Patriotic Flavor to Playoff Opener
Major League Soccer’s commissioner, Don Garber, and deputy commissioner, Ivan Gazidis, will fly from New York to Chicago to be at Soldier Field this evening for the start of the 2001 MLS playoffs.
Chances are, one or both would have made the journey anyway, but last week’s terrorist attacks have made symbolic gestures more important than ever.
Which is why MLS playoff games will feature patriotic songs and moments of silence. And why players on the eight playoff teams will each wear black armbands as well as patches on their left sleeve depicting the Statue of Liberty against a backdrop of the American flag.
The league also has tightened security at stadiums after consultation, Gazidis said, “with experts who have handled security for Olympic and World Cup events.” Garber last week canceled the final 10 games of the MLS regular season in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and tonight’s match between the Chicago Fire and Dallas Burn is the first since the tragedy struck.
Players and coaches alike have struggled to deal with the emotions of the moment.
“Last week was a very difficult time for us, trying to scatter training sessions and get our minds right,” Dallas forward Jason Kreis said Tuesday.
“It’s been a difficult week,” agreed Fire forward Eric Wynalda, “but last night I watched a baseball game, and for some reason that meant a lot to me in feeling a sense of normalcy. I think soccer will also have a big part in that. Getting back out on the field and playing these games will mean a lot to a lot of people and I think it’s a great thing for the morale of the country.”
The Galaxy’s first playoff game is Sunday night at the Rose Bowl against the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, and for Coach Sigi Schmid it will serve a purpose beyond the confines of MLS.
“With everything that has transpired, it’s difficult for everyone to focus again on the sport of soccer and to attach any importance to it,” he said Wednesday. “But what’s important for us is that soccer’s our job and the best respect we can pay to anyone [the victims as well as the rescue workers] is to do our job to the best of our abilities.”
The playoffs, which culminate with the 2001 MLS Cup at Columbus, Ohio, on Oct. 21, feature former champions Chicago (1998) and Kansas City (2000) and one team, the Galaxy, that has reached the final twice (1996 and 1999) only to come away empty-handed.
The quarterfinals and semifinals are both best-of-three series, and there are no overwhelming favorites in any of the matchups. Home-field advantage could be crucial.
“I think all of the first-round pairings are really interesting,” Schmid said, while admitting that he likes the Galaxy’s chances.
“The team is looking forward to the playoffs because we’ve won five of our last six [games], or six of our last seven if you count the [U.S.] Open Cup [semifinal] game,” he said. “If we can continue that sort of momentum going into the playoffs I think we’ll do well. New York is a difficult opponent, but everybody’s difficult at this stage.”
How the MetroStars will respond after all that has happened remains to be seen.
“There are emotions that are going to come into this for the New York guys,” Wynalda said. “A lot of guys that are pretty close in this league have talked on the phone about this tragedy and what it means to the players, and about what decisions were made about flying and things of that nature. There are a lot of guys in New York that have been really affected by it.”
The playoffs are structured so that the No. 1-ranked team plays the No. 8-ranked team, No. 2 plays No. 7, and so on. Schmid said he can foresee a scenario where the top-ranked Miami Fusion might be upset by the defending champion but bottom-ranked Kansas City Wizards.
“Because of all the trades that went on between the teams, there are some interesting twists to it,” he said, referring to the Fusion’s acquisition of Chris Henderson and Preki from the Wizards for Roy Lassiter, for example. “And Kansas City has played Miami very well this year.
“The strength of Kansas City is its defending, and if it can click on all cylinders and frustrate Miami, there’s a possible upset in the making. I wouldn’t be shocked if that happened. But by the same token, Miami has a lot of offensive weapons [including the league’s top two scorers, strikers Alex Pineda Chacon of Honduras and Diego Serna of Colombia].”
The other two series are more difficult to handicap.
“There’s always the Chicago-Dallas rivalry,” Schmid continued. “[Burn Coach] Mike Jeffries used to be [Chicago Coach] Bob Bradley’s assistant, so he knows Chicago as well as anyone and they’ve played even throughout the regular season. So for Chicago that was definitely a tougher draw, but I still think it has enough talent and wherewithal to defeat Dallas. But it’s not going to be easy.”
If the Galaxy can get past the MetroStars, it will play the Fire or the Burn in the semifinals.
“Columbus-San Jose is an absolutely brutal series,” Schmid said. “San Jose has done very well this year and has a great team and Columbus is the hottest team in the league right now. “What Columbus has really brought to its game right now is being able to exploit the individual abilities of [forward Jeff] Cunningham and [Colombian midfielder Wilmer] Perez.
“I think because Columbus has two at home, I’d have to give the edge to Columbus.”
