2014 MLS Cup
Keane's Extra Time Strike Gives L.A. Its Fifth MLS Cup
The Los Angeles Galaxy defeated the New England Revolution 2-1 on Sunday thanks to an overtime goal from Robbie Keane. The victory gives L.A. its fifth MLS Cup title.
CARSON, Calif.—As they love to chant back home in Ireland, "There’s only one Keane-O!"
In an MLS Cup final that was as spirited and intense as it was close, Irish international Robbie Keane showed why he was this year’s Major League Soccer MVP. He made a smart, well-timed run to get on the end of a sublime pass from Marcelo Sarvas to score the game-winning goal in overtime to lead the Los Angeles Galaxy to a 2-1 win over the hard-done New England Revolution.
The win, in front of a 27,000 vocal fans, gave the Galaxy its fifth MLS Cup title in the league’s 19-year history and its third in the past four years.
“The reason why they’re the best team is because they’re winning trophies. It’s pretty simple. They’re winning trophies. Man United are the best team over the years because they won trophies. If they didn’t win trophies they wouldn’t be the best team,” said a champagne-soaked Keane, who was voted the game’s MVP. “So for us it’s consistently getting trophies and that’s why we’re the biggest team."
"It was like this from the very start with David Beckham. He made this team—I think, anyway—a huge, huge name around the world. And by doing that you have to live up to your expectations.
"It’s about winning and it’s about getting trophies. If you’re not winning people forget about you fairly quickly.”
By harsh contrast, this was the fifth MLS Cup loss in as many tries for the Revolution, three of which came against the Galaxy and four in overtime or penalty kicks. Making it all the more heart-wrenching for the Revolution, it had the better of play for much of the game, frustrating the Galaxy and making Landon Donovan mostly ineffective in what was the American icon’s final game.
“I thought we played really well for most of the game today,” said New England's Jay Heaps, who was coaching his first MLS Cup final. “We could have been better in the final third but we played really well and for a lot of the game I thought we had it.”
His opposite number agreed.
“We didn’t play our best today,” said Galaxy coach Bruce Arena, who won his fifth MLS Cup title as head coach, the first two coming with D.C. United. “I give New England a lot of credit. They battled, they were disciplined. They knew what they had to do. They battled. Give them a lot of credit. Jermaine Jones is a warrior. They did a good job. They pushed us as hard as we could be pushed and the reason maybe we weren’t at our best today was probably because of New England. Give them credit.”
Still, Donovan got to go out a champion, a record sixth time he’s won MLS Cup since joining the league in 2001—the first two came with San Jose—to go along with his myriad league and U.S. national team scoring records.
"I'm in a little bit of a daze, to be honest," Donovan said. "There's a lot going on. Some obvious excitement, some sadness, uncertainty, and just pure joy for this team and what we did.
“It feels strange is the best way to put it. I'm just so proud of what this team accomplished this year."
While this game marked Donovan’s swan song, it wasn’t his best effort. The closest he came to impacting the score sheet came in the second minute when he worked a nifty give-and-go with Robbie Rogers after a nice run by the let back... only to have Rogers’ shot cleared off the line by a desperate Scott Caldwell lunge.
With Jones and Caldwell patrolling the middle of the park and Chris Tierney and Andrew Farrell locking down the flanks, the Galaxy struggled to create many chances in the first half.
“I thought Jermaine Jones was tremendous today” said Arena, who continued to swig from a bottle of champagne during his post-game press conference. “Such a great leader.”
The Revolution felt it deserved a penalty call after Galaxy midfielder Juninho collided with playmaker Lee Nguyen in the box, sending the Best XI player to the turf. But MLS referee of the year Mark Geiger swallowed his whistle.
"I cut one way and the guy came in from behind and pushed me down,” Nguyen said. “It could have gone either way I guess. I was surprised, but that's how it goes. You move on."
Heaps was more succinct in his evaluation: “I really thought that was a penalty.”
For most of the game Juninho and Marcelo Sarvas, the Galaxy’s pit bull-like Brazilian central midfielders, hounded Nguyen and limited his ability to create chances for Revolution forward Charlie Davies, who was left stranded most of the game.
“I thought Sarvas was excellent today,” said Arena.
“We did a good job of not giving space,” said Sarvas. “And a good job of when one go forward the other stay back. One of us was always near (Nguyen) and it help us control the game.”
A halftime suggestion by Keane to have Arena flipflop Donovan, who started at left midfield, with forward Gyasi Zardes paid almost immediate dividends. “Robbie should be player-manager,” joked Arena.
A minute after Geiger’s no-call on Juninho, Sarvas sent a diagonal ball up the right flank to Stefan Ishizaki and the Swedish international’s cross deflected off Tierney and went across the box where it fell to a waiting Zardes, who collected the ball and showed tremendous poise by waiting for Farrell to slide past him then calmly slotted the ball back to the right corner of the goal to make it 1-0.
