Th Agony and the Ecstasy

FC Dallas entered the second leg of its two game playoff series decided by total goals scored with a one-goal lead. Playing the second game at home, it seemed to be almost a foregone conclusion that they would win this one and have another home game for the right to play in the MLS Cup. I did remind myself beforehand that they were in the same situation last year and were playing against the same Colorado team that eliminated them from the playoffs last year. But, I was not worried. The game got off to a bit of a slow start, with Dallas playing rather conservatively, as you might expect, since they would win if no goals were scored. Tempers started to flare a little bit, though, and things came to a head when Chris Gbandi committed a foul in the 29th minute and was given a red card and sent off the pitch. I did not see the foul, but the crowd certainly registered its displeasure in the red card. So, now, playing a man down, it seemed certain that Dallas would totally lock thing down and hope to win 0-0. It went into halftime that way. Coming out for the second half, Dallas got a great surprise with a Carlos Ruiz blast into the back of the net. Now, a man down but with a two goal lead, Dallas pulled back a little bit and started playing defensively again. Game over. Only, not so much so. With about 24 minutes left in the game Colorado scored. Then in the 83rd minute, they scored again, to take a 2-1 lead and make the aggregate goals even. So, now we go to overtime. Once again, I am thinking we would be happy to get to penalty kicks, being down a man, but in the second minute of overtime, Clarence Goodson nodded in a free kick from Richard Mulrooney to give Dallas the lead. It was great. We just have to hold on til the end. But, once again with about 7 minutes left in overtime, Clint Mathis, he of World Cup 2002 fame blasted in a shot from the top of the box to give Colorado back a 3-2 lead. It stayed that way and we headed into penalty kicks. I happen to think that PKs may be the most pressure packed thing in all of sport. It is a team game, but i comes dow nto a one-on-one indiviual competition. One guy is supposed to be successful almost every time, the other guy is expected to fail almost every time. And this is a complete reversal of the standard flow of play. So, the crowd is jacked up. We kick first, Carlos Ruiz scores. They equal. Ronnie O'Brien scores. They equal. Richard Mulrooney scores. They equal. The crowd is going nuts, the tension is mounting. Greg Vanney up. He hits the inside of the left goalpost and the ball bounces straight across the net, all the way down the endline. Unbelievable near miss. They score. So, if we miss our next kick we lose. Captain Simo Valakari goes up. And drills it. Now, if they score they win. Dario Sala gives the ball a kiss and takes it out to their kicker. The crowd is on beyond nuts. Sala guesses right... the kick is right Save!!!! Eruptions throughout the crowd, we're still tied!!! Sala is ecstatic. So much so that he forgets that he is the next one to take a PK. He realizes and heads to the spot and almost sheepishly sends one towards the left side which is easily saved. Having gone from hero to goat in the space of about 30 seconds, Sala must try to get up again to stop another shot, but he is unable to, it was too much to ask. They score. They win, two consecutive years, same scenario. The Rapids players ran over and started gesturing to the Dallas fans and a bit of a dustup ensues, including Sala throwing a haymaker and (we find out later) being suspended for the first six games of next season. So, no Dallas in the MLS Cup, but I will still be there, to watch New England and Houston. I will pull for the Dynamo in all likelihood. Oh well. It should be an interesting off season, with lots of possible player movement and maybe a new coach coming on. We'll see.