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11/10/2005 5:41PM
Revs, Galaxy compete for MLS Cup
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MLS CUP 2005
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION v LOS ANGELES GALAXY
PIZZA HUT PARK, FRISCO, Texas
SUN., NOV. 13 (2:30 p.m. CT; ABC)
SUNDAY'S MATCHUP ...
When the New England Revolution and Los Angeles Galaxy play in the 10th MLS Cup, it will be the second rematch in MLS Cup history. In 2002, the clubs played in the league's championship game at Gillette Stadium, Carlos Ruiz scoring a golden goal to give the Galaxy a 1-0 victory. The only previous rematch came in 1999, and also featured the Galaxy and Foxborough, Mass. D.C. United defeated the Galaxy 2-0 at old Foxboro Stadium, a rematch of the epic inaugural game three years, won 3-2 by United on an Eddie Pope golden goal.
The teams were separated by 14 points over the course of the 2005 regular season, the second-most ever for the two MLS Cup Finalists. In 1997, D.C. United recorded 55 points for the campaign while the Colorado Rapids claimed just 38. The third-most, coincidentally, also involved Los Angeles and New England - in 2002, they were separated by 13 points over the season (LA 51, NE 38).
However, the teams evenly split their two regular-season meetings this year, playing to a pair of 1-1 draws just 23 days apart midseason. Both games were also marked by quick answering goals. On July 4 in Carson, Michael Enfield gave the Galaxy an 87th-minute lead, but Andy Dorman hit for the equalizer four minutes deep into second-half stoppage time. At Gillette Stadium on July 27, Herculez Gomez gave L.A. a 16th-minute lead, but Shalrie Joseph leveled the match from the penalty spot just 10 minutes later.
On the health front, the Revolution have the bigger concerns. Wide midfielder Marshall Leonard has been ruled out of MLS Cup 2005 with a left hamstring strain suffered in the first leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. His replacement that day, Khano Smith, is still listed as questionable after suffering a knee contusion late in the same match. On the opposite flank, MLS ironman Steve Ralston is also listed as questionable, hampered by a left hamstring strain that forced him off early in the Eastern Conference Championship against the Chicago Fire. Andy Dorman is probable with a left hamstring strain that forced him to miss both legs of the conference semis, though he came on as a substitute against the Fire. Defender Joe Franchino (chest pain) and midfielder Daniel Hernandez (plantar fascitis in right foot) are both listed as probable, but both played the full match last weekend despite the injuries.
In addition, defender Avery John has been called in to Trinidad & Tobago's national team for their vital World Cup qualifying playoff and will miss the final. T&T travel to Bahrain for Saturday's first leg, with the return match in Port-of-Spain next Wednesday, the winner earning a first-ever berth to the FIFA World Cup Finals.
The Galaxy have far fewer concerns. Rookie defender Benjamin Benditson is the only player who will miss the final, after sports hernia surgery a few months ago. Midfielder Marcelo Saragosa is still questionable with a right adductor strain that forced him off after just 21 minutes of the first leg of the Western Conference Semifinals and hasn't allowed him back since. Cobi Jones is bothered by a right abdominal strain, as he has been throughout the MLS Cup Playoffs, but still considered probable for the Final.
The Galaxy are the lowest "seed" to ever reach MLS Cup. They tied for the seventh-best overall record in the 2005 season, but the Colorado Rapids gained the third spot in the Western Conference on a tiebreaker, leaving the Galaxy with the No. 8 seed overall. In 1997, the Rapids finished fourth in the Western Conference, but the New England Revolution finished with the poorest record among the eight teams in the MLS Cup Playoffs, with one fewer point than Colorado. Just one other time has a team in the "bottom half" of the bracket (seeds 5 through 8) reached the MLS Cup Final - in 2001, when No. 3 Los Angeles faced No. 5 San Jose.
The Galaxy are just the fourth team in MLS Cup history to come into the league championship game with a .500 record or less over the regular season. Twice teams have come into the Final with regular season marks below the .500 level - the 1997 Colorado Rapids (14-18) and the 2002 New England Revolution (12-14-2). In the inaugural season, D.C. United recorded a 16-16 record before reaching the title game; the Galaxy were 13-13-6 this season.
