Photo by ISIphotos.com
Yes Real Salt Lake fans, last night really happened.
Real Salt Lake won the 2009 MLS Cup Final, beating the Los Angeles Galaxy in penalty kicks to cap a dream run through the playoffs.
RSL outplayed the favored Galaxy over the course of the 120 minutes before penalties, then the underdogs showed their poise yet again, winning their second penalty shootout in eight days to bring Utah its first professional sports title.
The ending was a bitter pill for the Galaxy, which enjoyed a strong season to help its club climb out of a three-year long spell of ineptitude. League MVP Landon Donovan won't soon forget his crucial penalty kick miss, but he was not alone in delivering a disappointing performance for the Galaxy.
Here are some observations from Sunday night's dramatic final:
Kyle Beckerman was a beastall match long. Yes, he missed a penalty that he clearly rushed, but the RSL captain was the stabilizing force in midfield for Real Salt Lake and didn't put a foot wrong in outplaying the Galaxy tandem of Chris Birchall and Jovan Kirovski.
Clint Mathis captures his long-awaited title. The veteran midfielder stepped in for the injured Javier Morales and provided some creativity in midfield that helped RSL's attack keep the Galaxy on its heels in the second half. He then delivered a club penalty to win his first MLS title, exactly ten years after losing in the '99 final with Los Angeles.
Bruce Arena's central midfield fell flat. With David Beckham hobbled and unable to handle the rigors of the middle of the park, and with Dema Kovalenko sick, Arena was forced to play a central midfield tandem of Jovan Kirovski and Chris Birchall. That spelled doom for the Galaxy attack because it placed an even heavier burden on Landon Donovan, who was given little service and even less support as RSL threw numbers at him.
Robbie Findley rose to the challenge. Nick Rimando won game MVP honors, but Findley was just as deserving. He finished off one of RSL's only clear chances to equalize, he pressed the Galaxy back-line throughout the match, and he stepped up and converted his penalty attempt in the shootout. He has really matured throughout the latter part of the season and established himself as a young player with heart to go with his talent. He also has the look of a player ready to fight for a place in the U.S. national team mix.
Jason Kreis earned deserves tons of credit. Real Salt Lake's head coach saw his team go through phases of inconsistency for most of the season, but he eventually settled on a lineup that hit its stride and proved to be the right combination to deliver a title. As the youngest head coach to ever win an MLS Cup at 36, Kreis has established himself as one of the most promising young head coaches MLS has seen in years.
MVP honors for being a great host city. For the first time I can remember (and this was my eighth straight MLS Cup) a host city truly embraced an MLS Cup Final. In past finals, you could pass through a city and not even realize a championship was being played that weekend. Not so in Seattle, where there were signs of the Cup's arrival in town all over the city and visiting fans were treated to an atmosphere befitting a Cup Final.
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What did you think of the final? Impressed with Real Salt Lake's performance? Disappointed with the Galaxy's showing? Still surprised that Donovan missed his penalty? Think RSL can repeat?
Share your thoughts below.
Bruce Arena is another reason why Landon must leave. Bruce always plays Donovan up high with the tall trees after his strikers turn to crap, and that’s all the time.
It’s not the cost, but the logistics of grass. The sod would have had to be imported from CA and the chances of it surviving and turning into a good pitch are slim to none. Seattle looked into importing grass, but it would have probably died or turned into mud under the Cascadian rain.
The first few rows of the upper deck are some of the best seats in the house! Probably not as good for atmosphere, but awesome for watching the match.
racist much?
Hmm. I’ll have to go back and re-watch that one.
My initial reaction was that it was the best save of the night–arguably the best play of the night. I’m not saying that Beckerman messing up and Saunders doing well are mutually exclusive, but I do think Saunders deserves more credit than Beckerman deserves blame. Agreeing to disagree (or maybe partially agree?) is fine by me.
By the way, you’re making me really regret not going to Seattle for the Cup. I’ll have to plan a little better when it returns (hopefully soon).
The sand in Houston was much worse than the turf in Seattle.
With all the rain before the match and the difficulty with importing grass in November the match wouldn’t have been played on grass, it would have been played in mud.
Agreed, and more not less Buddles are coming to MLS.
Qwest doesn’t have a roof. Safeco Field, where the Mariners play, does.
