the weather outside was frightful
Reen and I arrived at Gillette last night around 6:30pm, with snow on the ground and continuing to fall. It was quite dark and wet and uncomfortable as we lit the grill and tried to enjoy ourselves. The field inside had snow on most of it. The players looked sluggish and the quality of the game was poor, as passes skipped about or stopped dead in the snow.



The ref was doing the home team no favors. Blatant hand ball in the box by the Metro is flagged by the assistant ref on the sideline but is not called by the center ref. WTF!? All 238 fans on hand are going nuts. Eddie Gaven gets the ball and gets around his man along the sidelines. Anyone who's seen him play can just feel the dive coming. Get past his man, then suddenly slow up and crumple to the ground when he feels the slightest contact. It's like his bread and butter meal. And so it happens and still the ref calls the foul. This was when I jumped out of my seat and yelled "That was BULLSHIT!!" at the top of my lungs. Reen reminds me that there are kids sitting around us. "Well they should know that was a bullshit call."

0-0 at halftime. Steady rain. $7 hot chocolate in a Patriots mug.

Early in the second half Parkhurst makes a bad play at midfield and Djorkaeff is off to the races. Parkhurst does well to recover and pressure him from behind but a player of Youri’s caliber will not miss in a situation like this. 1-0 Metro and 2-0 aggregate for the series. Revs need 2 goals now to force a playoff period. About 30 minutes left to play in the game.

Nicol starts with the subs and in comes Cancela and James Riley. The subs have had an impact on the game and the Revs are attacking in waves now. Cancela works himself free of a scrum in front of the net and puts one in. 2-1 aggregate now. More attacking from the revs. Meola comes off his line to grab a corner kick and misjudges it badly, not touching it at all. Noonan rises above Bradley at the back post and buries the ball. Series tied, 20 minutes left to play. The field is tilting down sharply towards the Metro goal now and they are hanging on for dear life. But the dam will not hold. Khano Smith is charging down the left flank. And he’s rounded the corner on his man and is 1v1 with Tony Meola. The former middle school teacher from Bermuda and member of the Dandy Town Hornets is faced with the 3x World Cup vetran (Captain of the team in ’94). But times have changed. It’s 2005 and the Rev’s will not lose this series and Khano beats the goalie cleanly with a left footed blast into the far side netting.

It’s pandemonium. The stands are shaking. The referee falls to the ground and gives birth to two gleaming Clydesdales, which charge forth and bear Khano away across the sky in a golden chariot.

Well maybe that’s not quite how the game ended, but it was something like that. The DC/Chicago games is today at 4:30 and the winner will play the Revs at Gillette next Sunday. See you there.


Khano sees the chariot and comes running