IMO - hells yea.... no need to be greedy.... I never thought in the pre-season we'd ever make it this far....
As we came into this year with a ton of rookies that no one knew about, the big trade, and a new coach, it was billed as a rebuilding year. A .500 team, making the playoffs but not being anything special. We're now qualified for the playoffs and in the open cup final. As far as I'm concerned (and I've talked to a couple of metro fans who feel the same way) a win on Wednesday makes any other win this season a bonus. I'd take the open cup and losing our last 3 games and both playoff games if that's what it took to win the cup. Obviously I'd like to win the Open Cup, go into the playoffs in second, eliminate DC and have a one game shot against Chicago for a chance at the final, but if we win the Open cup I'd walk away happy. No regrets. Sadness, but no regrets. Get us one cup...it's a successful season.
I don't believe in moral victories. Bradley was brought in to win championships. Trades were make to make this team a title contender. I mean, I understand that it works differently in soccer, that it's alright to be the sixth-placed club in a twenty team top-flight, or it's OK to win one World Cup game when you're debuting at the finals. But this is metropolitan sports. I'm not even going to say "MLS is different," because "New York is different" ought to be enough. No one around here remembers you if you don't have a trophy.
I was also skeptic like alot of people. I thought it would be a rebuilding year. By the looks of it we'll be playing DC United since we are not clinching East title. Then Chi or NE. I like the fact that we would be playing DC with homefiled advantage. We've had our success agains't dc this year so i'm positive that we can beat them again.
If the Metros lose the US Open Cup Final and make it to the semi's, I'd still consider the season a success. Chicago is better than the Metros at almost every single position, so it won't be embarrasing to lose considering their best two forwards are an 18 year old and a 26 year old journeyman.
success is extremely subjective...no one here wants anything less than both cups obviously, but significant progress has been made and in that sense, we can draw from that...that said, for me personally, if we win the open cup and lose in the first round of the playoffs, i would not be very happy with the season as a whole...despite the fact that maybe the expectations werent at all to be where we are, we've put ourselves in a postion to win mls cup, and it should be very disappointing if we cant move out of the first round...
Success is winning the double. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I'll settle for the Open Cup and beating DC in the first round of playoffs. Just typing the word 'settle' makes me feel like a loser. "I want that fourth carrier." -- Adm. Chester Nimitz, Battle of Midway
The last two games we have started an 18 year old and a journeyman..or were you talking about the Metros
Don’t get me wrong. I don't beleive in moral victories either. Let's face it, We need a Cup! I'm beginning to feel like a Jets fan over here. But.., I remember at Nathans (remember to vote for best soccer bar at www.ussoccer.com) during the ESC signup/ Meet & Greet in February, Bradley kept saying that he will take this club to build on for "the future". He was very particular in not promising a cup. Here we are 8 months later and I've never as felt as positive about this club as I do now. We have the best coach in the league, we have a great crop of rookies, the stadium is coming together, we're in the playoffs and -let's not forget- we're in the Open Cup finals on our own turf (FieldTurf, but it's still ours). We've already beat alot of critics expectations since April.
In my eyes this season has already been a success due to the fact that i didnt expect us to be in the situation we currently sit in.... I thought it was going to be the "rebuilding" year like everyone said where we test our rookies to see who can contribute to the team in the future. Win some and lose more is what i was expecting. Even if we come away with no hardware this season for the first time as a Metro fan i look forward to the next few years of this club with great optimism... The MetroStars is truly beggining to look like a club that will compete day in day out and bring us much joy in the coming years.... a club worthy of our continued loyal support and a club I can be proud of... a new soccer tradition that will only grow with every season from here on. METROSTARS 4 EVER!!!