...to Cobi, Lalas, and Cienfuegos, especially. Just three of LA's veterans who truly deserved their time to raise the trophy. Cobi and Lalas played out of their heads. BTW, also some minor redemption for Chris Albright. Nice start to the winner from Ruiz.
I would have rather seen NE win, but you have to tip your hat to L.A. And Ruiz - man what a player that guy is. That bicycle kick was flat out amazing. Brown saved it with his face.
      Welcome to the ranks of MLS Cup Champions, LA, and good job in helping to keep The Cup in California for the second straight year.       Congratulations on the 1-0 MLS Cup 2002 overtime win. -G
At least Cobi did'nt score! Great Job LA. Now you should pack the new place. Enjoy! Kevin metroadultsoccer.com
wow... I'm so jealous of the LA Fans... first Supporters Shield... now MLS Cup Trophy... who knows by thurs, US Open Cup Trophy ... in June 2003, a brand new stadium...
Congrats to LA, it pains me to say this, but justice prevailed, Franchino should've been ejected earlier in the game. I've actually grown to like Cobi, I was kind of hoping he'd score the game winner.
Grats LA. It would have been very funny if you had managed to flunk another final exam, but alas all good things must come to an end. Nevertheless, you still suck. Best Wishes.
You didn't hear? It's a new MLS rule this year, you get four yellow cards before your sent off, but only in MLS Cup.
I was glad to see it end on a quality goal like that. It would have sucked to end the game on a fluke deflection like the one that almost went in the LA goal late or on PK's. That goal was a real championship caliber strike, with Brown nearly pulling off an incredible foot save. Good stuff.
Dear Joey Franchino, Never shoot again. Momentum was starting to swing in the Revs favor after Browns save...you could feel it in the stands and everyone was getting into it. Oh well, thanks for the great run boys. Now lets go back and do it again next year. There's nothing more to say.
The better team won. I was happy it did not go to shootout of a nil-nil draw. Franchino should have been sent off. NE needed a #10. Ruiz is better than Twellman at this time. Man of the Match: the 61000+ fans. I hope the nats don't play Guatemala next cycle. Reminded me of the old Boston-LA basketball rivalry. They did mention that near the end.
Congrats to the New England fans. A new attendance record, and clearly from the sound coming over the TV, no one was sitting on their hands on this one. Casual soccer viewers could only have been impressed. One record I was looking for won't happen--two sports championships won by the same owner in the same year.
That was the best final I have personally witnessed. I wasn't around for MLS Cup '96, so I have no referrence to that. But that was an incredible game. A worthy final and the best team did win. Congratulations to the victors. I do feel bad for the NE fans. That were there in full support. It would be nice if those numbers showed up every weekend, however. I am glad that the game ended on a classy goal and there was no controversy in the win. Now I just hope that the Gals wore themselves out so much that they have nothing in their tanks to play the Crew. What a final!
franchino should have been tossed twice... once for a red that was a yellow, and then for a second yellow that was just a foul ralston, twellman and brown were awesome... the backlines of both teams were also solid new england was hurting though because they have no number 10... that is something they need to get for next year... LA put a good goal in... both teams had chances, but good defense prevailed until the end... great ball, great run, great ball again, and nice finish winston griffiths impressed me... kante was a rock
I'm not NE fan but winston griffins seem like a DaMarcus Beasley type of player... i was surprise Kamler wasn't put long b4.
Griffiths can't pass. Twellman didn't look like he was 100% to me. A rather badly played game, I thought. Just wait til next year!
Ruiz didn't impress me that much either. Other than the bicycle kick and the winning goal he didn't do much. I think that both teams came into the game trying to shut the other teams "go to" guy down and for the most part they were successful.