MLS Cup Preview

MLS CUP - New England vs. Houston, 9:00 am, ABC
By Ian Parker
Special to PA SportsTicker

WASHINGTON (Ticker) - Steve Nicol is starting to get impatient. The New England Revolution coach has led his team to three of the last five MLS Cup finals before this season - and won none of them. When the Revolution battle the defending champion Houston Dynamo in Sunday's final, Nicol is looking for the wait to end quickly. "We need to start well," Nicol said. "That gets you through the rest of the game. We want to get out of the box quickly. "I think in any game you play it's important that the first thing you do, you do well because that sets up for the rest of the game. If you start badly, it's tough to get going."

New England's tale of woe in the title game might weigh on the shoulders of the coach and his players, but Nicol is not concerned. "We always look forward here," he said. "Whether previously it's been a good or a bad experience, it's immaterial." The Revolution certainly don't appear to be a team feeling any pressure, and their training sessions have been full of fun and vigor this week. "It's our fourth final in six years, this is what you play for," striker Taylor Twellman said. "If you take it too seriously, there's no reason to be here. We've got nothing to lose and we're going to go out there and have fun."

The Revolution are hoping to have the bulk of what is expected to be a crowd of over 40,000 on their side. Their owners, the Kraft family, offered to bus fans in from Massachusetts and thousands signed up to make the trip. While last year's final was played close to Houston's turf in Dallas, Twellman expects a pro-Revolution atmosphere on Sunday. "If we had to make that flight to Dallas again we might all have thrown up on the flight so we're excited it's a different venue," he said. "Hopefully it's going to be like a home game for us."

On the field, much of the focus is going to on the battle between each club's star midfielder, New England's Shalrie Joseph and Canadian international Dwayne De Rosario of Houston. Defense may be the primary strength of this Houston team, but De Rosario is the man who can defense into offense and direct Houston at the other end of the midfield. It's an assignment custom-made for Joseph. "I'm looking forward to it," Joseph said. "'DeRo' is a great guy, we know what he's about. He's going to make us run and he's going to make us play so me and Jeff (Larentowicz) are going to have to keep handing him off to each other and limiting his space on the ball."

While Joseph is at his best breaking down opposing teams, he's got plenty about him offensively as well, and Nicol is keen to see Joseph impose himself going forward. "If we control the ball, there's a good chance that Shalrie is going to be on the ball," Nicol said. "If we don't, there's a good chance that De Rosario is going to be on the ball."

The Revolution lost last year's final on penalty kicks following a game that was 0-0 after 90 minutes and 1-1 after overtime. All three finals New England has been in have gone to overtime. Nicol does not have any appetite for more of the same. "We're winning the game in 90 minutes, that's what we're setting out to do," he said. If all those losses have done anything for New England, they have made it hungry, and reminded it - again and again - of the bitter taste of failure. "It's not fun losing finals, but we don't dwell on it," Nicol said. "We move on. We're in another final and we just go out and try and win it."