TORONTO – The Colorado Rapids locker room was a tale of four different champions on Sunday night, all drenched in the same shower of champagne.
Pablo Mastroeni was inevitably the man who made the most noise upon his arrival into the fray, an exultation the 12-year veteran had undoubtedly dreamed of since he arrived in the league as a member of the defunct Miami Fusion.
Mastroeni was, until Sunday night anyway, the working class hero who never won the big one. He’d never really even come close until the Rapids muscled their way into the title game this season after more than a decade spent on the outside looking in.
And Mastroeni, for his part, embraced the moment. He was physical and quintessentially troublesome for league MVP David Ferreira and the FC Dallas midfielders, who struggled to find much breathing room after Ferreira scored the opening goal in the 35th minute.
After it was all said and done, Mastroeni burst into an awaiting locker room and let out a yell perhaps heard all the way back on the Colorado Front Range, where the Rapids veteran spent years grinding away in pursuit of a title that looked like it might never come.
“The feeling hasn’t really set in. But what has is the resolve that we’ve shown all year, the ability to come back from tough situations,” Mastroeni said. “To finally see it come full circle and for the guys to be rewarded with that championship, for me, that means everything. It’s been a collective group effort and I’m just excited that we were able to hoist that trophy today.”
Midfielder Brian Mullan, meanwhile, took the win largely in stride. It’s tough to blame him though, seeing as Sunday’s win was just another notch in the belt of the former San Jose Earthquakes and Houston Dynamo regular who won his fifth MLS Cup when the final whistle blew.
Mullan – who won an MLS Cup with the LA Galaxy in 2002 but never played in the final – joins Jeff Agoos as the only players in league history to play on five MLS Cup-winning teams.
“It’s an honor to be up there with Jeff,” Mullan said. “I played with him a couple of years, and he’s a great player and a great professional. I couldn’t be happier to have my name tossed in the boat with him.”
The win also offered some sweet relief for both Jeff Larentowicz and Wells Thompson, who were part of a New England Revolution team that came away empty-handed in their three straight MLS Cup bids from 2005-2007.
“When Ferreira scored that first goal, I think those feelings of losing and all those years flashed back,” Thompson said. “But we fought through it. I think we’re all happy to be a Rapid tonight, for sure.”
