Houston Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear said there's hope for an overnight miracle, but it appears clear that Brian Ching will be ruled out of tomorrow's MLS Cup Final at RFK Stadium.
"We're going to wait until tomorrow, that's kind of our standard answer," Kinnear said after his team's final training session Saturday at RFK Stadium. "He didn't train today, so the outlook is kind of bleak. But you never know, he could sleep in some bed tonight that gives him a great feeling when he wakes up in the morning, but we're planning on life without him."
While's Ching's prognosis isn't positive, Dynamo's mentality hasn't changed. Joining bruising forward Nate Jaqua will be crafty Joseph Ngwenya. No stranger to the starting lineup, Ngwenya, who arrived from Columbus in a trade for Alejandro Moreno, has seven goals on the year -- the same team-leading total as Ching.
"I hooked up well with Chingy during the season, and with Nate. Both of those guys are easy to play with," Ngwenya said. "They're big guys who hold it up, very physical. We compliment each other well so it doesn't really change much."
The expected crowd of 40,000-plus will see a game between two teams with similar strengths in a rematch of MLS Cup 2006, won by Houston in penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw over 120 minutes.
"They're good from back to front, and so are we," Kinnear said. "There's not too much between the teams the last three or four years."
And according to Kinnear, the similarities go beyond the playing field and include intangibles.
"I think they enjoy playing for each other," Kinnear said. "You have your guys who maybe grab the headlines and you have your underrated heroes as well. They play aggressive home or away, I feel that we do the same ... I think the approach and the attitude from the coaching staff on down to the players is very similar."
The only big difference is that New England comes in fully healthy, which is a change from last year's final, and the Revolution play out of a 3-5-2 formation, slightly different from Dynamo's 4-4-2.
So what will be the difference between the two sides?
"It's going to take something special to win the game tomorrow," Ngwenya said. "It's a final like any other final, it's going to be tough and tight. It will take something special to win it and hopefully it will come from one of our guys."
Both teams certainly have players with that type of ability. The Revs showed that in the Eastern Conference Championship when Taylor Twellman won beat the Chicago Fire with a brilliant bicycle kick. Twellman also scored the first goal of last year's final, but Ching responded with the equalizer immediately afterward.
"It's going to take a moment of brilliance from someone and last year I thought you saw two of them," goalkeeper Pat Onstad said. "Taylor steps up and scores a goal and while he's still celebrating, fortunately for us, Brian Ching steps up and scores a great header. I think those are the things that define a championship and when you look at the history of MLS, that seems to be what happened in the last few years."
While much of the talk in the buildup to the Cup Final is on the midfield heavyweight battle between the top defensive midfielder in MLS in New England's Shalrie Joseph and one of its top attacking midfielders in Houston's Dwayne De Rosario, the undercard of Steve Ralston of the Revs vs. Richard Mulrooney of Dynamo is an intriguing one.
"A lot of people like to concentrate on Shalrie and Dwayne because they're two of the bigger names, but I think you have quiet heroes like Steve Ralston, who ... has to be involved in the Best XI of all-time for MLS because of the work he does and the production he gives you," Kinnear said. "And you look at the same for Richard Mulrooney, Brian Mullan and Brad Davis."
In the final few regular-season games and throughout the playoffs, Steve Nicol has moved Ralston from his usual spot on the wing into an attacking midfielder's role in front of Joseph and Jeff Larentowicz.
When Ralston has time and space, he is lethal with the ball. And the MLS all-time assists leader is equally as dangerous on set pieces.
"They've got a few guys who put a good ball in and Steve obviously is one of the best in the league," Onstad said. "You've got to be careful, but at the same time we concern ourselves more with how we're going to play."
It is the first time in MLS history there is a repeat final. But will history repeat itself?
"It's just coincidence. I don't think any advantage is gained either way because you play these teams during the season anyway," Kinnear said. "Everyone wants to talk about a rematch or revenge ... but I think all the side stories, that's exactly what they are -- stories. When you strip it all down, it's just 90 minutes of soccer that we're trying to play."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
