MLS to Crown Champion Sunday

Friday, 20 November 09, 10:58 AM · Comments (0)

A long and exhausting season comes down to one game. On one side, you have the upstart Real Salt Lake, the club that "shouldn't be here." On the other, the star-studded Galaxy, complete with the world's most recognized footballer in David Beckham.

While MLS may have missed out on a marketing maven's dream match-up of Beckham vs. Blanco, there's still a league championship at stake. And believe it or not, LA needs much more from just Beckham to have a chance to win.

The defense is the critical match-up for LA. Real boasts a number of speedy and creative attacking talents, and have shown that they will not come in and bunker down, trying to score on the counter. How the Galaxy backline duo of Omar Gonzalez and Gregg Berhalter stand up against Robbie Findley, Yura Movsisyan and/or Fabian Espindola will likely determine the championship meeting.

Speed is the one weakness that the Galaxy duo struggle with -- Gonzalez is far from the slowest defender in MLS, but most central defenders in the league cannot handle the speed of Findley. Stifle the Salt Lake attack, and the Galaxy are halfway to the Cup. Failure to do so, and they'll be staring at a massive deficit -- that is, if Movsisyan and Findley bury those chances, something they are not always apt at doing.

With Landon Donovan and Beckham keying the attack, it'll be a tough task for the Salt Lake defense to keep them at bay. However, as Beckham fights through a niggling ankle injury, perhaps he won't be at his best playing on turf. A shadowing tactic could be deployed using Kyle Beckerman to man-mark Beckham, though in the past that hasn't proven the most successful option.

Jamison Olave must keep his cool in this one -- something he's more or less managed to do so after a few incidents in the regular season results in the erratic defender earning a red card. At his best, Olave is a calming presence that keeps the opposition at bay, and at his worst makes poor decisions that prove costly for his side.

So what will this game come down to? MLS, for all its parity, the favorite is surely LA. They have a balanced attack, are strong in defense, and have the league's best player. RSL isn't a massive underdog by any means, but they've backed their way into the playoffs, and much like last year's Red Bulls, seemed destined to be taken down in the final round by a superior side. Donovan will at least score once in what will be a narrow win for Los Angeles.

MLS to Crown Champion Sunday

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