The San Jose Earthquakes finished last in MLS in 2000 and had not made the playoffs since 1996, but they proved anything is possible in MLS when they beat Los Angeles in the final.
As the season had begun for the Los Angeles Galaxy and the San Jose Earthquakes, so did it end at MLS Cup 2001.
The scorer of the winning goal – Dwayne DeRosario – had stamped the Galaxy with a loss on opening day of the season by hitting the third goal in a 3-2 Quakes’ victory.
When a right-footed shot by DeRosario streaked into the Los Angeles net to end the championship game, MLS had a new champion. The Quakes had arisen with new players, new coaches, new management and a new persona.
“We had a good feeling that we were going to win,” said DeRosario after the 2-1 win. “It was a matter of who was going to put it in the back of the net.”
It’s fitting that DeRosario was the hero in the Quakes’ last-to-first season. He was the first player added by Coach Frank Yallop to transform what had been MLS’s worst team (7-17-8 in 2000) into its champion.
BITTER TASTE. For the Galaxy, the taste of defeat is as bitter as it is familiar. It had lost for the third time in three trips to the final – and on the second occasion had fallen to a golden goal.
“It’s been a theme for us all the time that we want to be the team that wins big games, and, obviously, today we didn’t win a big game.” said Sigi Schmid, who lost as an MLS rookie head coach in the 1999 final. “I think the character of the guys has improved. We’ve won a lot of big games this year, and this was the first one that we lost.”
The Galaxy had knocked out the Metros in the quarterfinals in a tiebreaker and dispatched Chicago in Soldier Field in overtime. Both golden goals were scored by midfielder Mauricio Cienfuegos, who had struggled for much of the regular season in the more direct system preferred by Schmid.
San Jose had also won its semifinal series on the road in overtime. Defender Troy Dayak headed home the winner to break up a goalless deadlock with Miami and end a series in which the ironclad Quakes defense conceded just one goal to the high-powered Fusion in 274 minutes of play.
CALIFORNIA OPPONENTS. Two of the 10 season-ending matches that were canceled because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks would have paired Northern California and Southern California with the divisional crown at stake.
Instead, Los Angeles won the division by two points and thus earned the No. 3 seed. San Jose lost a tiebreaker with Columbus and as the No. 5 team was sent into the opposite bracket.
“Frank Yallop and myself were watching a college game at Santa Clara in September, around the 4th or 5th, and we said to each other we’d see each other in Columbus in the final,” said Schmid after the Galaxy doused the Fire. “It’s the battle of the West. We’ve said all along West Coast soccer is pretty good.”
The Quakes won the regular-season meetings, 3-2 and 3-1. Los Angeles had scraped past San Jose in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals on penalties after a 1-1 tie, and even that triumph was tainted by a controversial refereeing decision that allowed a saved Galaxy spot kick to be re-taken.
“I don’t count that and I don’t think they really counted it either,” said midfielder Manny Lagos, who suffered a pulled hamstring in the third game against Miami and had to sit out the final.
CORRALES FOR LAGOS. Lagos’ swooping runs had powered much of the Quakes’ attack. With him sidelined, Yallop deployed Ramiro Corrales on the left side of midfield and told the other midfielders – Ronnie Ekelund and Richard Mulrooney in the center, Ian Russell on the right – to look for attacking opportunities.
Yallop also knew he could count on Landon Donovan, who had blossomed in a system predicated on constant ball movement and consistent pressure. Prior to MLS Cup 2001, Donovan had scored four goals in five playoff games – every one of them a razor-sharp finish.
“He’s the guy we count on to do something special,” Yallop had said before the final. “We have a lot of good players, and they all work hard, but Landon can play in any league, anywhere in the world. He’s that good.”
Los Angeles took the lead in the 21st minute when defender Greg Vanney hoisted a long ball over the Quakes’ back line for Luis Hernandez to trap on the run and drill past keeper Joe Cannon.
