Galaxy’s Goal: Counter Revolution
The man from the Caribbean stands tall, and also directly in the path of the Galaxy today as it attempts to win a second Major League Soccer championship.
No player better exemplifies the New England Revolution than Shalrie Joseph, the 6-foot-3 midfielder from Grenada.
Joseph is a dominating presence on both sides of the halfway line, as effective on attack as he is on defense. A tough character, Joseph is the inspiration for a team that plays every game as if it were the last.
Today, it is the last.
The 10th MLS final, at Pizza Hut Park in the flat, sprawling countryside north of Dallas, pits workmanlike New England, coached by no-nonsense Scot Steve Nicol, against stylish Los Angeles, coached by overachieving American Steve Sampson.
Then there is Landon Donovan, who is capable of changing the outcome almost single-handed. Or single-footed. If there is one Galaxy player the Revolution fears, it is Donovan.
But for Donovan and fellow forward Herculez Gomez to have an impact, the Galaxy is going to have to win individual battles all over the park, and especially in midfield, the territory ruled by Joseph.
“We’ve just got to be physical with them, me and Danny [Hernandez] in the midfield defensively,” Joseph said. “We’ve just got to put our presence on them, get into tackles, make sure they know we’re around them, make sure they can’t turn and go at our defenders.
“I think midfield is definitely the key to the game, because they’ve got a good midfield led by Peter Vagenas and [Marcelo] Saragosa or maybe the other Brazilian” Paulo Nagamura. “There are going to be a lot of 50-50 balls, and we want to come out on top and win all those balls. Just keep possession and try to get the ball wide and start our offense from there.”
The Revolution plays in a 3-5-2 formation, with a three-man defense consisting of Jay Heaps, Michael Parkhurst and Joe Franchino behind a five-man midfield in which Joseph and Hernandez are the enforcers, Clint Dempsey is the creator and Steve Ralston and James Riley provide speed on the wings. Up top, New England features forwards Pat Noonan and Taylor Twellman.
The Galaxy plays in a 4-4-2 formation, with Chris Albright, Ugo Ihemelu, Tyrone Marshall and Todd Dunivant making up the back line. Vagenas and Saragosa are the defensive midfielders, flanked by Cobi Jones and Ned Grabavoy out wide on either side. Donovan and Gomez are the forwards.
It depends who blinks first.
If the Galaxy puts New England under pressure early, does Nicol pull Hernandez out of midfield and use him to bolster the defense?
If the Revolution puts Los Angeles under pressure early, does Sampson pull Donovan back into midfield to even the numbers there?
The Galaxy believes the Revolution is defensively vulnerable, that Donovan and Gomez can run at it with success and that Grabavoy, Jones and even Albright also are capable of exposing the defense and creating scoring chances.
The Revolution believes the Galaxy is vulnerable to the sort of hard-tackling game it enjoys, that it can be pinned on defense because of the threats posed by Dempsey, Noonan and Twellman, and that service can be denied to Donovan and Gomez by winning the midfield duels.
The final pits a Revolution team that has been at or near the top all season against a Galaxy team that is peaking in the playoffs.
“We started off very well and pretty much stayed that way,” Nicol said. “We had a couple of lumps and bumps during the year, but generally week in and week out we’ve been solid. We’re looking to be the same on Sunday.”
Said Sampson: “It’s been a roller coaster for the Galaxy this year.”
Today, the ride comes to an end, and Joseph believes he knows where it will stop.
“I expect it to be probably 3-2 or 4-2, we victorious, of course,” he said, grinning.
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
MLS Cup 2005
* Who -- Galaxy vs. New England Revolution.
* When -- Today, 12:30 p.m. PST.
* TV -- Channel 7.
* Where -- Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, Texas.
* Players to watch -- Landon Donovan and Cobi Jones (Galaxy); Shalrie Joseph and Taylor Twellman (Revolution).
* How they match up -- Evenly, with Donovan the tiebreaker.
* How they got here -- The Galaxy finished fourth in the West then defeated San Jose and Colorado; the Revolution finished first in the East then defeated the MetroStars and Chicago.
* Head to head -- The teams played to two 1-1 ties in the MLS regular season.
* Coaches -- Steve Sampson (Galaxy) 18-18-10 all time; Steve Nicol (Revolution) 56-44-31 all time.
* Strengths -- Both teams have excellent goalkeepers in Kevin Hartman (Galaxy) and Matt Reis (Revolution). The Galaxy has the league’s highest-paid and most creative player in Donovan; the Revolution has the league’s top goal scorer in Twellman.
* Weaknesses -- The Galaxy can be intimidated by physical play, with a tendency to retaliate and draw costly fouls. The Revolution’s defense is potentially vulnerable to the creativity of Donovan and the speed of Herculez Gomez.
-- Grahame L. Jones
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
MLS CUP
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Galaxy vs.
New England Revolution
Today at Frisco, Texas
12:30 p.m. PST, Channel 7
GALAXY PROBABLE STARTERS
*--* No. Player Pos. 22 Kevin Hartman GK 2 Todd Dunivant D 14 Tyrone Marshall D 15 Ugo Ihemelu D 5 Chris Albright D 28 Paulo Nagamura M 8 Pete Vagenas M 11 Ned Grabavoy M 13 Cobi Jones M 10 Landon Donovan F 16 Herculez Gomez F
*--*
REVOLUTION PROBABLE STARTERS
*--* No. Player Pos. 1 Matt Reis GK 6 Jay Heaps D 15 Michael Parkhurst D 8 Joe Franchino D 16 James Riley M 3 Daniel Hernandez M 21 Shalrie Joseph M 2 Clint Dempsey M 14 Steve Ralston M 11 Pat Noonan F 20 Taylor Twellman F
*--*