The Galaxy are also just the second team in MLS Cup history to have scored fewer goals over the course of the regular season campaign than they allowed and still reach the championship game. In 1997, the Colorado Rapids scored 50 goals and allowed 59; the Galaxy scored 44 and allowed 45 this year. In 2001, the New England Revolution ended with a goal difference of 0 - both scoring and allowing 49 goals over their league season.
The Revolution took over first place in the Eastern Conference in Week Four and held it nearly throughout the remainder of the campaign. A 1-0 in Chicago on July 9 dumped the Revs out of the top spot in the East, but they regained it just before the All-Star break - after the home draw with the Galaxy - and they remained their for the rest of the season. It was the fifth time in the eight seasons of the two-conference structure the top team in the East reached the MLS Cup Final - the same record as in the West.
MLS CUP FINALS ...
The last two MLS Cup Finals have seen a veritable explosion of goals - 11 in all. A year ago, D.C. United and the Kansas City Wizards hit for five between them; the year before, the San Jose Earthquakes and Chicago Fire scored six. The six finals prior to that saw a total of just 12 goals scored, including two decided by the game's lone goal (Los Angeles 1, New England 0 in 2002; Kansas City 1, Chicago 0 in 2000) after the inaugural epic final saw five goals scored.
After going seven MLS Cup Finals without a multiple goal scorer or a penalty kick, there have been each in the last two championship games. In 2003, Landon Donovan became the first player to hit for two goals in the Final when his double led the San Jose Earthquakes to a 4-2 win, and in that match Ante Razov had the first penalty in MLS Cup Final history saved by Pat Onstad. Last year, Alecko Eskandarian also hit for a brace in leading D.C. United to victory, and Josh Wolff scored from the spot to pull Kansas City back to a 3-2 final deficit.
The first eight MLS Cup Finals went by without a player sent off, but that also changed last year when D.C. United's Dema Kovalenko was shown a red card by Michael Kennedy when he slapped away Jimmy Conrad's header on the goal line in the 55th minute.
After three consecutive Finals where the winner of the MLS Supporters' Shield - emblematic of the league's best regular season record - took part, the Shield holder has been dumped at the first hurdle in the MLS Cup Playoffs two years running. A year ago, the Columbus Crew were knocked out by the New England Revolution in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, and this year the San Jose Earthquakes were bounced by the Los Angeles Galaxy in the Western semis.
SUNDAY'S REFEREE ...
Sunday's referee is Kevin Stott (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.). This is the second MLS Cup Final where he has run the middle, also officiating the MLS Cup 2001 in Columbus, Ohio, when the San Jose Earthquakes defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1. Stott has been a FIFA referee since 1995 and has officiated in MLS since the inaugural season. His honors include refereeing in the 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup and the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship.
For his MLS career, Stott has refereed 119 games, and when he ran the center for the MetroStars-D.C. United match at Giants Stadium on April 17, 2004, he became the first referee in MLS history to preside over 100 matches. He has been a finalist for MLS referee of the year honors for the last six seasons.
During the regular season, Stott was the referee for 11 matches. He called an average of 27.1 fouls per match (fewer than just two of the 22 referees to officiate MLS games this year), issuing 29 yellow cards (2.6 per game, 20th-most) and two red cards. He was one of seven referees not to award a penalty kick.
Here are Stott's refereeing statistics:
MLS Career: 119 games; fouls/game: 26.7; yellows/game: 3.3; reds: 31; penalties: 19
Games involving Revolution: P15 W10 L4 T1; fouls/game: 28.6; yellows/game: 3.9; reds: 4; penalties: 2
Games involving Galaxy: P23 W11 L9 T3; fouls/game: 25.8; yellows/game: 3.5; reds: 2; penalties: 5
The assistant referees for the final will be Chris Strickland and Greg Barkey. For Strickland, this will be his first appearance in an MLS Cup Final. Barkey has run the lines twice previously - in 1997 and 2002. The fourth official will be Ricardo Valenzuela. Both Strickland and Barkey are on the FIFA referees list.
