It was, of course, the first MLS Cup Final to be decided by penalty kicks. But Sunday's MLS championship game was the fifth to go into extra time, and the second in as many years. Four of the last six finals have gone to extra time (since 2001), after four finals in a row were decided in regulation time following the inaugural MLS Cup.
The crowd of 22,427 was the largest crowd ever to see a soccer event at Pizza Hut Park, bettering the crowd of 22,322 that attended an Interliga doubleheader in January. The crowd also surpassed the crowd of 21,193 that attended last year's final.
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The two goals barely a minute apart equaled the shortest span in MLS Cup history. In the 2003 final, DaMarcus Beasley of the Chicago Fire scored in the 49th minute to cut the San Jose Earthquakes advantage to 2-1, but straight from the kickoff, Richard Mulrooney converted a long Craig Waibel service to restore the margin to two goals in an eventual 4-2 San Jose victory. Sunday's goals were officially recorded at 71 seconds apart.
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The Revolution's goal snapped their scoreless run in MLS Cup Finals at five hours, 46 minutes, by far the most in MLS Cup history. The next longest is the Los Angeles Galaxy run of 187 minutes without a goal, the final 75 minutes of the 2001 final to Carlos Ruiz's golden goal to win the 2002 championship in the 113th minute.
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The goal also ended Pat Onstad's shutout streak in MLS Cup Finals at 148 minutes, the second longest in history. Kevin Hartman's current streak of 233 minutes is the record; Onstad passed Tom Presthus, who had a streak of 135 minutes for D.C. United in 1998-1999.
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The Revolution had six shots on goal in Sunday's final. In their previous two trips to the MLS Cup Final, both of which of course also went to extra time, they had a total of three shots on goal combined.
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Revolution midfielder Joe Franchino was shown a yellow card Sunday, the third MLS Cup Final he's been cautioned. Each of them has come before the 25th minute (the caution against Houston came after 16 minutes.
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