the heartbreak

Image via Wikipediait took me a few days to write about the mls cup final between the new york red bulls and the columbus crew. let's be honest: for a new york fan, it was a heartbreaker.

after a cinderella-run (on the road) through the playoffs, we were poised to knock off the best team in mls this year. it also seemed scripted (and not just because of the giants parallel i mentioned in last week's post) because we had started our season against columbus, and now we were going to end it against them.

and what better place to watch the final than nevada smith's. i showed up a full 2 hours before kickoff and the place was already buzzing with fans, much less the red bull-attired gangs coming from every direction on the street. the place was hopping and by game time the bar (upstairs and downstairs) was packed to capacity.

of course, we all know how the game went. the red bulls came out looking aggressive and got the better run of play in the first half. we watched in horror as moreno slotted a nearly horizontal ball to give the crew the lead. we then cheered and pounded on the ceiling when woly put home the equalizer. but that was short-lived as we weren't even done celebrating when columbus went ahead again. and that was really the back-breaker. the third columbus goal didn't help, of course, but that second one really took the wind out of our sails and we never looked the same again.

however, i'm still proud that the red bulls got to the mls cup final after 13 years, and after one of the longest, strangest, and most trying seasons we've had. and credit osorio for sticking with the line-up that got us through the playoffs - which consisted of several players who should be considered rookies.

in the end though, let's face it: columbus played consistently and well for the full 90 minutes. plus, i don't know why we waited until the last 15 minutes to put subs in, we needed fresh legs and attitude a lot earlier than that.

either way, it was a great end-of-season run and it really got the new york fans excited. i can't wait to see how we get ourselves situated over the off-season and get ready for another run next year - a year when we'll see our brand new stadium.

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