MLS is a league of unending turmoil. Breakers with steel gearteeth routinely wash up against the white chalk cliffs and dash to pieces previously held notions about the league’s top dogs. The Galaxy’s run of two Supporters Shield trophies and two MLS Cup trophies in three years probably doesn’t get the amount of credit it deserves based largely on the Galaxy’s top-down talent. In short, it wasn’t as robust as it probably seems in hindsight.

There’s no denying the role Donovan and Beckham and now Keane played on those teams, but the hard truth about MLS is there’s a price rendered for that level of star power. And it’s depth. That creates a natural pull-back on dynasties and disparity and pushes unpredictability.

Which brings us to the most unlikely result of the weekend – Montreal 2, New England 0.

The Revs entered this matchup on a five-game unbeaten run, and the Impact couldn’t have looked more consistently hapless. At least entering the weekend, these were the poles of MLS – the Revs representing the best, the Impact looking like the tactical worst. Even on the road, there was little doubt that the Revs could’ve easily salvaged at least a draw from this game.

New England isn’t exactly engineered to be a possession-happy team, but then again, that’s not something any MLS team is particularly set up to do, at least on a consistent scale. Even with their glut of midfield talent, the Revs are best on quick stabs and aesthetically pleasing combos that set up deceptively easy looks in the box. Patrick Mullins is immensely talented, but he’s a rookie. You set him up best by setting him up easily, and the majority of his goals (though not all) have gone thusly this year.

So that New England controlled the ball in this game wasn’t a total surprise, but it didn’t say much about the result, either.

This is what it means that guile and good planning can overcome talent in MLS. Montreal wanted nothing to do with New England’s central midfield, and they completely circumvented it by bombing down the wings, playing on the counter and smashing New England in front of the box. The Revs are objectively better than Montreal. It didn’t matter. On some level, an ancient military strategist nodded in assent.

The Battle of Cannae between Hannibal’s Carthage and the Roman Empire in 216 BC was a distinct pivot point in the history of battlefield tactics. Fought less than 250 miles from Rome in the Apulian plain, Hannibal had spent the previous two years tunneling through the Roman army in Italy and spoiling the reputation of generals through superior tactics and a willingness to engage. After a series of victories, Hannibal goaded the Roman military into combat in Cannae in a way he’d anticipated beautifully. The Romans were notoriously vertical warriors. Their heavy armor and lack of reliance on cavalry made them fierce but one-dimensional, and history with the Romans allowed Hannibal unique perspective.

The Romans engaged Hannibal typically, by utilizing their uniquely superior numbers to overload the middle and then, so they thought, to break to the edges. When Hannibal deployed in a semicircle with the upturned belly facing the densely packed Roman lines, Varro and his generals glimpsed easy victory. Hannibal counted on this. He led the central portions of his line on a steady but ordered retreat, allowing the flanks to flip on themselves and collapse on the unguarded Roman flanks. The Carthaginian cavalry, which had since routed their Roman counterparts, pounced on the rear. In the ensuing six hours, without the benefit of modern weaponry, the Carthaginians annihilated an entire army more than twice its size.

The Battle of Cannae is the first recorded use of the double envelopment in military history and the first pincer move ever used to this effect. It was a masterstroke without equal in the history of military tactics, and whether he knew he was using it or not (he did not), Frank Klopas invited in the league’s best midfield and led them to a Cannaeic annihilation on Saturday.

First, Montreal’s tactical map.

The Revs’ midfield deployment on Saturday, from left to right: Diego Fagundez, Kelyn Rowe, Lee Nguyen and Teal Bunbury. Neither Fagundez or Bunbury are natural wingers, and New England counts on both to pinch inside to interchange with Nguyen and Rowe as Dorman ties it together from the back. The Revs like to concentrate power centrally and overwhelm defenses at the point where they’re strongest. It’s very typically Roman. And it backfired on them against the Impact.

