Kid A and Amnesiac: Sounders and LA Galaxy Bring the Noise

Three years following the critical and commercial success of OK Computer, Radiohead released Kid A and, shortly thereafter, Amnesiac.

The differences between the albums were at once both stark and slight. Kid A gets, perhaps unfairly, more credit. It was first after all and the album did top the charts. Amnesiac rose only to Number 2 despite many critics and fans feeling it’s the superior album.

There’s no question who the MLS Kid A is. It’s the Galaxy. The team that thought the term Cosmos was too small.

One on hand, the LA Galaxy have long been the league’s flagship team, the big fish in the MLS pond so to speak.

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On the other, there is a Seattle team that has longed to be the top dog since even before the team was “promoted” into MLS in 2009.

The two sides meet for a home-and-home, two-legged playoff. It will be the fifth time the two sides have met this year.

“There’s not much more left to do.” That’s what LA coach Bruce Arena had to say when asked about the Galaxy’s expectations for matches four and five against the Seattle Sounders. As Arena said, the two teams know each other very well.

Like the ancient philosopher Sun Tzu, once said: “Keep your friends close, you’re enemies closer.”

Oct 25, 2014; Seattle, WA, USA; The Seattle Sounders FC pose with the Supporters

Or as 80’s philosopher Rick Astley stated the other day when I got RickRolled: “We’ve know each other for so long”

Arena was joined Thursday by LA Galaxy forward and Captain Robbie Keane on the conference call arranged by the league. Seattle Sounders coach Sigi Schmid and Sounders midfielder and Captain Brad Evans joined the conference call following Arena and Keane’s departure.

The two teams boasted impressive resumes in 2014. The two teams had peaks and valleys but left no mistake to the league’s fans and pundits that they are teams number 1 and 1a.

Either side can lay claim to being among the historically great teams in the league’s short history, but only one can advance to the MLS Cup Final as the playoffs return taking a week off in recognition of the a FIFA date.

This was not necessarily bad. Arena commented that teams typically don’t like layoffs, but called in this instance, called it “Time well spent.”

The Galaxy had a thirteen-year head start on ruling over the MLS landscape though Seattle wasted no time in declaring themselves read to assume that mantle with a series of big moves, none bigger than acquiring Clint Dempsey from Tottenham Hotspur last season.

The Sounders have matched the Galaxy in big-time players. The next step is youth development. The Sounders youth academy has had a hand in developing Jordan Morris. Morris earned his first cap for the USMNT team on Tuesday becoming the first collegiate athlete to represent the USMNT in nearly twenty years.

Last year, the Galaxy again were the trendsetters this time being the first team to christen their own same-market USL PRO franchise, the LA Gal The Sounders found themselves again following the Galaxy when they announced the S2, set to play in next year’s USL PRO.

Again though, the Galaxy takes the lead, the other teams, like jigsaw pieces, fall into place.

Even the things Seattle is good at, the Galaxy have a means to mock. Schmid is the all-time winningest coach in MLS. Arena is number two but has an 11-8-5 record in 25 games against Schmid.

“Bruce’s teams are always well-prepared,” Schmid said. Arena has, “The right mix of players” on the field, always paired with a ‘veteran presence’.

One thing Schmid can claim over Arena is the possibility of Coach of the Year honors. Schmid, along with Columbus’s Greg Berhalter and D.C. United’s Ben Olsen, is a finalist for the honor.

Schmid humbly states that the award is a reflection of his players who have had a great season. Besides Dempsey and MVP candidate Obafemi Martens, goalkeeper Stephen Frei has been nominated for Comeback Player of the Year.

That should not mask that the chemistry that makes the mighty amoeba is set in motion by the coach. How good is the team’s chemistry? Despite a year in which the team changed it’s roster on the fly, Sounders Captain Brad Evans in able to say: “At this point in season it’s almost an afterthought about chemistry, because guys have been playing together so long.”

Seattle is only too aware of their post-season foibles. Their trophy case is filled with US Open Cup trophies but critics are quick to point out that the team is missing out on the “important” hardware.

Seattle, long seen as the imperfect LA clone can break free of that status by becoming, for lack of a better term, amnesiacs.

Schmid admitted as much stating, “We’re aware of the history .. but we want to make our own history.”

It’s Kid A versus Amnesiac, all over again.