Soccer Notebook: New Voice Gives Red Bulls Playoff Hope

Often ingenious on the field, Juan Pablo Ángel was on the guileless side after the Red Bulls training session yesterday.

Juan Pablo Ángel finished the regular season with 19 goals, second in M.L.S.

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I dont really know how the playoffs work, he said after the team completed its day of preparation at Montclair State in Little Falls, N.J., for the opener of the first-round M.L.S. series against the visiting New England Revolution on Saturday. I guess this is the real start to the season. Its kind of a shame, though, because I believe a team should get more credit for what it does during the season. Its a strange situation to go through 30 games and then through this.

There is little to suggest the Red Bulls will beat New England, or anyone else, in the playoffs. The Red Bulls have won only one playoff series (in 2000) in club history, and they are one of only three of the leagues original 10 teams not to have played in the championship match.

The Revolution had two wins and a tie against the Red Bulls in three regular-season games in 2007. The Red Bulls finished the season with 43 points, 7 behind New England.

Nearly everything points to New England advancing in the two-game, total-goals series, but Ángels combination of skill, confidence, artistry with the ball and goal-scoring prowess gives the Red Bulls a reason to believe.

When you look back, this has been a team that has lacked a strong voice, Coach Bruce Arena said yesterday. Hes given us that. We need guys who support their teammates verbally. Sometimes he can be too assertive. Hes got a good attitude, experience and skill, but in this league, you never know.

Ever since he joined the Red Bulls this season from Aston Villa of the English Premier League, Ángel, a Colombian who turns 32 tomorrow, has been a goal-scoring machine. He finished the regular season with 19 goals in 24 games, second in the league to D.C. Uniteds Luciano Emilio, who scored 20 goals and played five more games. Perhaps more important, nearly every time Ángel touches the ball, he produces something constructive. He is one of the Red Bulls two designated players (Claudio Reyna is the other), and Ángel is a strong candidate for the leagues Most Valuable Player award.

Ive scored goals with every team Ive played for, said Ángel, whose best season among the seven he spent in England was in 2003-4, when he scored 16 goals in 32 Premier League games.

Eastern Conference

Semifinals

D.C. UNITED (16-7-7, 55 POINTS) VS. CHICAGO FIRE (10-10-10, 40) D.C.s 13-game unbeaten streak in league play ended last weekend, but perhaps more serious are injuries to the teams two top strikers — Luciano Emilio, who has a sprained left ankle, and Jaime Moreno, the leagues career leading scorer, who reinjured his right foot after playing for Bolivia in World Cup qualifying matches last week and then for D.C. United last weekend. Both are expected to play.

Chicagos season can be broken into two parts: B. B. (Before Blanco) and A. B. (After Blanco); the Fire is 6-3-6 in league play since the M.L.S. debut of the Mexican veteran Cuauhtémoc Blanco on July 29. His addition pumped up interest in the Fire and proved to be an effective addition to the team and the league.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION (14-8-8, 50) VS. RED BULLS (12-11-7, 43) The Revolution enters the playoffs as a confident team after having completed the second-best season in club history, even though it finished the regular season without a victory in three games. New England received a late-season boost when the club re-signed the rugged midfielder Shalrie Joseph to a four-year, $1.5 million contract after Joseph was relentlessly pursued by Glasgow Celtic. Taylor Twellman scored three goals against the Red Bulls this season. The Revolution, which usually plays with only three defenders, will have to find a way to control Juan Pablo Ángel and Jozy Alitdore, who have combined to score 28 of the Red Bulls 47 goals.

Footnote: This is the only first-round series that will be played entirely on artificial turf.

Western Conference Semifinals

CHIVAS USA (15-7-8, 53) VS. KANSAS CITY WIZARDS (11-12-7, 40) David Beckham wont be in the playoffs, but a team from Los Angeles will; Chivas USA is the citys and the conferences top-seeded playoff team. Chivas USA, the northern cousin of the Mexican powerhouse Guadalajara, is in its third year in the league and has transformed itself the past two years under two coaches, Bob Bradley (who is now the coach of the United States national team) and Preki.

Preki was a two-time league M.V.P. during his long career with the Wizards and has two former Wizards players on his back line — Alex Zotinca and Shavar Thomas. The teams split the season series. Eddie Johnson led Kansas City with 15 of his teams 45 goals, while Jimmy Conrad and Kevin Hartman anchored a defense that allowed 45 goals. The Cuban defector Maykel Galindo (12) and Ante Razov (11) combined for 23 of 46 goals scored by Chivas USA (but Razov is injured and out for the season).

HOUSTON DYNAMO (15-8-7, 52) VS. F.C. DALLAS (13-12-5, 44) Houston, the defending league champion, has dominated its intrastate rival (6-1) since moving last season to Texas from San Jose, Calif. Dallas scored only 37 goals during the regular season, with the Guatemalan international Carlos Ruiz being limited to a team-leading seven in 22 games.

F.C. Dallas seemed to have put it together when it won three straight in August, sparked by the additions of the Colombian midfielder Juan Toja and the Brazilian midfielder/striker Denilson, but the team staggered to the finish, going 2-6-2 in its final 10 league games.

FORMAT For the fourth straight year, the leagues playoff format has not been tweaked. The conference semifinals are two-game, home-and-away, total-goals series. A 30-minute overtime period will be played if the teams are tied after 180 minutes, then a shootout if the teams are still tied. The conference final and M.L.S. Cup (Nov. 18 in Washington) are single games that use the same tie breakers.

But under a new scheme this season, the top two teams in each conference qualified, followed by the next six teams with the most points. Kansas City, as the fifth team from the East to advance, was shifted to the Western side of the playoff bracket.

TV M.L.S. and two of its TV partners — ESPN and Fox Soccer Channel — apparently believe the Eastern Conference matchups are more attractive. Both D.C. United-Chicago Fire games will be shown on ESPN2 as part of its Thursday Night Soccer programming, and FSC will carry both Red Bulls-New England games as part of its Soccer Saturday package. Games in the West will be shown on regional networks and HDNet.

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