On Thursday, the Galaxy will hold #GalaxyThrowback Night honoring the club’s 21-year history. In honor of the evening, LAGalaxy.com is reposting "Through Their Eyes" an oral history of the 2002 MLS Cup winners which originally ran in 2012.
HISTORY
Appearances in the MLS Cup were nothing new to the LA Galaxy. Considered one of the premier franchises in MLS, the Galaxy had reached three MLS Cup finals in 1996, 1999 and 2001, but had fallen each time. In 2002, the Galaxy led by head coach Sigi Schmid, headed into the match as the Supporters’ Shield winners to face a plucky New England side in their home ground of Gillette Stadium.
Kevin Hartman (goalkeeper): “In 1997, we were fresh off a loss in MLS Cup, so I knew a lot of the guys that dealt with that first MLS Cup loss; I was a part of the 1999 loss and the 2001 loss, so it was a tough time. We didn’t know if we were going to be able to do it. Fortunately, we just kept putting ourselves in that position.”
Joe Tutino (Radio announcer): “Basically you had a team finding its way through the first few months of the season. Trying different formations, goalkeepers, who to start where and losing a major cornerstone in Cobi Jones to the World Cup.”
Linda Pickle (Galaxy fan): “We were the Buffalo Bills of MLS with our three losses. I had been to 2001 in Columbus when we lost to San Jose, even after the stadium was empty and it was just cleaning staff, I remember sitting there thinking that I can’t believe that we lost again.”
THE BUILD UP
The scars of those past losses were fresh for the club and their fans as they prepared to take on a youthful New England side that had clawed their ways back to the final. Although the match was LA’s fourth finals appearance since 1996, there was a sense of fate surrounding the scene.
Alexi Lalas (defender): “We were staying in Providence for logistical reasons, and I remember waking up the morning before MLS Cup knowing that this will probably be my only opportunity to be on the field and win one. I woke up at 4 in the morning, and I was rooming with Peter Vagenas at the time, I didn’t want to wake him up, but there was no way that I was going to sleep. So I was very quiet and used my cell phone as a flashlight to make my way out of the hotel, and I remember walking the streets at 4 am, the day of MLS Cup because I couldn’t sleep. I remember saying, ‘this is either going to be a great story to tell one day or a horrible story about why I lost MLS Cup.'”
Linda Pickle: “I had been to most MLS Cups and myself and some others were debating if we should go or not, but we thought if you don’t go then you’re going to regret it if we win. So I didn’t pay some utility bills so I could have some money to go to the game.”
THE FISH
Throughout the 2002 season, it was the play of Carlos Ruiz that lifted the Galaxy to the brink of their first MLS Cup. In his first season with the club, the Guatemalan known as “El Pescadito” or the Little Fish, tallied 24 goals en route to the league’s golden boot. His penchant for timely goals earned him MLS’ Most Valuable Player award, an honor that his Galaxy teammates believed that he fully deserved.
Alexi Lalas: “It’s no secret that from an attacking standpoint and a pure wins and losses standpoint, we rode Carlos Ruiz due to the spectacular year that he was having. What he did was that he didn’t just score a lot of goals, but he scored in a lot of games, so our defense had this idea that every time we went out we were up 1-0. Carlos was going to get a goal, and that’s an incredible comfort and confidence to have.”
Chris Albright (defender): “Pescadito was unreal. I always try to share my experiences about the Fish with guys about the amount of cheesecake and Pepsi that he had the night before the final.”
THE RAZOR
The 2002 MLS Cup Final would take place in the sparkling new Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. When the Galaxy and their fans arrived, they were greeted by a capacity crowd of more than 61,000 screaming Revolution fans. In true maniacal New England sports fashion, the fans at Gillette immediately let themselves be heard.
Linda Pickle: “It was daunting. The stadium was so huge; you could just see the tiers of people, and they packed it. They put us in a little section all to ourselves, way up high behind the goal, so we were perched high above the field.”
Cobi Jones (Galaxy captain): “For MLS matches, there weren’t many times that the stadium had 61,000 plus people there. It was great to have that many people there, but then the realization sets in that 60,599 are rooting for New England. It was kind of imposing, but we were a strong unit and a strong team, so that gave us motivation. We realized that as usual, everyone is cheering against LA and the Galaxy and it was just one more step that we needed to take to get the monkey off our backs.”
Alexi Lalas: “It was full circle for me. I made a point when I came back to MLS in 1996 of going to New England, and it was where I wanted to go, and I had a blast for the two seasons that I was there, even though we weren’t very successful. I spent many years, traipsing around MLS trying to find some success and the elusive ring that every athlete wants at some point in their career. So to have it come back to playing against the Revolution in their home ground for MLS Cup, it was pretty surreal. It was a good Revolution team at the time, and we had never been in front of that type of crowd in terms of the numbers as a Galaxy team. We certainly knew that we had our work cut out for us, and if we were to win, we were going to disappoint a lot of people in that stadium. Not that we cared too much.”
EXTRATIME
Scoring chances were at a premium for a heated 90 minutes, but heading into extra time, which was still decided by Golden Goal at that time, the message was clear: don't buckle and get the ball to Ruiz.
Cobi Jones: “The big thing was talking to each other, I was captain of that team, and it was my responsibility to keep everyone upbeat and tight. We had created chances, but it was about finishing this game off. We knew that we’d create chances; we were a team that scored goals because we had a great goal scorer in Carlos Ruiz. We knew if we got him another chance, with Carlos Ruiz, if you give him two chances then he’s going to make one of them. We knew that we needed to give him the ball in front of the net.”