Here’s my alternative to ending games on PKs. Give each team five 3-on-2 chances and see how many goals they score. You pick any three attackers from your gameday roster, but you can’t use any combination of three more than once, and no individual player can go more than three times (that way a minimum of six attackers have to take part, but your top two attackers still get to participate in at least half of the attempts, which rewards both depth and star quality). The defending team picks any two of its defenders with the same limitations – no combo more than once, max three appearances per player – this forces you to use at least four defenders, but lets your top two play a part in at least three of the five opposition attempts. Overall, if it goes all five attempts, you have to have a minimum of 10 field players take part, mimicking a standard 4-4-2. The attackers start in the center circle and the defenders start in the 18. Keeper is free to move as he wishes – he can run out to be a third defender, but then he leaves open his net. You get 30 seconds per attempt. If the ball goes out of play, the clock stops and you do a throw in or goal kick or corner kick as usual. All other normal rules including offside still apply. If the defense wins the ball, they still have to run out the shot clock (just booting it downfield might do the trick). Most goals wins. If you’re ahead by more than the number of attempts remaining, you win. If it’s tied at five, it’s one round at a time just as with PKs, and you still can’t use any combo more than once or any player more than 3 times for either offense or defense (though it’s not three total appearances – any player can go offense three times and defense three times, so you can take advantage of really versatile players). This way, you’re still playing soccer (you know, featuring such concepts as passing and defending) to decide the winner. Is there anything glaringly wrong with this?
Agreed. That style may work for the regular season, but in winner take all final, that style of play is bound to fail. Bruce is a good coach with an impressive resume, but sometimes his conservative tactics drive me crazy.
A few idiots in the LA traveling support started a f*** Seattle chant. After receiving a well-deserved beer shower the cops and security made a human wall as the only full-throated Sounders chant went up from the Corner Pocket, drowning out their supporters group.
The LA fans were much more sheepish after that, and they managed to galvanize our section behind Salt Lake.
Word.
Everyone at my office has stopped by to tell me abou the game. And they watched the whole thing.
Lawns will not be mowed in SLC today because there is about a foot of snow. Welcome to SLC, sunny one day, a foot of snow the next. In fact, it was warm enough yesterday morning for shorts, but was snowing blizzard by night.
BTW – I love our latino/hispanic supporters! Long live RSL!
Clearly you didn’t see Beckerman’s game in Sandy against El Salvador
Why do you think having the most points during the regular season would have been a fair way to annoint a champion? It might be if it were a balanced schedule but it wasn’t. Someoone got to play NYRB 3 times and KC 3x and San Jose 3x and it wasn’t RSL. And since there was a spread of only 9 points between the Supporters shield winner and the last place qualifier, an unbalanced schedule makes it unfair. When they go to a balanced schedule (next year) than it would be fair.
But RSL ended up beating the conference champions and the second place team all away from home. That is worthy of being a champion.
The turf had no impact on the game, a crappy grass field would have had an impact on the game. Most grass fields are cut so short that the ball skips off it as well. I will conceed that there is a little more bounce to it.
The injuries had more to do with some of the tackles, playing for 120 minutes, and I am sure the cold and windy conditions didn’t help.
The Sounders survived the year with out suffering any more injuries than anyone else so I doubt turf caused the injuries
Welcome to every MLS game, with an attacking player. A bit biased here, but see the Houston/Seattle game at Qwest.
At one point we started counting how many times the announcers said “David Beckham,” but it was just way too frequent to keep it up.
Good keepers have a much better chance than that. They study the players that could be kicking before the game ever happens. They don’t usually watch the eyes either. It’s like the old addage in other sports “the hips don’t lie.” In soccer PK’s, the plant foot doesn’t lie.
I don’t know about the other final, and of course the media is going to suck up to him, because other than Beckham he was the most recognizable name on the field.
You are correct it is a choke job, but so is every other missed attempt that was weakly hit. If you hit it with power and the keeper makes a nice save then that isn’t choke job. The save on Beckerman’s was nice play by the keeper
Probably true, but I didn’t want to go that far out on a limb, either way it was a good showing for RSL
man, what do they have a ROOF for?? 🙂
Ok here it is… in spite of all my Galaxy smack talk all season long…
Nice work last night RSL. You boys played with grit and heart and put a hurting on the Galaxy after they scored the 1st goal.
Findley, you had that look in your eye all night long and it was hard to deny that you were the best player on the pitch.
Hard to swallow, Ives, watching that game last night.
but….
I’m LA till I die, I’m LA till I die, I am I am, I know I am, I’m LA till I die.
See ya next year suckers!
The RSL fans that the TV cameras did show at the match made me think that a lot of lawns in Salt Lake City will not be mowed today.
This game was won in the midfield. LA gave RSL way too much space and time. Missing Kovalenko certainly showed. In terms of MLS Cup, I love that it was at night in prime time and in Seattle. Anyone who thinks soccer is still a second class sport in America is sorely mistaken. The crowd was totally into it. Hope 2010 Cup is in either NYC or Philly. The league should continue to show off their soccer-specific stadia in prime time.
What an f’ing letdown. Nothing truly great ever happens. A whole season is wasted for the two really great players in this league, Beckham and Donovan.
Watching LA play- a not lose style last night reminded me why I can’t stand Bruce Arena..
Well said…
We’re never going to have a single table or relegation/promoton. Get over it.
How about Andy Williams getting a cup victory at last? Good for him, so deserves it. The guy has provided a lot for this league since the beginning. He should be getting some credit right about now, no? Class act all the way!
Glad I won’t have to hear that sorry a$$ “Fake” Salt Lake nickname any more either. Man that was a lame one.
