My colleagues over at SBNation Soccer have been doing a pretty fantastic job with their coverage of the MLS Cup playoffs all week, and tonight's first leg of the Western Conference semi-final will be no exception. They'll have lineups, regular updates on what's happening in the game, analysis of goals, insight and most likely plenty of cutting sarcasm and witty bon mots. Still not convinced? Here's a selection of their work so far:
Here's Jeremiah Oshan on the FC Dallas-New York Red Bulls Wild Card Round matchup:
Backe only brought five bench players. He somehow duped a German goalkeeper into playing for his team. He refuses to play the next-great-American-prospect. He loves him some Mehdi Ballouchy. So far, it's all paying off and I'm starting to wonder if maybe he's just out-crazied all of us.
Apparently New York Red Bulls coach Hans Backe thinks this will be his best coaching job yet if his team wins ... this ... one ... game. That's just dumb. Really, really dumb.
The curse of the CONCACAF Champions League? Really? People believe this?
And here's Kevin McCauley on the Colorado Rapids-Columbus Crew Wild Card Round matchup:
Get ready for a doozy! I know, the Colorado Rapids and Columbus Crew are usually so entertaining normally that you can't imagine them being any more entertaining, but imagine them playing with nobody in the center of the pitch! That's what we're going to see tonight. That's because the Rapids are playing their normal 4-4-2 with two holding midfielders and the Crew are countering with two holding midfielders of their own. I know, it makes sense.
I bet Tony Pulis is DVRing this to watch later when he's aaaaaaaaaaaaaall aloooooooooooone.
In the 68th minute, the Colorado Rapids' most dangerous player and goal scorer Omar Cummings, a striker, was withdrawn for Wells Thompson. Thompson is a midfielder who is normally deployed on the wing. His best quality, theoretically, is his work rate. His best quality in reality is making really tough tackles, then saying nasty things to the officials.
That's what I thought. So head on over to the mothership and let SBNation Soccer's cynical jerks irreverent scribes be your guide to the evening's entertainment.