Well, That Sucked

Another year, another Conference Finals loss. I could go back and check exactly how many times this has happened, but I'd just as soon not dwell on it.

The first question is, what happened? Who can we blame for this? Surprisingly, neither Crew goal was Wilman Conde's fault, and he was the only member of the Fire backline who didn't succumb to Terry Vaughn's excessively itchy yellow card finger. I didn't see a replay of the Segares foul that earned him his card and then led to the first Columbus goal, but the one to Soumare in the first half wasn't even a foul, let alone a card. From there, it's hard to second-guess what happened. Yes, McBride is as good an option covering Marshall as Conde or Soumare. Marshall just got over him. Schelotto served in a great cross.

As for the second Columbus goal, I think the midfield got caught a bit too far upfield on that particular play, and once Schelotto managed to beat Baky in the air (!), it was just a numbers game. Conde and Segares both had marks. Brandon Prideaux tried valiantly to make up the ground and stop Eddie Gaven, but there was a lot of ground to cover. If I go back and watch it again, I'm going to look for Justin Mapp, Logan Pause and John Thorrington to see why they weren't able to help out.

On the other end of the field, I think Denis Hamlett's hands are tied by his superstars, because he's obviously reluctant to take Blanco or McBride out of a game. They're proud, fierce competitors, and they're the guys who can and will come through in the clutch if given the opportunity. I get it. Nyarko for Prideaux was obvious. In retrospect, Pappa should have come on before Banner, but Pappa hasn't shown enough after coming back from injury to make that obvious. Except maybe to Frank Klopas, based on some conversations I've had with him. And Chris Rolfe has been a big-game guy lately, so I understand Hamlett's hesitation there, too.

It comes down to their MVP candidate creating two goals, while ours created one with the quick throw-in to Justin Mapp, setting up his cross to McBride. I can't really argue with that too much, which is different from not being happy about it.

The second question, now what? I'm seeing rumors that Blanco has signed an extension. We know Diego Gutierrez is done, but he ended up as a role player and spot starter at the end of the year anyway. Of the starting lineup last night, the guys I think might not be back next year are Conde (please please please), Prideaux and maybe John Thorrington, even though I thought he ended up being the heart of the team this season.

On the bench, Frankowski is almost certainly gone, along with Lider Marmol and probably Andy Herron. A big question mark is what Hamlett does with Marco Pappa, as he could conceivably start over Mapp or maybe Thorrington in that second defensive midfielder spot. If he hadn't gotten hurt, I think Mapp would have been on the bench for much of the late-season run.

At this point, I don't think anyone other than Conde has European aspirations. There might be a little concern for Sega or Baky flying the coop, but unless Rolfe starts tearing it up with the U.S. Men's National Team, I don't think anyone else is in that category.

Anyway, we've got four months to speculate about all of this, as I'm sure real information will arrive at a snail's pace. In the meantime, go RSL! Go Dema!