MLS Colorado Rapids

MLS Cup on ABC Sunday

Published on November 21, 2003 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Colorado Rapids News Release


Don't forget to tune in to the 2003 MLS Cup this Sunday, Nov. 23! The game will be televised live to a National TV audience on ABC at 1:30pm MT from America's Soccer Cathedral, the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA.

The game between the San Jose Earthquakes (Western Conference Champions) and the Chicago Fire (Eastern Conference Champions) will be one for the ages. Chicago is going for an unprecedented "Treble", as they try to win all 3 domestic American major trophies this year (the US Open Cup, the Supporters Shield, and the MLS Cup), while San Jose is looking to capture their 2nd MLS Cup title in 3 years.

It will be a battle of some of the top stars in MLS this year, as one of MLS's goal-scoring leaders Ante Razov, Rookie of the Year Candidate Damani Ralph, big goalie Zach Thornton and Defender of the Year Candidate Carlos Bocanegra of the Chicago Fire will match up against Honda US Soccer Player of the Year Landon Donovan, Perennial MLS Cup Finalist Jeff Agoos, Playoff Cardiac Kid Rodrigo Faria, and Goalie of the Year Candidate Pat Onstad of the San Jose Earthquakes.

Grammy winner Michelle Branch will perform live as part of the MLS Cup halftime show, and also this weekend, MLS will reveal the several League Yearly Award-Winners in several categories at Saturday night's black-tie MLS Cup Awards Gala.

GAME NOTES FOR MLS CUP 2003 (courtesy of Peter Hirdt of MLSnet.com):

"If anyone doubted that the League's new playoff format would provide more thrills than "first-to-five", the last two weekends have answered those concerns—three straight heart-stoppers leading to a finale between the regular season's two best clubs. Based on their recent form, Sunday's finalists provide us with a classic matchup of aggressor and counter-puncher, speed horse and closer. In this week's column, we'll examine some trends to help determine who will win the Cup.

IN THE RED CORNER: Chicago is the aggressor, and the Fire's attack demands attention. Ante Razov is the league's all-time leading scorer in postseason play, and he scored 14 goals during the 2003 season—one fewer than co-leaders Carlos Ruiz and Taylor Twellman. His partner, Damani Ralph, broke the league record for goals by a rookie with nearly half the season remaining. Razov led the league in shots and Ralph ranked third, becoming the first MLS teammates ever to rank in the top three together, and they dominated the Quakes in a 4–1 Fire victory on May 31. In that match, both players scored and they took seven shots apiece—the first of four games this season in which both took at least seven shots. No other pair of teammates in MLS history had even two such games in the same season.

But it's Chicago's defense that has excelled this month. The Fire is the first team ever to reach the MLS Cup Final without allowing a goal during the postseason. It's easier to do that under the new playoff format, which requires only three matches to reach the final. But the fact is, the 2003 Fire also became the first team to record shutouts in each of its first three postseason games.

To say that Chicago has shut out their opponents doesn't do the team justice—shut down is a better description. The Fire have allowed 18 shots in three playoff games; just seven have been on net. Only twice previously in MLS history—and never in the postseason—did a team allow seven or fewer shots in each of three consecutive games.

Last week the Fire held New England to two shots on goal in a 101-minute shutout in the Eastern Conference Final. The Revs were the league's highest-scoring team this season. They had scored 26 goals in their previous 11 matches and were limited to two SOG only once during the regular season (September 7 vs. San Jose). Pat Noonan led the league with 10 goals scored since September 1; he was kept off the scoreboard for the first time in a month.

I'm not sure whether this matters, but for what it's worth Chicago has an unprecedented balance of youth and championship experience. The 2003 Fire was the youngest team in MLS history, with an average age of 25 years, 200 days. (The average for each team was pro-rated for minutes played by each player. For example, Zach Thornton contributed much more to Chicago's average than did Chris Spiteri or Henry Ring.)

But five Fire players remain from the expansion team that won MLS Cup '98: Chris Armas, C.J. Brown, Jesse Marsch, Ante Razov, and Zach Thornton. To put that in perspective, only one other team has as many as five players remaining from its 1998 end-of-season roster. (Columbus has Mike Clark, Jeff Cunningham, Brian Maisonneuve, Brian McBride, and Brian West.)

WHY THE FIRE SHOULD WIN: Two words: Chris Armas. Can a defensive mid raise the level of an average-to-good team to championship caliber? Armas apparently does. The Fire has an all-time record of 68–36–15 with Armas in the lineup—a winning percentage of .634. That's higher than the composite record of the first seven MLS Cup champions (.626). Without Armas, the Fire's record is just four games above level (29–25–8, .532). In the postseason, with a smaller sample the story is the same: 16–9–2 with Armas (.630), 2–3 without him. Playing brilliantly now, Armas would have been Man of the Match in the Eastern Conference Final even if he hadn't scored the golden goal.

WHY THE FIRE SHOULD WIN PART 2: The Fire have held the Quakes to one goal or none in each of their last nine meetings, two short of the longest head-to-head streak in MLS history. On the other hand, the Quakes have conceded at least two goals in each of their last five playoff games, dating back to the 2002 postseason. To use an out-of-date cliché that happens to fit here, do the math.

IN THE BLUE CORNER: San Jose is the counter-puncher. Had the Galaxy not withdrawn after taking a 4–0 aggregate lead against the Quakes, we might not even be discussing this. But after two thrilling come-from-behind wins by the Quakes, anyone who flips the channel should San Jose fall behind by a goal or three on Sunday does so at his or her own risk.