See David’s comment below..
Honestly, for your common sports fan (who we are trying to attract) playoffs are needed. If RSL won the supporters shield people here in Utah couldn’t care less. Winning the cup? Totally different. So many people who don’t care for soccer here in Utah watched the game last night and are now really interested in soccer. You want the sport to grow here? Playoffs. Just bc europe does something for a long time doesn’t mean it’s the best way. They did have a monorchy for a while until America started having a republic and which one was better? 🙂
Grass was actually much worse than field turf and i was at the Barcelona match. People on both teams were complaining about the grass.
Here’s the issue it was raining the whole past week in the region wet turf wet grass there are gonna be issues.
Why would Europe want a choker at 27? At that age and still mediocre, why should anyone want him?
Congrats to RSL! You did what my Red Bulls could not! Props too to Seattle…every MLS city should embrace the beautiful game like they have!
Surely Beckerman deserves a shot over Ricardo Clark or Bradley for the national team. Beckerman is a better passer, calmer on the ball….indeed he NEVER loses the ball. Might not be as good at breaking up play as those two….but only need one true defensive midfielder. Great performance form The Dreadlocked One.
And in those stadiums there are available seats for those supporters. There simply aren’t seats available at Qwest. I’ve been to San Jose, Chicago, DC and Houston. In all cases we were stuck in a corner, generally well away from the field (Chicago being the lone exception). If anyone in the FO had tried to reticket me for MLS Cup, I would have raised holy hell. I love away trips, but I expect that, as a supporter of the opponent, I’m going to get what is available, not what is desirable. That’s what happened here.
Kirovski was a major problem for LA. They needed Dema in the middle as there was a gaping hole there. Gonzalez also had a poor game and pulled up lame at the end. Berhalter was doing all the work. Saunders was fantastic filling in for Ricketts. By the way, if Saunders saves the PK by Wingert LA would have the MLS Cup Trophy and media would be talking about Donovan’s great assist on the Magee goal and the amazing LA turnaround. Still a great turnaround for them. Great atmoshpere. PK’s suck but there is no better way I guess. Congrats to RSL and coach Kreis. Mathis was huge filling in for Morales.
RSL has one with jet blue and they gave a great deal to season ticket holders. This is what happens when you have owners who cares
So what did he do after that cross? Disappear!
Those two others did not have the media sucking up to them. Donovan did; two penalty misses in two finals. That is a choke job in my books.
Not disagreeing that this was far less than ideal for supporters, but in the past has there ever been a problem in accommodating STHs of the host city’s team and visiting supporters? I don’t know but suspect part of the problem is that Seattle had so many STHs in their inaugural season. Maybe they could have reticketed STHs, but they would have had to make this announcement months ago before knowing who would be in the finals and how many supporters they would bring. Being at the game, I think it was great that so many supporters came and seeing RSL up in the nosebleed seats can only push MLS in the right direction — finals in the city of the top seeded team, allowing visiting teams to control designated sections of tickets and, as you say, partnering with airlines. This is a good problem to have, and a better one to solve.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
*wipes tears from eyes*
*deep breath*
Oops. Time to sign a third (and perhaps fourth) multi-million dollar player under some yet to be determined new and mysterious rule despite a “hard cap” …
I can understand how that sucks, but the playoffs isn’t about what happens in the regular season (besides the seedings). Other than that, the playoffs are completely separate from the regular season. The best team in the regular season gets the Supporters Shield, the best team in the playoffs gets the Cup. For being such a “bad” team, RSL still won the cup fair and square. And it wasn’t just 1 game, it was 4 games in a row, with only one of those a home game. That has to stand for something and wasn’t just a fluke.
Ives, I would be really interested in reading a player rating from your perspective. Anything in the works or already published that I may have overlooked? Know of anyone else that has done one?
My two cents – I thought ESPN did a fantastic job with the coverage, although maybe overhyped it a bit. There is still a noticeable difference between MLS and other leagues widely televised around the world. It makes me sad – I want MLS to shine so badly. The soccer just isn’t beautiful, and the turf didn’t make it any easier on the eyes last night.
Seattle is a great city. Wish I could’ve been there to take it in live.
RSL’s ball control and aggressive passing in the second half was stellar. Congrats!! RSL was the deserving team last night. And good for MLS and Seattle for putting on a nice show.
He is still young. I think with the right training he could be a good future option. His speed is hard to beat. He just needs a bit better first touch and a little creativity.
I agree. I mean you could tell RSL wanted this. Morales crying when he came off (I don’t think he was a baby, you could just tell he was emotional about the game). And Russel’s celebration after his PK was classic. You could just tell that RSL had the heart to be scrappy enough to win this. And I think LA needs some legs along with heart, I’ve never seen a more dead team in overtime.
Right on the money.
An excellent point. I have never understood the scorn that is sent Landon’s way. Every success is greeted with “Yeah, yeah.” and every failure is magnified 1,000 times.