PIZZA HUT PARK ...
Pizza Hut Park is the seventh stadium to play host to the MLS Cup Final, the first time a championship game has been held in the state of Texas. Three stadia have played host to two MLS Cups: The Home Depot Center (2003 and 2004), Foxboro Stadium (1996 and 1999) and RFK Memorial Stadium (1997 and 2000).
This is also the third soccer-specific stadium, built since the start of Major League Soccer, to play host to the league's championship game. In addition to the two Finals played in Carson, Calif., Columbus Crew Stadium was the site of MLS Cup 2001.
Although Pizza Hut Park played host to just 10 league matches over the final two months of the season, each team did play there, with mixed results. The Revolution defeated FC Dallas 2-1 in their first visit to Frisco on Aug. 13, while the Galaxy lost 4-1 to FC Dallas on Sept. 21.
THE COACHES ...
Steve Nicol has joined five other coaches to lead a team to an MLS Cup Final more than once. He took the Revolution to the 2002 Final after taking the reins six matches into the season. He joins Bruce Arena (D.C. United - 1996, 1997, 1998), Sigi Schmid (Los Angeles - 1999, 2001, 2002), Bob Bradley (Chicago - 1998, 2000), Bob Gansler (Kansas City - 2000, 2004), and Frank Yallop (San Jose - 2001, 2003).
Steve Sampson becomes the 12th coach to guide a team to MLS Cup. Five - Lothar Osiander (1996), Glenn Myernick (1997), Thomas Rongen (1999), Dave Sarachan (2003) and Peter Nowak (2004) have coached in one MLS championship game.
Sampson is seeking to become the first U.S.-born coach to win an MLS Cup since 1998. The last six MLS Cups have been directed by foreign-born coaches: 2004 - Peter Nowak (Poland); 2003 - Frank Yallop (England); 2002 - Sigi Schmid (Germany); 2001 - Yallop; 2000 - Bob Gansler (Hungary); 1999 - Thomas Rongen (Holland); 1998 - Bob Bradley (USA); 1997 - Bruce Arena (USA); 1996 - Arena.
THE GALAXY ...
The Los Angeles Galaxy have reached their fifth MLS Cup Final in club history, matching D.C. United for the most of any team. However, they've won just one - in 2002, when they defeated the New England Revolution in extra time in Foxborough, Mass. The Galaxy twice lost to United (1996 and 1999) and in 2001 to the San Jose Earthquakes.
It's the first time in three seasons the Galaxy have reached the final, matching their longest stretch between appearances in the championship game. After reaching the inaugural final, the Galaxy didn't make the final for the next two years before again facing United in MLS Cup 1999.
Five players still on the Galaxy roster played in their last MLS Cup Final appearance, the 2002 victory against New England. Goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, defender Tyrone Marshall and midfielder Cobi Jones all started and played the entire match; Chris Albright and Peter Vagenas both came on as second-half substitutes. A sixth, Herculez Gomez, was on the Galaxy roster for that match did not appear.
If he plays today, Cobi Jones will be third player in MLS history to play in as many as five MLS Cup Finals. Jeff Agoos has played in a record six (winning five of them), and Jaime Moreno has played in five (winning four himself). Jones and Moreno have made all of their MLS Cup appearances with the same team (L.A. Galaxy and D.C. United respectively), while Agoos has played in four with United, two with San Jose.
This will be fourth MLS Cup Final for Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman if he makes an appearance - no other goalkeeper has spent more time between the posts in the championship game. Along with Hartman, Zach Thornton (Chicago Fire) has played three Finals in goal, but Hartman has played 299 minutes (29 more). Only Hartman and Thornton have suffered two losses while in goal in MLS Cups.
The Galaxy's Landon Donovan is the all-time leading goal-scorer in MLS Cup Finals, with three goals in his two appearances - scoring against the Galaxy in 2001 while with San Jose, then two years later becoming the first player to score two goals in a final in the Earthquakes' victory against Chicago. Donovan is also now the all-time leader in goals in the MLS Cup Playoffs, scoring his 13th and 14th in the Western Conference Championship to surpass the total of Roy Lassiter and Carlos Ruiz.