Montreal played it like Hannibal, essentially inviting the Revs inside to give them the illusion of power before using their own strengths as weapons against them. Montreal’s first goal spawned from this Andres Romero run from the right flank, which then invited an incredible through ball setup from Marco Di Vaio.

The second was birthed from the other flank from a run off a counter from Issey Nakajima-Farran, whose stinger was easily followed by Jack McInerney to double to total before half.

Two flanks, two goals. While Bernardello and Felipe expertly drew the Revs’ vastly superior midfield into its central trap, the Impact hit on the flanks to envelop swamped fullbacks Andrew Farrell and Chris Tierney. The result was what MLS does so expertly – an upset on paper that ended up never looking like much of an upset at all.

Houston’s back line is in trouble

Since forever, the Dynamo have relied on a midfield push to generate pressure to take fear away from their back line. In short, Houston’s been able to impose more than its been imposed upon, and that’s been the gravity for its postseason rotation the last couple years. Without Boniek Garcia and Brad Davis away on international duty, it’s been as hard as ever for the Dynamo to remove the danger. And the back line’s been exposed.

Houston’s surrendered 27 goals this season, 11 more than any other team in the Eastern Conference top five and two more than second-worst Chivas USA, which is seven points behind Houston. That the Dynamo have been able to hang up where it has in the standings is incredible enough.

Houston’s first lineup of the season – which it used in a 4-0 win over New England – was a diamond, with Rico Clark holding in front of Horst and Taylor in central defense with Sarkodie and Ashe on the wings. The difference between that lineup and the one that dropped a pitiful 3-0 result to Colorado over the weekend was entirely in the midfield. The back line was the same, while Carrasco and Creavalle held in a 4-2-3-1. It wasn’t good enough.

Both center backs failed to adjust on each of Colorado’s first two – Horst couldn’t find Deshorn Brown on an easy header for the 1-0 lead, and then watch this multi-headed failure on the second. First Servando Carrasco somehow manages to get caught flat-footed on a centered ball to Dillon Powers, one of the league’s most dangerous midfielders. He’s completely caught off, and Powers looks up to see nothing but back line.

Horst reacts immediately and takes a gamble by running at Powers and pulling himself off his line. It doesn’t work.

Powers easily chips Horst’s misguided slide tackle, leading in Brown for a one-on-one he finishes as easily as you like. Horst’s decision-making was poor, but it was only a sleepy midfield that exposed him in the first place. The sooner Rico Clark can heal and the sooner Honduras and the U.S. are done with the World Cup, the better for Houston.

Caleb Porter is not happy

These aren’t happy days for Caleb Porter.

It’s been a rugged season for the Timbers, who dropped a tough 4-3 loss to the Whitecaps at home thanks in part to two penalties. The Timbers are now surprisingly in eighth place in the West with just 16 points from 14 games, and Porter was testy after the loss.

Sounds like fun. Porter’s eye bullets shot all the way to Akron.

I don’t necessarily buy that Porterball’s been sniffed out by the league’s tactical bloodhounds. I think it has more to do with Portland’s inability to play a complete defensive and offensive game at the same time. It was a month into the season before Portland scored more than one goal in a game, and that was the 4-4 draw against Seattle.

Results should start swinging in Portland’s direction this summer. If they don’t, the pressure will only increase.

Donovan Rex

High pressure, a turnover, an impeccably cornered cross and a well-finished roofer from Landon Donovan. LA played sloppily and will be happy for the point in Chicago (was it hot, Robbie Keane? You weren’t even in Texas), but the story continues to be Landon’s torrid form for club, if not for country. What do we say about this? Narratives? Maybe. But every fringe player to balk at the opportunity in Brazil later this month will get the “Could Landon not have done more” treatment, which, of course, is not entirely fair.

But with the form Donovan’s been on the last couple weeks, he’s not exactly been shirking the comparisons. Just another twist in one of the most interesting stories in the history of U.S. soccer.