AMERICA AT LARGE/George Kimball: If you haven't being paying close attention, you probably missed this, but following the most astonishing worst-to-first run in New England sporting annals, the New England Revolution are one game away from Major League Soccer's championship.
Last in the standings seven weeks ago, the Revs awakened from their seven-year dormancy at the right time, and will play the Los Angeles Galaxy in the MLS Cup final on Sunday. That the venue for the game will be Foxboro's Gillette Stadium only adds to the delicious irony.
On Bastille Day of 1988, the Boston Red Sox fired manager John McNamara and replaced him with Joe Morgan, who had never managed in the big leagues. In what has come to be known as "Morgan's Magic", the Sox won 12 straight (and 19 of their first 20) under the stewardship of their new skipper, vaulting from fourth place in the American League East to win the divisional title before falling to the Oakland Athletics in post-season play.
When long-time Liverpool stalwart Steve Nicol replaced head coach Fernando Clavijo on May 24th, the results were not so immediately forthcoming, and as late as mid-August supporters were calling for the head of the "interim coach" - a designation the former Scottish international continues to wear, but which will no doubt be shortly amended as yesterday he was named as MLS coach of the year. (Owner Jonathan Kraft has promised to revisit Nicol's contract after the final, but it would be astonishing if he were not offered a long-term pact at a lucrative raise.)
Playing in a system in which it is nearly impossible not to qualify for post-season play, the Revolution had somehow managed to miss making the play-offs in four of their first six seasons, and were quickly dispatched on the two occasions they did qualify. The team appeared destined for a similar fate again this year.
Then, beginning with a late-August win at Chicago, the Revs closed out the regular season with a 5-0-1 mark. Going into the September 21st regular season finale against the MetroStars at Giants Stadium, they could still have been eliminated. Instead, they not only won 3-0, but when the results of two other games fell their way that weekend they emerged as the Eastern Division champions despite having the league's fifth-best overall record.
This in turn qualified them as the second seed in the eight-team play-off - and since the cup final would be played at Gillette, they became a de facto first seed. Presented with home field advantage, they rolled past Chicago and Columbus to set up Sunday's meeting against the Galaxy on their home turf.
Beginning with that August 21st victory, the Revs have gone 8-1-3, the lone loss coming to the Fire at Chicago in the middle game of a best-of-three play-off series.
Not a single player remains from the squad Frank Stapleton managed in MLS's inaugural season in 1996. The last of Stapleton's Revs, midfielder Ted Chronopolous, was dispatched to New York in a six-player trade a day after Nicol replaced Clavijo. The Revs acquired Colombian Deigo Sema, defender Briand Kamler, and sharpshooter Daniel Hernandez in that deal, which appeared destined to blow up in their faces when Sema tore up a knee and was lost for the year just five games into his New England tenure.
The decidedly Gaelic cast presented by those early Revolution teams was also gradually eradicated. Stapleton resigned at the tail-end of his first year. Brian O'Donovan, the Clonakilty-born general manager, abdicated after five fruitless seasons. Achill goalkeeper Aidan Heaney was replaced by Italian international Walter Zenga in the club's second season, and injuries curtailed the MLS career of Dublin forward Paul Keegan.
The club went through an Irishman (Stapleton), a Dutchman (Thomas Rongen), an Italian (Zenga), and a Uruguayan (Clavijo) before stumbling upon Nicol, who was serving Clavijo's assistant. Nicol, who had 466 appearances for Liverpool between 1982 and '95, was no stranger to winning ways - while at Anfield he won three first division championships and three FA Cups.
Nicol, who had come to America to coach the minor-league Boston Bulldogs, was hired by O'Donovan as a caretaker manager for the Revolution's final two games in 1999. He won both games, but concedes now that had he accepted the job then he would not have been ready. "I really needed to acclimatise to American soccer and the mindset of MLS players," concedes the 40-year-old Nicol.
ASKED last week whether he might have hired Nicol as a full-fledged coach had he remained in power, O'Donovan smiled and replied, "I'd better plead the Fifth Amendment on that one."
Nicol played for five Liverpool managers (Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness and Roy Evans), and appears to have incorporated the philosophies of all his mentors into coaxing the maximum from the cultural mishmash he inherited in New England.
In his first season, 22-year-old striker Taylor Twellman has emerged as New England's first legitimate American-born scoring threat since Joe-Max Moore packed off to Everton. Twellman notched 23 goals and six assists this season to win the scoring title, while another home-grown product, Steve Ralston, led the league in assists with 19. Jamaican forward Wolde Harris has paired nicely with Twellman, while another Nicol move - replacing one-time Queens Park Rangers goalkeeper Juergen Sommer with Adin Brown - has also paid dividends.
The Revs had to hang on for dear life to preserve a 2-2 home draw against Columbus last Saturday. Playing without Twellman (knee injury) and defender Jay Heaps (who picked up a red card against Columbus when he flattened Freddy Garcia with a head-butt and was suspended for the game), New England saw a 2-0 lead evaporate over the final 10 minutes, and had to endure a 10-minute overtime to earn a place in the final.
"The players deserved it," said Nicol of his team's amazing run. "Previously we weren't getting the results, but they never stopped. It's a reward for hard work is what it is."
Even Frank Stapleton must be smiling by now.
