In MLS, offense an afterthought

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By John Haydon

Defense rules in Major League Soccer, and that's not a good thing for fans of flair and attacking soccer.

For the second consecutive year, the team that scored the most goals during the season didn't make the playoffs - an astounding development. A stingy defense now is more important to winning than a potent offense.

"I really hope we are not going to become a league where everybody puts nine guys behind the ball," D.C. United president Kevin Payne said.

FC Dallas scored a league-best 50 goals this season but, like the high-scoring Los Angeles Galaxy of last year, didn't make the postseason.

United scored the most goals (43) in the Eastern Conference and more than any playoff-bound team except Real Salt Lake, which also scored 43. But United is not in the postseason.

This marks a major shift: In the first seven years of the league, the team with the best offense won a conference title.

Last year, the Galaxy scored 55 goals and gave up 62. This season, the club notched a meager 36 goals and gave up 31 - and won its conference. Landon Donovan, clearly the best player in MLS, saw his goal tally cut almost in half, yet his club made the playoffs.

"Look, it's not what I want to see," Payne said. "The pressure on coaches in our league is such that it's hard not to blame them to go on the road and just get a result if that's what they need to do. It's the coaches who are the ones that get fired."

MLS could be turning into a low-scoring, defensive-minded outfit like the Italian league of yesterday - score one goal, then lock up the hatches.

"I think you are seeing teams buttoned-down more," United general manager Dave Kasper said. "You are seeing more teams playing with four at the back and two holding midfielders in front of them."

Two teams - Seattle and Houston - gave up less than a goal a game this season. That had happened only five times previously in the 14-year-old league.

"The league now is a lot about hard work and defending for 90 minutes," United defender Devon McTavish said. "If you have a player that has a couple of moments of brilliance and gets one in the net, you are going to do well."

The teams that qualified for the playoffs had the eight stingiest defenses in the 15-team league, but as United assistant coach Mark Simpson noted, attacking soccer can lead to good defending.

"Team defending starts from the top as well," he said. "If you have hardworking forwards, it makes it tough for teams to play out of the back."

Olsen ponders the future - Where does United veteran Ben Olsen go from here? Dubbed the heart and soul of the club, Olsen is eager to keep on playing.

"I didn't know my future was so up in the air until these last couple of days," Olsen said this week. "As of now, I'm looking to play another year."

Olsen said he hopes to stay with United but is taking a lighthearted approach to where he will play in the future.

"I don't know where it will be. I hope it's here," Olsen said. "If it's not, there's always the indoor circuit, you know what I mean?"

Olsen believes he did enough to warrant another season after coming back from ankle surgery that kept him out all of last year.

"I didn't think that I was that much of a liability," he said. "There were frustrating times, and physically there were times when I was pushed to the limit. ... I gutted through the season. There was never a time to get a base fitness, so I was always trucking along, so to speak. Overall, for what it's worth, I was very happy with the way things played out for me this year. Saying that, it's shattered by a bad performance from the team that I was a part of."