Major League Soccer Final 2004: DC United 3:2 Kansas City Wizards

Sean O'Conor

Another Year of American Soccer

DC United, the winner of three of the first four MLS titles, recaptured 'their' crown after an entertaining conclusion to the professional US season.

On the field this season, there has been little outstanding in terms of play although the league ticked nicely along for another year, which for football in America is in itself a kind of triumph. The final at LA's Home Depot Center (God aren't corporate stadium names appalling?) had an official crowd of 25,797 in a ground with a 27,000 capacity. That said, it is a nice compact venue and above all built by and exclusively for association football and was a great setting for the season's finale.

Inside the stadium there were noticeable sections of both fans, Kansas City having brought more than they brought to their last MLS final in 2000 and an impressive mass of DC fans and banners behind one of the goals. The Californian sun beat down plunging half the field into shade and allowing a mid-November game to be watched in shorts and t-shirts.

Kansas City had played an excellent regular season but on final day ended up second best to a DC team that had struggled at the start of the season and finished with nine points less than KC.

The game at first appeared to be going Kansas City's way as they scored an early goal and then started shutting up shop as they had done successfully all season. In only the 6th minute, Jorge Burciaga unleashed a 35-yard rocket into the corner of DC's net after defenders had backed off him and allowed him the space to shoot.

However it all went pear-shaped 13 minutes later when a six-minute goal blitz saw DC take a 3-1 lead with a brace from Alecko Eskandarian and an own goal by Wizards defender Alex Zotinca following a dangerous cross by veteran Earnie Stewart. Former US goalie Tony Meola was palpably in agony on the bench as the hat-trick of goals whistled past Bo Oshiniyi, preferred in goal by KC coach Bob Gansler, who had coached Meola and the US National Team in Italia '90.

KC were now forced to boss the game which is not their forte, their remarkable 3-0 elimination of San Jose in the play-offs aside. They reduced the deficit in the 58th minute after US international Josh Wolff converted a penalty following a handball by DC's Ukranian Dema Kovalenko, who was correctly sent off, but failed to level the score.

DC looked largely in control with ex-Middlesboro man Jaime Moreno and former Nottingham Forest star Ben Olsen firmly anchoring the defensive third alongside Brian Carroll and New Zealand defender Ryan Nelsen. So much so that Kansas City's attacker Davy Arnaud, who had been one of MLS' most impressive performers all season, was played out of the game almost entirely.

United's possession game frustrated the Wizards throughout the second half and the inclusion of the clean pair of heels of 15-year-old phenomenon Freddy Adu pleased the crowd and tormented Kansas City further.

As the shadows lengthened under the beating sun, the seconds ticked away along with KC's chances. The Wizards, missing veteran Preki and US international midfielder Chris Klein through injury, brought on three attackers but to no avail. When one of them, Matt Taylor, fired a limp shot at DC goalkeeper Nick Rimando in injury time when he might have scored, you knew it was not going to be the Wizards' day.

All things considered, the better team on the day won, although the Wizards could rightly gripe that Alecko Eskandarian, whose father had played for the New York Cosmos in the NASL, controlled the ball with his hand before scoring his and DC's second.

The victory was DC United's fourth in the nine years of MLS, the first for a coach (Pole Peter Nowak) who had also won it as a player and in the star of the season Freddy Adu, boasted the youngest winner.

So MLS concludes for another year and looks forward to two new teams and one new stadium in 2005. The addition of Salt Lake City seems to come from the league's desire to grab substantial markets that are not already swamped by Major League sports teams (Columbus & San Jose already).

They are a welcome addition although the name "Real Salt Lake" smacks depressingly of marketing men's testosterone instead of genuine football tradition. The addition of a second team in Los Angeles - Chivas, this time with a distinctly Mexican identity is altogether a different move.

Big cities such as Houston and Seattle were more obvious candidates for league expansions, but in the end Jose Vergara's charm, pushiness and his Mexican millions were too much for a financially struggling league to resist.

On the player front there seem to be a good crop of young Americans emerging, some of whom may force their way into the 2006 World Cup squad. Three who particularly caught my eye were Kansas City's afore-mentioned Davy Arnaud, Columbus Crew's excellent midfielder Kyle Martino, who is bizarrely excluded from the US national squad after impressive performances at the 2003 Confederations Cup and the 2004 MLS season, and Los Angeles' speedy winger Ned Grabavoy, a gifted but inconsistent player in the David Ginola mould who is unlikely to make the US national team but is great entertainment for the fans.

The US needs more young stars like Freddy Adu, who made a solid start to his football career aged only 14 (!), especially as the most impressive American player of the past few years Landon Donovan, has just announced he is returning to the Bundesliga and Bayer Leverkusen in January 2005.

Regarding attendances, the average MLS crowd rose from 2003's 14,898 to 15,559 in 2004, although this is still less than two seasons ago and below the league record of 17,406 in its opening year.

If the average crowd is stabilising around the 15,500 mark then smaller, football specific venues will help and on the stadium front, all seems bright as Dallas Burn move into MLS' 3rd new soccer stadium next season as FC Dallas, whilst work on Chicago's new ground begins in earnest. Colorado, DC and the Metrostars should be in new homes two years from now, too.

D.C. United -- Nick Rimando, Bryan Namoff, Ryan Nelsen, Mike Petke, Earnie Stewart (Brandon Prideaux 82), Brian Carroll, Christian Gomez (Joshua Gros 59), Ben Olsen, Dema Kovalenko, Jaime Moreno, Alecko Eskandarian (Freddy Adu 65).

Kansas City Wizards -- Bo Oshoniyi, Alex Zotinca (Diego Walsh 82), Jimmy Conrad, Nick Garcia, Jose Burciaga Jr., Khari Stephenson (Igor Simutenkov 46), Diego Gutierrez, Kerry Zavagnin, Jack Jewsbury (Matt Taylor 66), Josh Wolff, Davy Arnaud.

Sean O'Conor

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