If one believes in omens: Twice the Galaxy have defeated the Colorado Rapids for the right to play in MLS Cup, and the first time they did, they won their only MLS title. In 1996, 1999 and 2001, the Galaxy defeated San Jose, Dallas and Chicago respectively, coming up short on each occasion in the title tilt.
The Galaxy enter MLS Cup 2005 with the same back four as they essentially started the season with. The quartet of Chris Albright, Ugo Ihemelu, Tyrone Marshall and Todd Dunivant was put together for the second match of the season, and in all, they played 10 matches as a group. They started together from April 9-May 21, then after a single game on July 23, they were re-formed for the final three matches of the regular season. Over the 10 games, the Galaxy were 7-3-0, allowing just 13 goals and recording one shutout. On two other occasions the four all started together, but with Albright on the right side of midfield (and Troy Roberts in the back four).
Landon Donovan and Herculez Gomez are expected to start as the Galaxy strike partnership on Sunday, and over the course of the regular season, they started 11 matches together - eight as the attacking pair. In those 11 league contests, Los Angeles was 4-4-3 in the games they started together, both Donovan and Gomez scoring five goals.
Both teams have stayed remarkably consistent from their first-choice teams that started the season. From the opening weeks of the season, Steve Sampson really has just two differences, with Herculez Gomez having come in for the traded Jovan Kirovski, and Ned Grabavoy supplanting Guillermo Ramirez on the left of midfield. From the opening days of the season, the only real addition has been Daniel Hernandez, who was signed in August. Early on, a combination of Jose Cancela and Andy Dorman filled his place in central midfield. In addition, Joe Franchino, injured at the start of the year, saw his place filled variously by Avery John and James Riley, as Marshall Leonard moved back and forth between man-marker and wingback roles.
THE REVOLUTION ...
Five players on the Revolution roster played in that 2002 Final, all starting: Taylor Twellman, Jay Heaps, Daniel Hernandez, Steve Ralston and Joe Franchino. Marshall Leonard was on the team, but did not play. Also in 2002, current New England goalkeeper Matt Reis was the backup to Kevin Hartman; he made just 39 appearances over five seasons in an understudy role to Hartman before moving cross-country before the 2003 season.
Taylor Twellman is the only scoring champion to ever play in the MLS Cup Final the same year that he led the league in scoring -- and he's done it twice. In 2002, he claimed the scoring championship with 23 goals and six assists (52 points), narrowly edging out Golden Boot winner Carlos Ruiz, who had 24 goals and one assist (29 points) - who of course also played the title game that year. Twellman won this year's Golden Boot - now the scoring title - with 17 goals, one more than D.C. United's Jaime Moreno. Three times the winner of the league's Golden Boot (before it designated the MLS scoring champion) has also won the MLS Cup: 1997 (Roy Lassiter, D.C. United), 1999 (Jaime Moreno, D.C. United) and 2002 (Ruiz).
This will be the fourth time the league MVP has played in MLS Cup, and in the last two they have won the Cup. In 1998, MLS MVP Marco Etcheverry saw his D.C. United fall 2-0 to the Chicago Fire, but in 2000, Tony Meola backstopped the Kansas City Wizards to a 1-0 win against the Fire, then in 2002 Carlos Ruiz led the Galaxy to victory against the Revolution.
Twellman also has a chance to pull off a remarkable triple in a season - winning the league MVP honor, the All-Star Game MVP and MLS Cup MVP all in the same year. Two players have won MLS MVP and MLS Cup MVP honors in the same year - Tony Meola in 2000 and Carlos Ruiz two years later. In 1996, the Tampa Bay Mutiny's Carlos Valderrama was named All-Star Game MVP before he was named league MVP, a feat Amado Guevara (MetroStars) also achieved a year ago.
