Tomorrow night, in the MLS Cup 2009, in Seattle, Real Salt Lake can put the finishing touches on a marvelous late-season run to the Major League Soccer championship.
Our team just needs to get by the Los Angeles Galaxy and its star player, Britain's David Beckham.
It's not an easy task, but it's certainly possible. We urge Top of Utahns to watch the final match tonight at 6:30 on ESPN.
You see, it's been an amazing run for Real Salt Lake, which just a few weeks ago was considered more or less out of the playoff hunt. But then, like the 1951 New York Giants, Real just started winning ... and hasn't stopped.
Once it made the playoffs, the team faced last year's champs, the Columbus Crew. In a two-match home and away series, underdog Real triumphed 4-2 in goals aggregate.
What was remarkable about the game was that early in the second match in Columbus, Real trailed 2-0 and 2-1 in the aggregate. Despite that deficit, the team scored three straight goals in front of a stunned Columbus crowd.
In the Eastern Conference single-match championship in Chicago against the heavily favored Chicago Fire, Real played great defense in holding Chicago to a scoreless tie for 120 minutes. In the penalty kick shootout, Real crushed a sold-out Chicago crowd by taking it 5-4. Early in the shootout, Real trailed the Fire 3-1, but tremendous saves by goalie Nick Rimando sealed the match. During the shootout, Real's five goals were scored by Clint Mathis, Robbie Findley, Kyle Beckerman, Will Johnson and Ned Grabavoy.
We're looking forward to a great match Sunday night, and won't it be interesting if Real's star goalie Rimando faces off on a penalty kick against the Galaxy's other star player, Landon Donovan, one of the greatest penalty kickers in the sport? Rimando has stopped a penalty kick by Donovan in the past.
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