In last week's column, we documented at length how improbable San Jose's comeback against the Galaxy was One For the Ages. A day later, the Quakes became only the second team in MLS history to come from behind twice to win a postseason match. It was the first time San Jose had ever done so during the regular season or playoffs.

During both rallies, the Quakes dominated the match for long periods. They out-shot the Galaxy 9–1 in the half-hour immediately after falling behind 4–0 in the aggregate, and the Wizards 10–2 from the 80th minute on. And get this: The Quakes have out-shot their opponents 10–1 in 43 minutes of overtime play under Frank Yallop, spanning four games (two in 2001, two this year), including 7–0 against Kansas City last week.

The one player whose performance will most affect the outcome of Sunday's game? Who else—Landon Donovan.

Donovan leads the league with 11 goals since August 1 (regular- and postseason combined). That nearly coincides with the timing of the ruptured Achilles tendon that ended Brian Ching's season, and which could have ended the Quakes' playoff chances without Donovan's contributions. Donovan is always a key to San Jose's performance, but even more so after Ching was injured on August 16, with 10 regular-season games remaining. The Quakes outscored their opponents 23–12 with Ching on the field this season; they were outscored 23–22 without him. But during Ching's absence, including three playoff games, the Quakes are 5–0 when Donovan scored, 1–5–2 when he didn't.

WHY THE QUAKES COULD WIN: Should San Jose reverse its recent form and grab an early lead, it could be lights out for the Fire. The Quakes are undefeated in 48 consecutive regular- and postseason matches in which they led at halftime, by far the longest in MLS history. San Jose has posted a 44–0–4 record since April 3, 1999 when leading at the half, including 3–0 in the playoffs. (Note: Chicago has outscored San Jose 9–1 in the first half-hour of their 17 regular-season matches, with a 7–0 margin over the past five seasons.)

WHY THE QUAKES COULD WIN PART 2: Frank Yallop's career average of 2.2 subs used per regular-season game is the lowest in MLS history (minimum: 50 games). But during the playoffs, Yallop's substitutions have been frequent and effective. Yallop has used 31 subs in 11 postseason games—only two fewer than the maximum—and they have scored a total of five goals. Bob Bradley is the only other coach whose subs have scored five postseason goals, but he's coached many more playoff games than Yallop (26).

MISCELLANEOUS STATS FOR MLS CUP 2003:

-The Fire set an MLS postseason record with 14 corner kicks last week against the Revs. (The previous high was 13, by San Jose in MLS Cup '01.) -Zach Thornton could become the first goalkeeper to win two MLS Cup Finals. The previous seven winners, in chronological order: Mark Simpson (DC), Scott Garlick (DC), Thornton (Chicago), Tom Presthus (DC), Tony Meola (KC), Joe Cannon (SJ), and Kevin Hartman (LA).

-Thornton comes into the game with a streak of 306 minutes in the postseason without allowing a goal, dating back to 2002. The record is 422 minutes, by Kevin Hartman—a streak that ended with Jeff Agoos's goal, starting San Jose's five-goal rally two weeks ago.

-Jesse Marsch was the only Fire player with two shots on goal against the Revs last week. It was the second time in his career—spanning 177 regular-season and 27 postseason games—that no teammate took more shots than Marsch. The other was last year's 2–0 loss in the opening match of Chicago's quarterfinal series against the Revs, in which Marsch had the Fire's only SOG.

-Chicago posted a 10–2–7 record with Carlos Bocanegra in the lineup, compared to 5–5–1 in the 11 games he missed. Thornton's goals-allowed average was 0.97 with Bocanegra on the field, 1.69 when Boca wasn't playing.

-There were 11 scoreless ties in MLS during the 2003 season. The only matchup to produce two of them was Fire vs. Earthquakes (May 10 at Cardinal Stadium, July 5 at Spartan Stadium).

-Sunday's match will mark the sixth time that Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley have faced each other in MLS play. Chicago holds a 2–1–2 edge in the previous five games. DmB has outscored LD 2–0, scoring both of his goals in Chicago's 4–1 victory over the Quakes on May 31.

-San Jose took 21 shots against the Wizards last week, only six of them on frame. That was their highest total of shots not on net since the second game of the 2002 season (8-for-24 in a 1–0 loss at Colorado).

-Donovan broke his own Earthquakes postseason record with six shots against the Galaxy two weeks ago, and he equaled the new mark with six more vs. the Wizards last week.

-Donovan hasn't scored a goal in five regular-season matches against the Fire (9 shots, 5 SOG in 460 minutes). He has scored at least once against every other current MLS team.

-Rodrigo Faria could become the third player to appear in an MLS Cup Final against a team for which he played earlier in the season. The others: Steve Rammel (1997 Rapids vs. D.C. United) and Winston Griffiths (2002 Revs vs. Galaxy).

-Troy Dayak, big-game player, has recorded as many assists in his last two postseason games as he did in his last 62 regular-season matches, dating back to July 1997. Dayak has also gone 24 regular-season matches without a goal since scoring a golden goal against Miami in a 2001 semifinal series. -Pat Onstad has faced the Fire twice previously and hasn't allowed a goal (200 minutes, 10 saves). Chicago's 4–1 victory on May 31 came against reserve keeper Jon Conway.

-Donovan will be 21 years, 264 days old on Sunday. Babe Ruth was 21 years, 249 days when won his second World Series title with the Red Sox in 1916. -Beasley will be 21 years, 183 days old. Kobe Bryant was 21 years, 301 days when he won his first ring with the Lakers in 2000.

To read Hirdt's entire column and see his predictions, click here: http://www.mlsnet.com/content/03/analyze1121.html

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Major League Soccer Stories from November 21, 2003


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