MLS Cup 2007

MLS Cup 2007
Date 18 November 2007
Venue Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington, D.C., USA
Man of the Match Dwayne De Rosario (Houston Dynamo)
Referee Alex Prus
Attendance 39,859
Weather Sunny 55 °F (13 °C)

MLS Cup 2007 was the final match of the 2007 MLS season, the 12th in the history of Major League Soccer. The game was a rematch between the previous year's two MLS Cup finalists, New England Revolution and Houston Dynamo.

The match took place on Sunday, 18 November 2007 at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C.. Houston won the game by a score of 2-1, handing New England its third consecutive MLS Cup defeat and fourth overall. Plácido Domingo performed the national anthem and Jimmy Eat World performed "Big Casino" at halftime.[1]

Venue

RFK Memorial Stadium hosted MLS Cup 2007.

Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium was announced as the venue for MLS Cup 2007 on 14 December 2006.[2]

Home to D.C. United and Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals at the time, RFK Stadium previously hosted MLS Cup in 1997 and 2002. The facility also hosted matches during the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup and was the site of the 1996 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final and the 2002 MLS All-Star Game.

MLS Cup Playoffs

Main article: 2007 MLS Cup Playoffs

Bracket

  Conference Semifinals Conference Finals MLS Cup 2007
                             
E1  D.C. United 0 2  
E4  Chicago Fire 1 2  
  E4  Chicago Fire 0  
Eastern Conference
  E2  New England Revolution 1  
E2  New England Revolution 0 1
E3  New York Red Bulls 0 0  
  E  New England Revolution 1
  W  Houston Dynamo 2
W1  Chivas USA 0 0  
W4  Kansas City Wizards1 1 0  
  W4  Kansas City Wizards 0
Western Conference
  W2  Houston Dynamo 2  
W2  Houston Dynamo (AET) 0 4
W3  FC Dallas 1 1  

MLS adopted a new format for qualification into the playoffs. In 2007, the top two teams from each of the league's two conferences, followed by the next four teams with the highest number of points at the end of the regular season, qualified for the postseason, leading to the possibility of an uneven number of playoff teams from each conference.[3] This year, five teams qualified from the Eastern Conference, and only three teams from the Western Conference qualified, so the Kansas City Wizards, who have been assigned to the Western Conference playoffs, could have played a fellow Eastern Conference team in the final.

New England Revolution

For the fourth time in team history, third-straight, the New England Revolution became the Eastern Conference Champion. New England defeated the New York Red Bulls in the semifinals, advancing to the conference finals where they defeated the Chicago Fire.

Houston Dynamo

The Houston Dynamo, for the second consecutive year in the club's two-year history, won the Western Conference Championship. Their win came through their victories over in-state rival FC Dallas in the conference semifinals and the Kansas City Wizards in the conference championship game. The Dynamo advanced to a rematch against the Revolution, and the MLS Cup, for the second straight year.

Match details

New England Revolution
Houston Dynamo
GK 1 United States Matt Reis
DF 4 Trinidad and Tobago Avery John
DF 6 United States Jay Heaps
DF 15United States Michael Parkhurst
MF 13United States Jeff Larentowicz
MF 14United States Steve Ralston (c)  78'
MF 18Bermuda Khano Smith  65'
MF 21Grenada Shalrie Joseph
MF 27United States Wells Thompson
FW 11United States Pat Noonan
FW 20United States Taylor Twellman  20'
Substitutes:
GK 12United States Doug Warren
DF 16United States James Riley
MF 22United States Marshall Leonard
MF 25Wales Andy Dorman  78'
MF 29The Gambia Kenny Mansally
MF 31The Gambia Sainey Nyassi
FW 7 United States Adam Cristman
Manager:
Scotland Steve Nicol


Man of the Match:
Canada Dwayne De Rosario (Houston Dynamo)[4]

Assistant referees:
United States Adam Wienckowski
United States Rob Fereday
Fourth official:
United States Brian Hall

GK 18Canada Pat Onstad
DF 2 United States Eddie Robinson
DF 5 United States Ryan Cochrane
DF 16United States Craig Waibel
DF 24United States Wade Barrett (c)  57'
MF 9 United States Brian Mullan
MF 11United States Brad Davis
MF 14Canada Dwayne De Rosario  74'
MF 30United States Richard Mulrooney
FW 21United States Nate Jaqua
FW 33Zimbabwe Joseph Ngwenya  61'  80'
Substitutes:
GK 1 United States Zach Wells
DF 4 United States Patrick Ianni
MF 7 United States Chris Wondolowski
MF 17United States Mike Chabala
MF 22United States Stuart Holden  80'
MF 26United States Corey Ashe
FW 8 Scotland Paul Dalglish
Manager:
United States Dominic Kinnear

Notes

References

  1. "MLS Cup 2007 to feature musical guests Jimmy Eat World and Placido Domingo", Major League Soccer press release, 2007-11-01.
  2. Goff, Steven (December 13, 2006). "MLS Cup Coming to RFK in '07". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved February 8, 2007.
  3. "League address covers upcoming changes". MLSnet.com. Retrieved February 8, 2007.
  4. "Dynamo stun Revolution, repeat as champions". mlsnet.com. 2007-11-18. Archived from the original on 2007-12-24. Retrieved 2007-11-19.
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