No matter the sport, in the playoffs, oftentimes heroes emerge from the most unlikely of places. That was definitely the case for the Houston Dynamo in their victory against the New England Revolution in MLS Cup 2006 on Sunday.
The match went to penalty kicks and taking the first two for Dynamo were none other than defender Kelly Gray and midfielder Stuart Holden, two players who haven't played a lot in 2006 and entered the match as second-half substitutes. But, when their team needed them, they stepped up in the biggest of ways.
Gray was the first Dynamo player to step up to the penalty spot. Calm, cool and collected, he beat New England goalkeeper Matt Reis right down the middle of the goalmouth. After the Revolution's Shalrie Joseph converted on his side's first attempt, it was Holden's turn and he blasted one into the corner of the net past Reis with authority.
"We've been taking penalties over the course of weeks and have been very confident," said Houston head coach Dominic Kinnear. "As soon as it went to penalty kicks, I went over to Kelly (Gray) and told him he was going first and the reason was because I want to get off on a good foot and I knew he was going to make it.
"Stuart Holden is a confident young man. I put him in big games before. He played in front of 60,000 fans at Reliant Stadium before the Barcelona game against L.A. (Aug. 8) and played well," Kinnear added. "I wanted to try and give the guys with fresh legs the first two shots. So, it put us off on a good step."
Gray appeared in only 18 matches for Houston this season, eight of them starts, but before Sunday's match had not hit the field during the postseason. He made his entrance in the 102nd minute when Kinnear brought him in for starting defender Ryan Cochrane.
"There were definitely some nerves (when I went in)," Gray said. "I was going into the biggest game in American soccer. But I think there was more excitement than nerves. I went in there, did well and was excited because I knew that if I got in there, I would take one of the PKs. I was laying in bed last night visualizing taking a PK. It was strange. My heart was beating all hard and I couldn't sleep. This is like a dream come true. It is incredible."
After the game finished tied 1-1 after regulation and the two overtimes, Gray knew that he would be taking the first penalty kick for Dynamo.
"He (Kinnear) came to me and said he wanted me take the first one," he said. "I said fine because if I wanted to take any of them, I wanted it to be the first one. We had been practicing them and I had been hitting them pretty well. I was significantly confident going up there and just totally focused. I went up there, did my thing and it went in. That's all I can say about it."
Holden, on the other hand, appeared in 13 regular season games for Houston and made three starts with one goal. His only previous action of the postseason came in the first leg of the MLS Western Conference Semifinal Series against Chivas USA at the Home Depot Center on Oct. 22, when he played 14 minutes as a late-game substitute. He entered Sunday's match in the 114th minute as a substitute for starting midfielder Adrian Serioux, who did a solid job filling in for normal starter Ricardo Clark, who missed the game due to suspension.
"I was a little nervous at first (when I found out I would be going in)," Holden said. "I just started preparing myself. When I went in, we were down 1-0. So I was trying to help us get a goal and we got it quickly. I knew I would take a penalty kick and it just worked our perfectly and I can't complain."
As for the penalty kicks, Holden knew all the practice he had done on them would pay dividends in the biggest game of the year and he was ready to help his team.
"We've been practicing them all week and I've been doing well on penalty kicks," he said. "When they came to me and asked me if I was ready to take one, I said yes. I was ready for it. I had fresh legs and wasn't nervous. It went well."
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
