bent.
“It was a very good matchup,” he said after the game. “I have a lot of respect for Cobi, skill-wise. You always have to respect his speed. I think it was a good game today. I enjoyed playing against him. Unfortunately, we came out on the losing side, but hopefully we’ll be back here [at the Rose Bowl for Game 3] next week.”
Bent was signed by the Rapids as a so-called “discovery player” in July 1998 after having spent the 1997 season playing for FSV Zwickau of the German second division. Born in Toronto, he lives in Brampton, Canada, and has played for the Canadian national team for the past two years.
Colorado Coach Glenn Myernick rates him as one of the best man-markers in MLS.
“I don’t think there’s anybody better in the league who can play Cobi Jones one-on-one,” he said. “I thought he did a fantastic job on him.”
Myernick is going to have to do something to awaken his slumping team, which hasn’t scored a goal in six games. But he isn’t about to tinker with his defense.
“We gave away a league-record 69 goals last year,” he said. “I don’t know how many we gave away this year, but it was a hell of a lot less [39, actually]. Over the course of the season, defending has not been a problem for us.”
Sunday’s game might be the last time Bent and Jones face each other this year, but they could be meeting again as early as February.
Today, in New York, the draw will be held for the 2000 Gold Cup finals. The 12-nation regional championship will be played in Los Angeles, Miami and San Diego from Feb. 12-27.
If Canada and the U.S. are drawn into the same group, the Bent-Jones rivalry will resume. Speed versus speed. Dreadlocks versus dreadlocks.
MLS Playoffs
GALAXY vs. COLORADO
Galaxy leads best-of-three series, 1-0
GAME 1
Galaxy 3, Colorado 0
GAME 2
Sunday at Colorado Noon
GAME 3
Wednesday at Rose Bowl 7:30 p.m-x
x-if necessary