Michael Parkhurst will likely become the fourth Rookie of the Year to start in an MLS Cup Final. In 1998, Ben Olsen became the first, winning the honor then starting for D.C. United in their loss to the Chicago Fire. Two years later, Carlos Bocanegra started in the back for the Chicago Fire against the Kansas City Wizards - who featured another rookie defender Bocanegra narrowly edged in balloting, Nick Garcia. In 2003, Damani Ralph won the Rookie of the Year award then started in the final against San Jose.
Parkhurst would be the 10th rookie-eligible to start in an MLS Cup Final. The complete list through 2004 (regular season stats shown): Greg Vanney, LA 96 (29GP/24GS/4G/1A); Ben Olsen DC 98 (31/24/4/8); Nick Garcia, KC 00 (32/32/0/0); Carlos Bocanegra, CHI 00 (27/27/1/1); Daouda Kante, NE 02 (8/8/1/0); Alejandro Moreno, LA 02 (12/7/0/2); Jamil Walker, SJ 03 (19/0/4/0); Damani Ralph, CHI 03 (25/22/11/6); Khari Stephenson, KC 04 (3/0/0/0)
One of the keys to the Revolution success has been the play of the strike pair of Taylor Twellman and Pat Noonan, with Clint Dempsey providing the drive from midfield. Between national team duty and injury, Steve Nicol was able to start them together just 14 times during the regular season - with remarkable success. In those 14 games, the Revolution are 9-2-3 and scored 30 of their 55 goals on the year - and the trio scored 24 of those. Twellman scored 14 of his 17 goals, while Dempsey scored five of his 10 on the year and Noonan hit for five of his eight. They played together in the first eight games of the year (when the Revs got off to a 6-0-2 start), then just once (July 16) before the final month of the season, when they started together in five consecutive matches from Sept. 10-Oct. 1 (games 26 through 30 in the league campaign).
The game matches two of the hottest strikers over the second half of the season. After the All-Star break, Taylor Twellman hit for eight goals - most in MLS (along with D.C. United's Jaime Moreno). One behind is Herculez Gomez (also level with Youri Djorkaeff of the MetroStars).
In 2002, Matt Reis was the Galaxy's backup goalkeeper as Kevin Hartman posted a shutout against the Revolution in the MLS Cup Final. That was his last match in a Galaxy uniform - in January 2003 he was traded to New England for Alex Pineda Chacon and a draft pick. One other player has been in an MLS Cup Final in both uniforms: Revolution defender Joe Franchino. He was an available substitute for the Galaxy in the 1999 Final against D.C. United, then playing the entire match against his former club three years later after his trade to New England midway through the 2000 season.
A DOMESTIC DOUBLE ...
The Galaxy are trying to become the third team in MLS history to complete the domestic double - winning the MLS Cup and U.S. Open Cup in the same year. D.C. United performed the feat in the inaugural season of 1996, then two years later the Chicago Fire did it in their first season.
Six times a team has been in both domestic finals and failed to win - including each of the last five years. A year ago the Kansas City Wizards won the Open Cup, but lost in the MLS Cup Final, which also happened to the Chicago Fire in 2003. In 2002, the Galaxy won the MLS Cup, but lost to the Columbus Crew in the Open Cup Final, and in 2001 they defeated the Revolution to win the Open Cup, but lost to San Jose in MLS Cup, while in 2000 the Chicago Fire won the Open Cup but lost in MLS Cup. In 1997, D.C. United won their second consecutive MLS Cup, but lost to the then-Dallas Burn in the U.S. Open Cup Final.
The New England Revolution have played for two trophies in club history - both times coming up against the Los Angeles Galaxy. In addition to the MLS Cup 2002 loss, the Galaxy won 2-1 in extra time in the final of the 2001 U.S. Open Cup. Wolde Harris gave the Revs a 30th-minute lead, but Ezra Hendrickson equalized in the 70th minute, then Danny Califf scored the game-winning goal two minutes into the extra period. Just two current members of the Revolution played in that final - Joe Franchino and Jay Heaps (who was sent off in the 88th minute) - while three members of the Galaxy took part: Cobi Jones, Peter Vagenas and Kevin Hartman. |
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