MLS Cup 2007

MLS Cup 2007

New England Revolution Houston Dynamo 1 2
Date	18 November 2007
Venue	Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington, D.C., USA
Man of the Match	Dwayne De Rosario (Houston Dynamo)
Referee	Alex Prus
Attendance	39,859
Weather	Sunny 55 °F (13 °C)

MLS Cup 2007 was the final match of the 2007 MLS season, the 12th in the history of Major League Soccer. The game was a rematch between the previous year's two MLS Cup finalists, New England Revolution and Houston Dynamo.

The match took place on Sunday, 18 November 2007 at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C.. Houston won the game by a score of 2-1, handing New England its third consecutive MLS Cup defeat and fourth overall. Plácido Domingo performed the national anthem and Jimmy Eat World performed "Big Casino" at halftime.^[1]

Venue

RFK Memorial Stadium hosted MLS Cup 2007.

Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium was announced as the venue for MLS Cup 2007 on 14 December 2006.^[2]

Home to D.C. United and Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals at the time, RFK Stadium previously hosted MLS Cup in 1997 and 2002. The facility also hosted matches during the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup and was the site of the 1996 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final and the 2002 MLS All-Star Game.

MLS Cup Playoffs

Bracket

	Conference Semifinals						Conference Finals					MLS Cup 2007
	E1	D.C. United	0	2
	E4	Chicago Fire	1	2
							E4	Chicago Fire	0
	Eastern Conference
							E2	New England Revolution	1
	E2	New England Revolution	0	1
	E3	New York Red Bulls	0	0
												E	New England Revolution	1
												W	Houston Dynamo	2
	W1	Chivas USA	0	0
	W4	Kansas City Wizards^1	1	0
							W4	Kansas City Wizards	0
	Western Conference
							W2	Houston Dynamo	2
	W2	Houston Dynamo (AET)	0	4
	W3	FC Dallas	1	1

MLS adopted a new format for qualification into the playoffs. In 2007, the top two teams from each of the league's two conferences, followed by the next four teams with the highest number of points at the end of the regular season, qualified for the postseason, leading to the possibility of an uneven number of playoff teams from each conference.^[3] This year, five teams qualified from the Eastern Conference, and only three teams from the Western Conference qualified, so the Kansas City Wizards, who have been assigned to the Western Conference playoffs, could have played a fellow Eastern Conference team in the final.

New England Revolution

For the fourth time in team history, third-straight, the New England Revolution became the Eastern Conference Champion. New England defeated the New York Red Bulls in the semifinals, advancing to the conference finals where they defeated the Chicago Fire.

Houston Dynamo

The Houston Dynamo, for the second consecutive year in the club's two-year history, won the Western Conference Championship. Their win came through their victories over in-state rival FC Dallas in the conference semifinals and the Kansas City Wizards in the conference championship game. The Dynamo advanced to a rematch against the Revolution, and the MLS Cup, for the second straight year.

Match details

New England Revolution v Houston Dynamo

18 November 2007 12:00 EST

New England Revolution	1 – 2	Houston Dynamo
Taylor Twellman  20'	Report	Joseph Ngwenya  61' Dwayne De Rosario  74'

RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C. Attendance: 39,859 Referee: Alex Prus

New England Revolution

Houston Dynamo

GK 1 Matt Reis DF 4 Avery John DF 6 Jay Heaps DF 15 Michael Parkhurst MF 13 Jeff Larentowicz MF 14 Steve Ralston (c)  78' MF 18 Khano Smith  65' MF 21 Shalrie Joseph MF 27 Wells Thompson FW 11 Pat Noonan FW 20 Taylor Twellman  20' Substitutes: GK 12 Doug Warren DF 16 James Riley MF 22 Marshall Leonard MF 25 Andy Dorman  78' MF 29 Kenny Mansally MF 31 Sainey Nyassi FW 7 Adam Cristman Manager: Steve Nicol Man of the Match: Dwayne De Rosario (Houston Dynamo)[4] Assistant referees: Adam Wienckowski Rob Fereday Fourth official: Brian Hall

GK 18 Pat Onstad DF 2 Eddie Robinson DF 5 Ryan Cochrane DF 16 Craig Waibel DF 24 Wade Barrett (c)  57' MF 9 Brian Mullan MF 11 Brad Davis MF 14 Dwayne De Rosario  74' MF 30 Richard Mulrooney FW 21 Nate Jaqua FW 33 Joseph Ngwenya  61'  80' Substitutes: GK 1 Zach Wells DF 4 Patrick Ianni MF 7 Chris Wondolowski MF 17 Mike Chabala MF 22 Stuart Holden  80' MF 26 Corey Ashe FW 8 Paul Dalglish Manager: Dominic Kinnear

Notes

• The 2007 MLS Cup was the first time the final has been a rematch from the previous year.
• The Houston Dynamo are the first team to have back-to-back titles in the 2000s (decade), and only the second team in MLS history after D.C. United.

References

1. "MLS Cup 2007 to feature musical guests Jimmy Eat World and Placido Domingo", Major League Soccer press release, 2007-11-01.
2. Goff, Steven (December 13, 2006). "MLS Cup Coming to RFK in '07". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved February 8, 2007.
3. "League address covers upcoming changes". MLSnet.com. Retrieved February 8, 2007.
4. "Dynamo stun Revolution, repeat as champions". mlsnet.com. 2007-11-18. Archived from the original on 2007-12-24. Retrieved 2007-11-19.