This One's for All the Marbles

With so many sporting events going on this weekend it is entirely possible that the Major League Soccer Championship game may get lost in the shuffle. The MLS Cup is on the line Sunday in Dallas and can be seen on ABC. For those that don’t know the MLS cup is one of three major pieces of silverware in American soccer, but ranks last in my mind.

The second most important award is the MLS Supporter’s Shield, which is given to the MLS regular season points leader. The Supporters Shield, won this season by DC United, also gives the winner a place in the North American Champions Cup.

The holy grail of American soccer is undoubtedly the Lamar Hunt Open Cup, the trophy given out to the winner of a single elimination tournament featuring teams from all levels of US soccer. This breeds the David versus Goliath type match ups that sports fans swoon over during March Madness. The winner of this tournament has truly beaten the best of the best in American soccer.

The MLS Cup is the finale of the past month of playoff matches including last weekend’s classics. Taylor Twellman’s game winner in the fourth minute against DC United, when starting lineups were still being shown on screen, will go down as one of the best playoff goals in the league’s history. Paul Daglish’s two goal performance was enough to push the relocated Houston Dynamo past MLS’ most despised team, the Colorado Rapids.

I know that most people don’t know as much about these teams as I do, so a little background is in order.

The New England Revolution is one of seven franchises that have seen all eleven MLS seasons. Despite that they have never hoisted the MLS Cup. They weren’t even a favorite to make it this far, but after defeating DC United in the Eastern Conference Final they have their third chance at silverware in the last five years…and their nemesis Los Angeles Galaxy didn’t even make the playoffs. This may be The Revs last chance at the title in the foreseeable future with three key players (Taylor Twellman, Clint Dempsey, and Shalrie Joseph) all likely to head overseas next year.

The Houston Dynamo are a different kind of monster. Until this year they were the San Jose Earthquakes, a team which captured two MLS Cups. Bringing that core group of players to a city which has leapt behind them the orange and white are prepared to launch an all out assault on New England this Sunday. Their star player Dwayne DeRosario has won the goal of the year award the past two years and is in the running for the award again this season. More importantly than that he led them through the summer doldrums when his striking partner Brian Ching was away at the World Cup. Ching’s return has brought the Dynamo a pair of game winning bicycle kicks including one that put them past Chivas USA in the first round of the playoffs.

Sunday’s game won’t showcase the teams with the best records in the MLS, but it will bring two teams that have come into the playoffs scorching. An offensive explosion could be seen with Twellman and Pat Noonan up front for the Revolution and Ching and DeRosario leading the attack for the Dynamo.

If there is one soccer game that you watch between now and the next World Cup, please make it this one. As a fanatic supporter of the beautiful game I am biased, but give it a chance and the game will win you over too.