MLS Cup 2007 will be a repeat of last year’s final, but USSoccerPlayers’ Ian Plenderleith sincerely hopes it won’t be a repeat of last year’s “deadly” final—”deadly” because Steve Nicol’s New England Revolution “killed” it just like his team did the year before, the columnist says.
However, are there two teams more deserving of being in the MLS final? No. In fact, “there are few teams who typify a successful MLS club as much as the Revs and the Dynamo,” so we all need to “get over” the fact that it will be Houston and New England, a pair of teams that have built their success on tactical coaching, solid defending and two of the league’s best goalkeepers.
Which isn’t to say that neither team can or even will attack. The Revs are perhaps a little over-reliant on Taylor Twellman to score their goals, while the Houston Dynamo have a bit more variation in the goal-scoring department. Both teams have “outstanding” midfielders says Plenderleith, like Shalrie Joseph for the Revs and Dwayne De Rosario for Houston, and both teams can look to a solid bench to help get the job done if need be. What we have here is a pair of teams who could “easily cancel each other out” like last year, he says, or it could be “a fierce and eventful match.” Either way, it most likely won’t be “beautiful.”