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| Monday, October 22, 2001 01:29 EST |
MLS Cup 2001 Notebook
[ESPN.com news services]
Sudden impact
DeRosario | First-year MLS player and Canadian international Dwayne DeRosario had one thing in mind when he was sent on the field in the 85th minute to replace Earthquakes forward Ronald Cerritos, and that was to score. And that's what he did in the 96th minute with a curling shot past L.A. keeper Kevin Hartman.
"Before I went into the game, Frank (Yallop) said to me to go out there and win it. I had the one-on-one situation and I decided to take it," DeRosario said after the match.
Coach Yallop had this to say about his super sub, "I feel Dwayne is an impact player and needs to get on the field. It was fitting for him to get the winning goal. Every minute he plays, whether it is a whole game or 10 minutes, he's making an impact on the game."
Mission completed for Quakes' Dayak
It wasn't long ago that San Jose's Troy Dayak was told he was never going to play soccer again.
Dayak | Dayak was a member of the original San Jose Clash in 1996 and played three seasons in the defense for the Clash. But, in 1998, he went down with a "career-ending" injury. He suffered a herniated disk in his spine and had a piece of bone in his hip surgically fused into his neck. Doctors told him he would never play again and that many people have become quadriplegics after suffering the same injury.
After spending two months in a neck brace "looking up at the ceiling," Dayak began the long road to recovery. He worked his way back to the A-League level, spending the past two seasons with the San Francisco Bay Seals, serving as player/assistant coach during the 2000 season. When new Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop came on board, he immediately made the call to Dayak.
Dayak proved naysayers wrong when he started the Earthquakes opener, a 3-2 victory at Los Angeles where he scored the first goal (a header) and made a diving block (of a Mauricio Cienfuegos shot) with his face, putting his body on the line. He started every game for San Jose during the 2001 season. His incredible comeback led to a start for the West squad at the 2001 MLS All-Star Game and he was awarded the league's 2001 ACE Comeback Player of the Year award.
Dayak's amazing season got even sweeter when he scored the golden-goal winner against Miami in the semfinals to send the Earthquakes to their first MLS Cup final.
Then on Sunday in Columbus, all of his hard work came to fruition as the Quakes beat the Galaxy 2-1 in MLS Cup 2001. Dayak played the entire match, holding the dangerous L.A. attack in check.
After the final, the jubilant Dayak commented on his storybook season by saying "...it was a Cinderella story."
"Emotionally, right now, it's the best thing in the world that could happen to me. The season has been fantastic."
Caligiuri classy to the end
Los Angeles Galaxy defender Paul Caligiuri didn't have much to cheer about in his final MLS match on Sunday, but his "shot heard 'round the world," will be long remembered by soccer fans in the U.S.
It can be argued that no single moment in any athletic contest has so changed its sport's fate in this country, as did Caligiuri's 30-yard violently dipping left-footed volley against Trinidad & Tobago on November 19, 1989. For the first time since shocking England in 1950, the USA had earned a berth in the globe's most prominent sporting event. That one goal resulted in a domino effect that would change soccer forever.
Now, after 110 national team appearances and a professional career that saw him play seven years in Germany and six MLS seasons, the two-time World Cup veteran and 1988 Olympic Team starter will be retiring after next Saturday's U.S. Open Cup to become the men's and women's college soccer coach at Coly-Poly Pomona.
Even in defeat on Sunday, Caligiuri looked on the bright side.
"As much as I would have liked to go out with a championship, especially with this being the third trip to the final for the Galaxy, there was a great story on the other end with the Earthquakes going from last place to first place," he said after the final.
Caligiuri asserted, "There are a lot of positive things to look at than only myself. The bigger picture is the development of the game of soccer and the direction of soccer. I feel that we're all privileged today to see a great game and final for MLS Cup 2001."
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