Linda Pickle: “The whole time, we were scared. We’d been through this before, and we were just so scared that we weren’t going to win. It was our third time, and we were urging them to score. It was sudden death, and we had lost in sudden death before so it was back and forth. We were just scared.”
THE CROSSBAR
In the 112th minute, it appeared that once again, luck would not be on the Galaxy side. A Steve Ralston corner kick fell perfectly for Jamaican—and ex-Galaxy player—Winston Griffiths. The Jamaican launched his shot just outside the box, but it took a deflection and rattled the crossbar after sailing past Kevin Hartman.
Alexi Lalas: “Time stood still as that ball went up in the air.”
Cobi Jones: “He took the shot from our right back position, his left wing position and literally, deflects and starts looping up and over the head of Hartman. We’re doing windshield wipers, jumping up and down and thinking ‘Oh my gosh, this can’t be it. It can’t fall into the back of the net.’ Thankfully, it hit the crossbar and bounced back.”
THE GOAL
Moments after Griffiths’ nearly gave the win to New England; the Galaxy would break through in the 113th minute. On the counter sparked by Albright, Tyrone Marshall would break down the right side with Ruiz streaking down his left. With Marshall powering down field, he fired a cross into the Guatemalan that Ruiz calmly placed in the back of the net. Final Score: LA Galaxy 1, New England Revolution 0.
Alexi Lalas: “When that fast break came as it often did for us and we countered with speed, Carlos was able to get on the end of it. I could see it all develop from where we were. Whether it was Chris Albright’s outside of the left foot pass or Marshall who hit it up there, you could see it develop. We had seen it so many times during the year that Carlos had scored that one goal. That was his moment to continue what he had done all year…the shot caressed in, and that’s all she wrote.”
Cobi Jones: “It was amazing. All I remember afterward is just everyone sprinting to the corner and making a big dog pile celebration.”
THE REDEMPTION
With the victory, the LA Galaxy had added their first MLS Cup trophy and finally etched their name among the champions of MLS.
Cobi Jones (Galaxy captain): “It was pure relief; we finally did it, we won. No one could take that away from us, and we’d marked ourselves in MLS’ history. Part of what we developed at the Galaxy was a culture of winning, we’d won a bunch of different trophies, but we hadn’t reached the pinnacle yet for us in MLS. That was something that was hanging over us and to finally get that; it was a great relief and sign of what we had accomplished as a team and as a group in that 2002 season. We continued to push despite those let downs in the past.”
Linda Pickle (Galaxy Fan): “We had lost so many times before so when Fishy scored that goal, we just thought ‘Oh my God’ and we were crying and bawling our eyes off. You looked around, and everyone was crying, especially all the Galaxians because we had been through the losses before. There wasn’t a dry eye among any of the Galaxy fans.”
Alexi Lalas (defender): “I just thought, ‘thank God, I’ll never have to worry about this again.’ It's cliché, but it’s true that every professional athlete wants that moment that you grow up watching, holding a trophy and kissing it then having that iconic moment where someone takes a picture that lasts forever. At that point, I had done a lot in soccer, but to win a championship and the first one for the Galaxy meant a tremendous amount.”
Kevin Hartman (goalkeeper): “To be part of the first Galaxy team ever to win MLS Cup that is just something that I’ll always be proud of…everyone asks me what my favorite memory from MLS is, it’s the 2002 MLS Cup winning side.”
Joe Tutino(Radio announcer): “Rick Davis (Tutino’s broadcast partner) couldn’t help but laugh as I lost my mind on the call and the players had a bit of fun with it in the locker room as Doug Hamilton played it for everyone to hear.”
THE AFTERMATH
Following LA’s first MLS Cup win, the honors would continue to pile up for the Galaxy. Just three years later in 2005, LA completed the “Double” by winning both MLS Cup and the U.S. Open Cup spearheaded by young forward Landon Donovan. After that victory, the club’s profile grew, adding players like David Beckham and Robbie Keane before LA earned their third MLS Cup trophy in 2011. Los Angeles then added MLS Cup wins in 2012 and 2014 to become the first team to five MLS Cup wins. However, even though the trophies have piled in since, many believe that the culture took off with the 2002 victory.
Joe Tutino: “In all seriousness, what that Galaxy team did was mend a lot of broken hearts from past failures in the final. To me, it set the first benchmark going forward for this organization.”
Cobi Jones: “It did a lot for the Galaxy. We had a bunch of different trophies; we had a reputation, but it was about establishing the reputation that said, ‘we can win as well. ’ Not just a reputation of playing well and being a good club and organization, but it was about being winners too. That set the tone for this club and the expectations of this club were huge.”
Alexi Lalas: “The 2002 guys will be honored… but the reality is that the establishment of a level of success was long before them. Whether it was Dan Calichman and Robin Fraser or a Greg Vanney, there were a lot of players who had been there before but hadn’t for whatever reason won the championship. It doesn’t mean that they weren’t, establishing this high expectation when it came to the Galaxy. To have that trophy to point to is important, that’s the money shot and the one that everyone remembers, but it was important in the evolution of the Galaxy. The “SuperClub” concept of the Galaxy started a long time ago, in that the Galaxy always wanted and always set out to be the best. To be not only champions but to be the team that people looked to and if you don’t have the trophies and you don’t have those wins then it’s a little bit empty. While there were certainly some good times and bad times after that, the truth is that you gotta start somewhere, and that was certainly an important touchstone to have with regards with what it meant to the Galaxy as an organization going forward.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog atLAGalaxy.com/Insiderand contact him atLAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com