Zardes scored 16 goals during his breakout regular season but only tallied once in the final 11 games—including the playoffs. “I didn’t feel like I wasn’t playing well, the goals just weren’t coming,” he said. “I knew I had to keep battling and be ready when I got my chance.”
The Galaxy had the league’s best defense in the regular season and had pitched three shutouts in the playoffs and with Sarvas and Juninho limiting chances in the final third, it seemed the Galaxy would keep the game on lock-down and cruise to the title.
But a pair of moves by Heaps—switching Davies for rookie Patrick Mullins and bringing Japanese international Daigo Kobayashi in for Caldwell—paid off in the 79th minute when Mullins made a nice pass from the left flank to spring an overlapping Tierney. The winger's shot beat Jaime Penedo to draw the teams level.
Six minutes later New England striker Teal Bunbury hit the woodwork in the 85th minute. “I wish it would have gone in,” said a dejected Bunbury. “It was that close.”
Sore groins forced Heaps to remove Nguyen just before the end of regulation, leaving him no subs to counter Arena, who made a pair of moves at the start of overtime. Arena brought in Alan Gordon for Ishiaki and replaced Rogers with Dan Gargan, moving Donovan to right midfield and switching A.J. DeLaGarza from right back to left.
These adjustments gave the Galaxy extra energy on the flanks and appeared to stretch the Revolution defense. And in the 111th minute, with both sides tiring, Sarvas collected a ball near midfield and spotted Keane, who began a run in the channel between the central defense and Farrell. Sarvas lofted a perfect pass to Keane, who was kept onside when Tierney was slow to push up on the far flank.
Sarvas has apparently become an NFL fan since moving to the United States: “I saw him make his run,” Sarvas said of Keane, "and I was a little like a quarterback in American football. He throws a 34-yard pass and it’s in the air a long time."
“It was just a fantastic pass from Marcelo,” said Keane.
The connection left Keane with a one-on-one against Bobby Shuttleworth and Keane easily found the back of the net from about 15 yards.
"We knew they were going to be powerful going forward," Heaps said. "I thought our back line was really good except for maybe the last play on Keane. I thought Robbie Keane's finish was pretty class."
Tierney had a man-of-the-match level performance that was undone by one play that is every defender’s nightmare.
“It was a ball over the top, and I think I might have kept him onside. It was just a breakdown in communication,” said Tierney. “It's just disappointing not to be able to take that next step and win one, but this team is on an upward trajectory. I'm excited to be a part of this team going forward.”
New England could not manufacture a late response, leaving the Galaxy to celebrate another MLS Cup and and to ponder its place in league history.
“The league does everything in its power to ensure parity, so when you have a team win three times in four years, it's special,” said Donovan. “We're a team that has the same rules as everyone else does. When you put it in that context, it's a lot more special to win three out of four."
As he is wont to do, Arena was blunt when asked if this run warranted the "dynasty" label.
“I think you can say that," he said with a bit of sly grin, "especially in a league like ours that probably doesn’t want that to be the case and would be happy just moving the trophy from one franchise to the next each year.
It's "a bit of a dynasty at this point.”
Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. You can follow him on Twitter.
By harsh contrast, this was the fifth MLS Cup loss in as many tries for the Revolution, three of which came against the Galaxy and four in overtime or penalty kicks. Making it all the more heart-wrenching for the Revolution, it had the better of play for much of the game, frustrating the Galaxy and making Landon Donovan mostly ineffective in what was the American icon’s final game.
“I thought we played really well for most of the game today,” said New England's Jay Heaps, who was coaching his first MLS Cup final. “We could have been better in the final third but we played really well and for a lot of the game I thought we had it.”
His opposite number agreed.
“We didn’t play our best today,” said Galaxy coach Bruce Arena, who won his fifth MLS Cup title as head coach, the first two coming with D.C. United. “I give New England a lot of credit. They battled, they were disciplined. They knew what they had to do. They battled. Give them a lot of credit. Jermaine Jones is a warrior. They did a good job. They pushed us as hard as we could be pushed and the reason maybe we weren’t at our best today was probably because of New England. Give them credit.”
Still, Donovan got to go out a champion, a record sixth time he’s won MLS Cup since joining the league in 2001—the first two came with San Jose—to go along with his myriad league and U.S. national team scoring records.
"I'm in a little bit of a daze, to be honest," Donovan said. "There's a lot going on. Some obvious excitement, some sadness, uncertainty, and just pure joy for this team and what we did.
“It feels strange is the best way to put it. I'm just so proud of what this team accomplished this year."
While this game marked Donovan’s swan song, it wasn’t his best effort. The closest he came to impacting the score sheet came in the second minute when he worked a nifty give-and-go with Robbie Rogers after a nice run by the let back... only to have Rogers’ shot cleared off the line by a desperate Scott Caldwell lunge.