RARE COMEBACK. Not once in 10 regular-season and playoff games had the Quakes come back from a 1-0 deficit to win. In those situations, they had lost eight and tied two. Only once in 16 games had the Galaxy lost after scoring first.
Los Angeles threatened several more times through Hernandez and Cobi Jones but couldn’t get the second goal. Both teams, playing their fourth game in 11 days, were tiring a bit near the end of the first half when Donovan struck.
Russell opened space on the right flank and pushed a short ball for Mulrooney, who drove a low cross into the goalmouth. Cerritos let it skip through for Donovan, a yard or so beyond the penalty spot, to slam into the top corner first-time.
“It just took a glorious bounce and it was one of those things: You hit it and you just know,” said Donovan. “I hit it well, and it was over.”
Over the bar is where a lot of players would have put that shot.
Instead, the Quakes had the equalizer and momentum – which they rode in the second half. Most of the play came from San Jose, but Cerritos was sputtering. He wasn’t beating defenders on the dribble, and teammates weren’t finding him with crosses.
FORWARD ROTATION. Once Donovan had established himself up front during the regular season, Yallop rotated his forwards. Ronald Cerritos is San Jose’s all-time leading scorer but didn’t always start. Yallop traded No. 1 draft pick Chris Carrieri to Colorado for Junior Agogo in midseason to add pace and height.
Yallop measured out playing time according to availability, form and opponent but sometimes went with his own hunch. Agogo had two assists in the playoff opener against the Crew, Cerritos had started the last two games against Miami.
“I can’t always explain it,” Yallop said. “Ronald is our leading scorer, and he doesn’t start every game. The matchups were better against Columbus, I felt, for Junior and Landon. The other series I felt better about Ronald.
“Dwayne hasn’t really had a sniff the past eight games. But he was training like a Trojan. He wants to be ready to play. He tells me that every day in training.”
DeRosario came on for Cerritos with five minutes left.
“Before I went into the game, Frank said to me, ‘Go out there and win it for us. Do what you do best,'” said DeRosario, who had been allocated from Richmond of the A-League hours after Yallop came on board.
ISOLATING CALIFF. Six minutes into overtime, Ekelund hit a diagonal ball that isolated DeRosario against Danny Califf on the left side of the box.
As Califf backed up, expecting help from inside, DeRosario cut inside to shoot. The ball took a slight deflection off Califf’s foot. Kevin Hartman’s full-stretch lunge nicked the ball but couldn’t push it wide of the post.
“That moment [the goal] was a blank,” said DeRosario. “I just saw the one-on-one opportunity. I didn’t know who was behind me. I didn’t know who was around me.”
In just a few moments, every one of his teammates, plus Yallop and assistant coach Dominic Kinnear, were around and on top of him.
“A great ball by Ekelund over the top,” said Yallop about the winning goal. “We talked about using the space behind Ezra [Hendrickson]. Whatever you say to them, they seem to pick it up. I said to try to pull away from Califf. If you get a chance, take him on. They did.”
FOUR FOR AGOOS. Jeff Agoos collected his record fourth MLS Cup after winning three times with D.C. United.
Like DeRosario, Agoos was picked up by Yallop on the eve of the 2001 MLS SuperDraft. Yallop made him captain and told him to be the leader.
Agoos, who been bothered by a painful case of turf toe that had limited his training time leading up to the final, needed a cortisone shot in his left foot at halftime.
He played a key role in the second half, barreling in to clear the ball when Los Angeles overloaded the flanks in an attempt to overpower outside backs Wade Barrett and Jim Conrad.
This was the most inexperienced team to win an MLS championship. Only four starters – Agoos, Donovan, Corrales and Cerritos – had full internationals in the last decade.
“We didn’t have a lot of big-name players,” Agoos said. “Maybe they will be big-name players now. But we had an incredible work ethic and knew that without it none of this would have been possible.”
In 2001, the Quakes proved that in MLS, anything is possible.
by Soccer America Senior Editor Ridge Mahoney