In what could be one of the most underappreciated Liguilla MLS ties, Sporting Kansas City playmaker extraordinaire Benny Feilhaber gets a chance to take on his former team in Liguilla MLS. (Why am I using Liguilla MLS? Because like Liga MX, we use the Liguilla (playoffs) to decide the MLS Champion, so we will call these playoffs "Liguilla MLS".)
Benny Feilhaber's trade from New England to Sporting Kansas City provided the pale blue-and-navy a fresh opportunity to show what the world already knew about him--that he is one of the USA's best pure playmakers in the United States. His range and quality of passing, as well as his vision have forced teams off of Graham Zusi and allowed him more freedom to both shoot on goal at many ranges and take advantage of defenses losing track of him from paying attention to what Feilhaber is doing, and vice versa. Zusi and Feilhaber both can set plays up for a cast of forwards including Claudio Bieler, Soony Saad, The four-man back line of Matt Besler, Seth Sinovic, Chance Myers, and Aurelien Collin can also push forward at times to hem the Revolution midfield in and at least force saves from the keeper--whether (for the Revs) it would be Bobby Shuttleworth or Matt Reis.
New England is no slouch either, and may be even scarier going forward. Juan Agudelo and Diego Fagundez are already two of the best forwards in MLS not named Clint Dempsey--at beating people 1v1 and with their range of finishing. Kelyn Rowe, a 3rd overall pick who's demonstrated his playmaking abilities both out wide and centrally--and his ability to send in not only Agudelo and Fagundez, but also Tierney, and potentially Sochaux-bound Saer Senw. Agudelo's pure technical ability is USMNT caliber even with the crowded striker pool the USMNT has now. This ignores Honduran international assasin Jerry Bengston who's had a fallout with the Revs. New England's midfield has also featured former USA international Lee Nguyen and Clyde Simms as well as Fagundez and Rowe.
The Revs are also likely to feature one of the most technical right backs (and center backs) in MLS in Andrew Farrell. His pace is frightening, as well as his incredible dribbling, passing range, vision, and positioning. If Zusi or Saad attacks down the left, Farrell will be the guy who snuffs out those attacks. His strengths as a center back could also mean he could take out runners on crosses from the left or over-the-top from Zusi and Feilhaber. The question will be however, can the rest of the back line--including captain Jose Goncalves, AJ Soares, and Chris Tierney stay disciplined as a group--and prevent Sporting KC's attack? Same thing goes for Sporting KC in stopping the Revs attack--both in the emergency state (some people were beat) and in the non-emergency state (the rest of the match).
That may end up coming down to the holding midfielders--Olum (or Uri Rosell or Peterson Joseph) and Simms. Both teams, like many other MLS teams these days, are valuing more of a passing rhythm, even though teams are not quite stringing 15-30 pass attacks, or 6-7 pass counterattacks. Their energy and recovery, as well as a tendency for the Revs to sit back and counter will mean Sporting Kansas City will have more possession. Despite New England's talent, this writer thinks Feilhaber and Zusi will break down New England--with Sporting Kansas City advancing to the next round on a 5-3 aggregate scoreline with plenty of goals in both matches.