With Jones and Caldwell patrolling the middle of the park and Chris Tierney and Andrew Farrell locking down the flanks, the Galaxy struggled to create many chances in the first half.
“I thought Jermaine Jones was tremendous today” said Arena, who continued to swig from a bottle of champagne during his post-game press conference. “Such a great leader.”
The Revolution felt it deserved a penalty call after Galaxy midfielder Juninho collided with playmaker Lee Nguyen in the box, sending the Best XI player to the turf. But MLS referee of the year Mark Geiger swallowed his whistle.
"I cut one way and the guy came in from behind and pushed me down,” Nguyen said. “It could have gone either way I guess. I was surprised, but that's how it goes. You move on."
Heaps was more succinct in his evaluation: “I really thought that was a penalty.”
For most of the game Juninho and Marcelo Sarvas, the Galaxy’s pit bull-like Brazilian central midfielders, hounded Nguyen and limited his ability to create chances for Revolution forward Charlie Davies, who was left stranded most of the game.
“I thought Sarvas was excellent today,” said Arena.
“We did a good job of not giving space,” said Sarvas. “And a good job of when one go forward the other stay back. One of us was always near (Nguyen) and it help us control the game.”
A halftime suggestion by Keane to have Arena flipflop Donovan, who started at left midfield, with forward Gyasi Zardes paid almost immediate dividends. “Robbie should be player-manager,” joked Arena.
A minute after Geiger’s no-call on Juninho, Sarvas sent a diagonal ball up the right flank to Stefan Ishizaki and the Swedish international’s cross deflected off Tierney and went across the box where it fell to a waiting Zardes, who collected the ball and showed tremendous poise by waiting for Farrell to slide past him then calmly slotted the ball back to the right corner of the goal to make it 1-0.
Zardes scored 16 goals during his breakout regular season but only tallied once in the final 11 games—including the playoffs. “I didn’t feel like I wasn’t playing well, the goals just weren’t coming,” he said. “I knew I had to keep battling and be ready when I got my chance.”
The Galaxy had the league’s best defense in the regular season and had pitched three shutouts in the playoffs and with Sarvas and Juninho limiting chances in the final third, it seemed the Galaxy would keep the game on lock-down and cruise to the title.
But a pair of moves by Heaps—switching Davies for rookie Patrick Mullins and bringing Japanese international Daigo Kobayashi in for Caldwell—paid off in the 79th minute when Mullins made a nice pass from the left flank to spring an overlapping Tierney. The winger's shot beat Jaime Penedo to draw the teams level.
Six minutes later New England striker Teal Bunbury hit the woodwork in the 85th minute. “I wish it would have gone in,” said a dejected Bunbury. “It was that close.”
Sore groins forced Heaps to remove Nguyen just before the end of regulation, leaving him no subs to counter Arena, who made a pair of moves at the start of overtime. Arena brought in Alan Gordon for Ishiaki and replaced Rogers with Dan Gargan, moving Donovan to right midfield and switching A.J. DeLaGarza from right back to left.
These adjustments gave the Galaxy extra energy on the flanks and appeared to stretch the Revolution defense. And in the 111th minute, with both sides tiring, Sarvas collected a ball near midfield and spotted Keane, who began a run in the channel between the central defense and Farrell. Sarvas lofted a perfect pass to Keane, who was kept onside when Tierney was slow to push up on the far flank.
Sarvas has apparently become an NFL fan since moving to the United States: “I saw him make his run,” Sarvas said of Keane, "and I was a little like a quarterback in American football. He throws a 34-yard pass and it’s in the air a long time."
“It was just a fantastic pass from Marcelo,” said Keane.
The connection left Keane with a one-on-one against Bobby Shuttleworth and Keane easily found the back of the net from about 15 yards.
"We knew they were going to be powerful going forward," Heaps said. "I thought our back line was really good except for maybe the last play on Keane. I thought Robbie Keane's finish was pretty class."
Tierney had a man-of-the-match level performance that was undone by one play that is every defender’s nightmare.
“It was a ball over the top, and I think I might have kept him onside. It was just a breakdown in communication,” said Tierney. “It's just disappointing not to be able to take that next step and win one, but this team is on an upward trajectory. I'm excited to be a part of this team going forward.”
New England could not manufacture a late response, leaving the Galaxy to celebrate another MLS Cup and and to ponder its place in league history.
“The league does everything in its power to ensure parity, so when you have a team win three times in four years, it's special,” said Donovan. “We're a team that has the same rules as everyone else does. When you put it in that context, it's a lot more special to win three out of four."
As he is wont to do, Arena was blunt when asked if this run warranted the "dynasty" label.
“I think you can say that," he said with a bit of sly grin, "especially in a league like ours that probably doesn’t want that to be the case and would be happy just moving the trophy from one franchise to the next each year.
It's "a bit of a dynasty at this point.”
Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. You can follow him on Twitter.
