CARSON, California – As confetti clogged the air, fireworks crackled and Robbie Keane lifted the Philip F. Anschutz trophy high about his head, Jermaine Jones turned and quickly strode down the tunnel.
He’d spent the past 20 minutes pacing frustrated circles on the StubHub Center field after the Revolution’s MLS Cup title shot came up just short thanks to a Keane winner in extra-time, but watching the Galaxy celebrate was too much to bear.
A few minutes later, Charlie Davies followed Jones to the visitors’ locker room, the look on his face a combination of agony and exhaustion both physical and emotional.
“It’s like someone just took a baseball bat to my gut. It’s really tough to take,” Davies told reporters gathered in a hushed New England locker room to ask about the club's MLS-record fifth Cup defeat. “I really thought we deserved to cap this season with an MLS Cup.”
“It’s going to take me a couple days to get over this one. Or maybe a couple weeks.”
For some, it may take even longer. For his part, head coach Jay Heaps didn’t want to talk about the heartbreak of a record fifth MLS Cup defeat. What is there left to say?
New England’s manager was a player for the Revs’ first four MLS Cup gut punches, and now he had yet another day to forget in a game that it seems fate has decided the club isn’t destined to capture.
For the third time in MLS’ biggest game, LA tore New England hearts out in extra-time, the fortunes of two clubs at opposite ends of the spectrum. Even more painful than the goal itself was perhaps the fact that the opportunities were there for the visitors to break through.
“We thought we had a couple chances there to win it,” Heaps said. “I really felt like the penalty was on [Lee Nguyen] was close. You know. Those are the ones that decide. [Teal Bunbury] hit the bar. Those were close. That’s late in the game and its unfortunate.”
“We had our chances. The game could have gone either way,” Nguyen added. “They just happened to finish theirs, and we weren’t able to capitalize. That’s how it goes in finals. It’s the last game. There is no return leg. Credit to LA, they played a great game and they’re well-deserved champions.”
Unfortunately for New England, they’ve got themselves partly to blame for the goal that decided the match. It was a simple ball over the top in the 111th minute leaving goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth in an unenviable 1-vs-1 situation with Keane, a scenario that only had one realistic ending.
“It was a goal we always give up,” Jones lamented. “It was a normal long ball. It was nothing special that they are killing four or three people. They hit the ball long, and the ball dropped in the back. Keane can run one-on-one with the goalkeeper. It’s not only today. It is always. The last games we were lucky that we can fix it.”
Fixing it will have to wait, a few months at least.
For now, all New England can do is reflect on a year that started with so much promise, took a nosedive in the summer then turned into a run that very nearly got a fairy tale ending.
Yes, they’re runners-up on MLS’ biggest stage once again, but there are plenty of reasons to believe this won’t be their last opportunity to exorcise those demons in the coming years – maybe even in 2015.
“We built a great foundation. Some people can say, I guess, that we overachieved, but I saw potential in this team from the beginning of last season,” Nguyen said. “… I think this is a team that can compete for the cup hopefully a couple more years. That’s our goal for next year.”
