Thanks Mutinywxgirl! I feel priviledged to post this early in the thread. Could you edit the title to add Des Moines Menace at the end so that the World knows. They deserve it. The Menace proved to the American soccer nation that teamwork and great coaching wins out and that overall level (not just key position) of talent means something as well. I'm sure a few pro teams can attest to that. The Menace do also have more star caliber players than which they've been given credit. I'm sure that the only award that counts in their minds right now is the PDL Championship trophy, which they can proudly hold high. WoooooHoooooo!!!! Way to go Menace, Way to go! Way to go Menace, Way to go!
Poor El Paso fans. They stay there all night and spend more time watching players feign injury than playing soccer, and end up losing the game.
Fantastic night... awesome job boys, you did us proud. Andy, I'm telling you man... it's gonna happen Hurry back so we can celebrate! Congratulations to Casey for leading this team all the way to the championship in his first year. Love that you will be back next season to go for #2. Thank you for taking on this team in a year of change.
~6800 fans showed up to watch. Congrats to the Menace and a shout out to the Patriots for hanging on till the bitter end.
Actually putting the Menace in the title is considered a spoiler....thus why I posted it like I did. Regardless, congrats again to the Menace, I was hoping they would win especially after the Flames won in your backyard in 2001.
Yeah I was at the game. Pretty Damn Good Game, I mean it would of been better if it wasn't decided by PKs and if the Patriots would of won. But Thanks for the game anyway Menace. Now it's time for Miner Ball! GO Ladies!!! Adios, CoachKip
What was heartbreaking was watching Castaneda's PK. Everyone I was watching with knew exactly where he would kick it due to the extreme angle he took on his approach. And apparently so did the goalie for DM. But congrats to both teams on a great season. Waco Joe
The Patriots certainly seemed to be our toughest PDL opponent this year. Andy was our difference maker. PKs pretty much come down to who has the better goalkeeper and that was the one advantage we had over El Paso. The Patriots certainly had fantastic attackers. I would have just shared the Championship personally. I've had enough practice doing so with the Hawkeye football team and their "co-championships". The game reminded me a lot of MLS Cup 2000 where the Fire came in loaded with offensive weapons but just couldn't break a stingy Wizards defense and a rock solid MVP goalkeeper. Thankfully, this time it was my team on the other end of the result. Congrats to El Paso and the great Patriot fans. The PDL needs more teams like yours. Good luck next year.
When the match went into PK's, deep inside I figured the gig was up. Garcia is still an unknown quantity, having played only once at home in the regular season. He was certainly in the right places at the right times in the game, but PK's are a different story. I'd take you up on that. But PK's are part of the game, too, unfortunately, and Gruenebaum certainly deserved to show a national TV audience his stuff. Thanks much. El Paso really represented last night. We do have excellent fans of the game here. Now if we can just move on to make 6,972 the average... Best of everything to the Menace and their fans. You have a classy bunch in Des Moines and it's safe to say the best two teams did indeed make the finals.
Much respect given to the Patriots. It seemed apparent that both sides were struggling a little bit to find thier normal strides. Andy was a superstar who we will surely lose to atleast the A-League (but I am not so sure that the Wiz are out of the question! ). EP seemed to show much more class than our last three opponents who were more interested in assaulting referees and injuring players than winning a game on thier own. It did seem as though El Diablo was more like "Diablo de papel" with as many times as he was rolling on the ground. Almost looked Brazilian with all the dives and whining . Congrats on a good season to both teams, but there can only be one winner.... THE DES MOINES MENACE 2005 PDL NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
Yeah we have pretty good soccer/futbol down here. From the city parks being packed on the weekends with U4s up to our UTEP Ladies, yes the Patriots and once in awhile getting Mexican Pro Teams. I just wished we had a decent soccer complex, all the lines on a American Football field freak me out! Again Damn Good Game DM you all come on down any time we would be honored to have you. Adios, CoachKip
Coach Kip, Let's take a stroll up Cincinnati St. and ask Lady Di if she'd let the Pats tap a keg or two at your stadium. I think UTEP has probably the best place in town right now. Incidentally, here's to Des Moines getting a SSS sssoon. Your club deserves one and it sounds like you have the attention right now.
EPVox Yah gonna go to the alumni game this week end, Or stay home and watch games on Mexican TV? My daughters got a game at HighNoon at 10AM I should be able to haul a$$ back from Las Cruces and make the 1:30 kickoff. But heck I don't know alumni games are pretty boring but I want tah see what those new Canadian girls look like. I hope you guys don't get too pissed off for going way off topic.......I'm still talking futbol though. Adios, CoachKip
As an expat Iowan it made me proud to see a team from my home state win a national title. Especially since it was a local boy who scored the winning penalty kick. I'll be the first to say, Freiberg for the national team. Cap him Bruce