The wait continues
December 7, 2024
If someone told us two months ago that Metro would make MLS Cup and have a fighting chance, we would take it, right? This playoff run has been a magical journey, a so un-Metro-like sequence of positivity, when heroes emerged and some of the best memories in Metro history have been made. Alas, they come up just a bit short.
Who knows if we will ever find out the truth about Andres Reyes' illness that got him pulled out of the starting lineup mere minutes before the match... For now, it lingers like a giant what-if that will be seen as the decisive factor of this MLS Cup.
No, Reyes' replacement, Noah Eile, was not poor by any stretch of the means. But Metro's defense looked shell-shocked early in the match, not prepared for the onslaught that was to follow. The Galaxy went straight up the gut, twice, and scored, twice, in the 9th and 13th minutes. It looked to be over there and then.
Except it wasn't. And here we must praise this Metro team that kept fighting towards the bitter end. In the 28th minute, off a corner kick (of course it was a set piece!), Sean Nealis did well to keep the ball in play. Then, when it got back to him, Nealis the Elder volleyed it into the net for Metro's second MLS Cup goal ever.
Alas, that is where the scoring stopped. The Galaxy seemed fine with letting Metro have the ball, which is clearly not how this team operates best. Oh, there were moments, half-chances really, and two stand out, both late in the game. First, Emil Forsberg, with two defenders in front of him, sent an almost-perfect ball from the top of the box that skimmed off the post. Then, a precise Cameron Harper run to near the goal line ended with a one-timer directly at the keeper. And that was that. (Well, other than the inexplicable non-call when Elias Manoel was dragged down close to goal in injury time. How that wasn't even reviewed by VAR is beyond us.)
Now we get to the sad part.
16 years! 16 years we had to wait for this appearance. 16 years which saw three Shields, some wonderful Metro teams, and yet it was this one, a team that couldn't win for two months, that made it. This team got so agonizingly close. They will likely improve in the offseason, perhaps they will have better luck with injuries (and illness), but you just never know. We joke about luck and momentum, but so much of the MLS playoffs is really about randomness. Yes, the best clubs make it far year after year, but even they fall short more often than not. (Hell, look what Metro did to Columbus this year!) Does Metro's Red Bull ownership have what it takes to become such a club?
Will we have to wait 16 years for another chance? Less? More?
All we can do is wait and hope.
Lineup: Coronel, Tolkin, Nealis, Eile, Nealis, Harper, Edelman, Stroud, Forsberg, Morgan, Vanzeir. Subs: Donkor, Manoel, Carmona, Burke.
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