Wynalda: Stick to your guns

Yes, there are reasons and yes, there are plenty of excuses, but the two teams who will represent the league in this year's Final are there because they deserve to be. D.C. United and the Kansas City Wizards are there because they truly are the two best teams in the league right now, for their different talents and different approaches. They are there when others are not. The reason, you ask? It's because they stuck to their guns.

There is an old saying that "you dance with the one who brung ya." It's just a cliche but sometimes it holds true, and when you get right down to it, that's the reason why Kansas City and D.C. United are still playing in November and the likes of the MetroStars and Columbus and especially Los Angeles will sit this one out.

During the MLS Cup Playoffs, Los Angeles head coach Steve Sampson made Cobi Jones his captain. He then proceded to substitute him halfway through the second half in the Galaxy's conference final loss to Kansas City. There is an unwritten rule in sports that if you're going to make a player capain, you're going to leave him in the game, even if he is playing poorly.

Problem is, Jones was one of the only guys who was effective for the Galaxy. I assumed that Sampson knew that, but we all know that Steve has a history with captains. I don't think he's gotten to that portion of his soccer manual yet because there is no way that he has experienced this as a player.

There was another substitution which caused some confusion in the second game of the Columbus Crew-New England Revolution Conference Semifinal series. Forgetting the fact that Edson Buddle was left on the bench from the start, how Kyle Martino was substituted (at about the same time in the second half as Cobi Jones) made absolutely no sense.

The 18-game unbeaten streak was mainly due to the fact that Martino made the move from midfield upfront and paired very nicely with Buddle. Pulling him out of that game and replacing him with a 17-year-old rookie is why, in my opinion, the Crew did not advance. I think this was the most poorly managed game that we've seen all year in MLS. Danny Szetela is very talented and he has a bright future, but that's not the kind of pressure or responsibility that you want to throw on a young player's shoulders. It's just not fair.

The MetroStars changed forwards so many times that you would think that they had to reintroduce themselves to one another each week before kickoff. They didn't have injuries; they just had impatient coaching. I remember watching John Wolyniec's number go up just after a corner kick and thinking to myself this is a mistake. He scored 20 seconds later and earned himself another 12 minutes before being pulled. That was in the 70th minute as well.

Metros head coach Bob Bradley just had too many options and never believed in the combination on the field. Here's a hint: If Sergio Galvan Rey was a part of the combination it wasn't going to work. Wolyniec got cheated out of about six starts and 500 minutes that could have made him much more productive than the alternatives.

So what is it with the 60th minute. Why do some coaches feel the need to make a change? Oh yeah, they have to prove that they are actually doing something. What if doing nothing is the best option? Just a thought.

Kansas City was the team that nearly dealt with eveything this year. They had their share of call-ups, untimely injuries and poor play at times. In fact, they managed to play one of there worst games in the playoffs against San Jose, losing 2-0 in the first leg of the semifinals, which forced the so-called experts to write them off for the 20th time this year. The return game was an incredible 3-0 win which saw one of the worst players on the field the previous week (Jack Jewsbury) score the game-winner in extra time. Huh? How does that happen?

It is pretty clear that Bob Gansler believes in his players. He made changes when he had to, mainly due to injury. But when Khari Stephenson, Jewsbury and Bo Oshoniyi emerged as major contributors in their playoff run, you can't dismiss it as coincidence.

For those of you who don't remember the 2000 MLS Cup in D.C., it was Kansas City against Chicago. After all of the screaming, excuses, complaints about what color of jersey Chicago could wear, the Wizards very smartly, very patiently and very methodically walked away with the trophy. That is the plan once again: to wear down a high-powered D.C. offense, wait for that opportunity and make the most of it.

D.C. United, on the other hand, is remarkably starting this game exactly the way they started the season. In fact, the lineup is identical to opening day outside of midfielder Christian Gomez, who in my opinion is an improvement to Bobby Convey, who couldn't find the back of the net to save his life. Gomez has played himself fit, found a comfortable spot to play in the midfield and has proven to be a great find for Peter Nowak's team. He brings that element that United was missing and I expect him to figure in the scoring on Sunday. Hands down, D.C. United has the best midfield in the league. Yes, defense wins championships ... but so does a brilliant midfield.

In the end, I am picking D.C. to win because I, too, have to stick to my guns. In mid-June on an ESPN broadcast, I predicted that they would be champions. In a year of flip-flopping in what we will call the red states, this will be a year for a team and a coach who didn't get impatient, who didn't flip-flop and who stuck to his guns.

Just as it happened in the presidential election, this is not the year blue. This is the year for black and RED.

Former U.S. international forward Eric Wynalda scored the first goal in MLS history, and is currently the analyst on RadioShack's Soccer Saturday on ESPN2. He can be reached at takingshots@hotmail.com. He was inducted in the National Soccer Hall of Fame on Oct. 11. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or its clubs.