Unfinished Business
by: Tom Hill
October 15, 2002

The mood in the Revolution’s locker room after Saturday’s series clinching 2-2 draw with Columbus was understandably upbeat. This was the latest in a long series of firsts—their first ever MLS Cup finals appearance, in addition to the other “firsts” of the past couple of months such as the team’s first lengthy unbeaten streak, divisional title, home field advantage for a playoff series, and victory (twice) in a playoff series. The Revs have indeed been making up for seven years of lost time, and lost opportunities. You could forgive the Revs if they took the approach of the lovable underdog who is just “happy to be here,” with an opportunity to play the Galaxy, a team making their fourth Cup Final appearance.

But make no mistake about it. The Revolution consider their work far from finished. Almost to a man, the Revs echoed the same sentiment: Winning the Columbus series was great, but we are focused on the MLS Cup final Sunday against Los Angeles.

The Revs appear confident in their own abilities, stressing the need to play their game and not worry about anything else. This is a huge contrast to their last two playoff opponents, who all but predicted victory over the Revs. Those guys will be watching the Final on TV this Sunday.

By contrast, Revs captain Joe Franchino has shows the proper amount of respect for his former teammates without going overboard. “Those guys are a great team, and Sigi [Schmidt] has a great system. I’ve got a lot of respect for them, but at the same time, I love my teammates, I love coming here every day, and we have a job to do. This is the most fun I have ever had playing this game and it’s an amazing season. But we’re not done yet.”

Daniel Hernandez, who also played for the Galaxy in 1997, echoed Franchino’s sentiments, but discounted any revenge factor.

“It’s been so long ago [that he played there] that, to be honest, I haven’t given it any thought. There are only a few guys left from when I played, so I don’t even think about it.”

Hernandez, who wore the captain’s armband with the MetroStars before being traded to New England, has continued to show his on-field leadership in organizing the defense. “Late in the game, we were playing like crap, we gave up two goals, and they were pushing us. We needed to step up and do the job. If we’re not getting it done, it’s my job to let people know about it.”

The Revs’ resurgence has been by all accounts a team effort, with any player stepping up on any given day to be the hero. One of the heroes from Saturday’s outing was Wolde Harris, who refused to give up on a seemingly harmless ball in the Columbus penalty area early in the second half. “The keeper came out, and [Brian] Dunseth was trying to shield the ball, but he hesitated for a second and I was able to get in there. I saw [Busch] out off his line, and I just wanted to hit it solidly.” Hit it he did, right into the back of the net for a seemingly insurmountable lead.

“That’s typical Wolde,” added Coach (let’s end this silliness of the “Interim” label once and for all) Steve Nicol. “He’s been working like that all year, never giving up on the hopeless balls, and to his credit, that work is paying off.”

But the Crew had other ideas. “It would have been easy for us to fold our tents and say, ‘oh well, the season’s over,’ but we didn’t,” said Brian McBride, scorer of the first Columbus goal. “We came back from 2 goals down against Kansas City in the Open Cup, so we are in the mindset of never giving up. We didn’t give up, and we threw everything we had at them, but you got to tip your hat to Adin Brown, he was huge.”

Brown made several crucial saves, as he’s done throughout the playoff run. Had any of those shots gone in, we easily could be looking at a very different scenario for the Cup Final.

“Football is a funny game,” the saying goes, and nowhere has there been a finer line between the various “what-if” scenarios that the Revs have experienced in the past two months. Missed goals, incredible saves, quirky spins on the ball, and who knows what else have all seemed to bounce the right way for the Revolution. But good teams make their own luck. In the past, the Revs have often played poorly enough that they needed a miracle, and more often than not, it never came. This edition is good enough to win games on their own, with solid defending, forwards and midfielders tracking back to win the 50-50 balls, and possession soccer. When was the last time the Revs had ever strung more than a couple of passes together? During this playoff run there have been several instances of 8 or more passes, and cries of “Olé!” from the crowd.

The Revolution are not acting like pretenders to the throne who have no business crashing the party, but instead they are a legitimate contender, a team who have played with poise and confidence and have every bit the claim to the title as the Galaxy, despite their opposite pedigrees. If nothing else, this makes for a fascinating story line.

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