In what can only be described as a result typical of our season, we fell last night to the media favorites for the MLS Cup in a hard-fought battle of wits — but, as you’d expect this season, the match was marred by controversy.
It’s far too easy, you see, to complain about the refereeing last night. We were dealt an awful hand early on, when, in the 22nd minute, Omar Gonzalez went down as easily as Dwayne De Rosario but with even less contact — perhaps, I suppose, Andy Williams shouldn’t have been close to the player (I disagree with that assessment), but if you give a penalty for that, you’re nuts. And to see Galaxy players urging Jorge Gonzalez to send our player off for that — it’s depressing to see a professional try to get a player sent off like that. Absolutely insane.
But we can’t have too many complaints that, only minutes later, Alvaro Saborio equalized on a set piece, with Jamison Olave’s knock on providing the source of space he was allowed. And we can’t really have too much complaint about the second and third goals, but the third was to be expected after we changed approach and went with three at the back.
Even in defeat, our side stood up. Even when things were at their worst, even when we went down two goals, even when we couldn’t maintain quality possession for the life of us: We kept working at it. Lesser sides crumble under such pressure, but we kept pushing. We’ve seen our side crumble under the slightest touch this season, but to see that we’ve recovered from that, to see that we’re a side that was in all actuality challenging for the MLS is immense. We may have fallen near the finish line, but we were still in the race.
But the season’s over, and while I could talk about why we lost, it’s not really important right now. We’re out, and that’s that. No amount of tactical adjustment, no what-ifs, no amount of griping at the referee — none of it can save our sorry heads. We’ve taken some hard, hard knocks in 2011: Losing the CONCACAF Champions League final. Dropping out of the U.S. Open Cup race in a humid, soaking Dallas. Losing Javier Morales for the better part of the season.
It’s a season where we lost many players to injury for match after match after match: Paulo Jr., Ned Grabavoy, Will Johnson, Andy Williams, Robbie Russell, Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave, Tony Beltran, Chris Wingert, Fabian Espindola, Alvaro Saborio, Cody Arnoux, Chris Agorsor — the list goes on and on. It’s no excuse, but it was a tough season, and perhaps — just perhaps — it’s surprising we made it where we did.
We suffered through questionable decisions, personal tragedies, attacks on our character, losses, draws, and hard-fought wins, but we still stood a chance in the end. It’s tough to take, but it’s over now, and next season can’t come soon enough.
In the coming days, I’ll start reviewing our season and talk about some things that have been brewing for a time. It’s been a wild ride, and while this segment’s done, there’s more to come.
Come on you Claret and Cobalt!
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