M.L.S. Playoffs Ride A Cultured Left Foot

Michelangelo, da Vinci, Beethoven and Benjamin Franklin — all ambidextrous. Soccer players are taught to emulate those geniuses with their feet, because you never know when opportunity will come skittering.

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This is one of the great aspects of the sport — the unpredictability, the possibility that any player on the field, at any time, might have the chance to be a total footballer, to react spontaneously, with left foot or right, to make the move that could win a game or lose it.

Last Saturday night, Shalrie Joseph, a smart and unobtrusive midfielder with the New England Revolution, found an opening that would work only from his left foot, theoretically his weaker one. Joseph responded with a beautiful, soft, nearly 50-yard, turf-skimming smart missile that would change not only the game, but peoples careers.

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Because of Josephs pass, the Revolution will be playing host to Chicago tonight in the Eastern Conference final in Major League Soccer. Also because of that one play, Bruce Arenas short and unsatisfying reign as the sporting director and coach of the Red Bulls ended abruptly Monday, after the 1-0 loss to the Revolution in the two-game, total-goals series.

Soccer buffs remember these instant moments of brilliance and beauty, like the subtle roller Diego Maradona served to Claudio Caniggia for Argentinas only goal in a World Cup victory over Brazil in 1990. I was in Turin, Italy, for that one. Josephs pass also reminded me of a magic ball Roberto Baggio floated ahead to George Weah when they overlapped on A.C. Milan between 1995 and 1997. I saw that one on the tube one Sunday morning in my den, and still think about it.

With highlight clips like Josephs, M.L.S. soldiers on quite nicely despite the infirmity and absence of David Beckham, brought in to give an expensive veneer of talent and glitz.

The paradox is that this elegant pass came from a far less familiar player, with dreadlocks, who grew up hiding in his grandmothers house during President Reagans invasion of Grenada in 1983, who moved to Crown Heights, Brooklyn, earned an education at St. Johns University and does not have a wife nicknamed Posh Spice.

Maybe the play by Joseph is a sign M.L.S. is approaching critical mass for ingenuity. If there is one criticism that could be leveled at the league, now in its 12th season, it is that passes are all too often crude and purposeless.

Joseph transcended that early in the second half, after the Red Bulls best player, Juan Pablo Ángel, had been inadvertently kneed in the head. On the sideline, Ángel was examined for a concussion, giving the Revolution an extra player.

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The Revolutions Michael Parkhurst gathered in a sloppy throw-in by the Red Bulls and flicked it toward Joseph, who controlled it with the inside of his right knee, well short of midfield. Joseph, tall at 6 feet 3 inches, deftly dribbled around one defender, then spotted his teammate Steve Ralston streaking downfield.

We do that stuff in practice, Joseph explained Tuesday in his lilting Grenada accent. We need that guy to open up the midfield.

Joseph estimates that 95 percent of his touches are with his right foot, but he has been taught all his life to use his left foot, too. The ball split several defenders and caught up with Ralston, in full stride, who diverted it to his left, where Taylor Twellman sent goalkeeper Jon Conway skidding into the net.

The Red Bulls had clearly been distracted as Arena tried to send in a sub. It was the kind of collapse that has dogged that team since its first home game in 1996, when a former Juventus defender, Nicola Caricola, kicked an own goal in the 89th minute for a loss. The club, known as the MetroStars for the first decade, has since been haunted by what has been described as the Curse of Caricola.

Theyve been unlucky, Joseph said. I think Bruce did a great job with this team.

Joseph moved up from Grenada at 14, settling in Brooklyn, playing for Wingate High and representing Grenada in junior play, and later choosing to play for Grenada even though his coach at St. Johns, Dave Masur, advised him he might be good enough for the United States program.

At that age, I just wanted to play, he said. I was under the radar. Besides, I wanted to honor my roots.

Bob Bradley, the current coach of the United States national team, said on Tuesday: Shalrie would have had an opportunity to play for the team. Hes a smart player, a simple player, and sometimes players like that dont get credit, but he has a great eye for delivery.

At 28, Joseph could help a decent European squad, but his contract was recently renewed for four years by M.L.S. and he is happy for the security. Since Grenada is not a powerhouse, Joseph will have to console himself with the names of stars who never reached the World Cup finals — most notably Weah of Liberia; Alfredo Di Stefano of Argentina, Colombia and Spain; George Best of Northern Ireland; and currently Ryan Giggs of Wales. Joseph has provided the signature play of these playoffs, at least so far.

E-mail: geovec@nytimes.com

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