The New England Revolution came up empty again in pursuit of the MLS Cup. When it was over, a drained Taylor Twellman stood by his locker at RFK Stadium and acknowledged that he was empty of emotion.
"I'm not mad, I'm not sad, it's just nothing," Twellman said. "I've got nothing in me."
Four trips to the MLS Cup, four losses. It's the same fate that once belonged to the Buffalo Bills, a proud football team that lost four Super Bowls. Now, the Revolution have to brace for comparisons to those Bills.
"You guys can call me Jim Kelly for all you want," Twellman said.
Twellman was referring to the quarterback of those four-time Super Bowl losers. But while the Bills never got over the hump during the Kelly era, Twellman refuses to give up on the current Revolution squad. The four MLS Cup losses have come in a six-year span.
"Let's go five of seven and see what happens," Twellman said.
In the 20th minute of Sunday's game, Twellman's goal gave Revolution fans hope that 2007 would finally be the breakthrough season. But Houston roared back from the 1-0 deficit, as Dynamo had done in the 2006 Cup in Dallas.
"It was a tale of two halves," Twellman said. "In the first half, we outplayed them. We had quality chances. In the second half, we bunkered in and just didn't get the job done."
If New England perseveres and reaches the final again, Twellman hopes his team adopts an extremely aggressive approach.
"I've lost finals every which way," Twellman said. "The way I look at it, we've got absolutely nothing to lose next year. Get back here and we should play four forwards and try to score 12 goals."
Twellman emphasized that Dynamo should get credit for their ability to come from behind.
"They never stopped fighting," Twellman said. "We've had two leads (in the last two Cups). It's just unfortunate."
Twellman said the toughest part for him was letting down the Revolution fans who have backed the team with so much passion.
"I can't even say this final was ours, because last year was ours and 2005 was ours," Twellman said. "The only year we didn't deserve it was 2002."
Robert Falkoff is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
