FRISCO, Texas -- Among the many memories I have of last year's MLS Cup Final, the one which I recall most vividly is the sight of Shalrie Joseph lying flat on his back in the Revolution dressing room, over an hour after the final whistle had signaled the end of the Revs' 2005 championship dream.
Joseph entered the game carrying a foot injury, the seriousness of which only became known in the days following the game. Through 120 minutes, the majority of which saw New England pinned back in their defensive end by Los Angeles, Joseph repeatedly put his increasingly battered body on the line to repel the Galaxy's offense.
Guillermo Ramirez's extra-time goal gave L.A. the lead and the Revs poured forward in search of an equalizer, with Joseph again in the thick of the action. The game ended with Joseph off the field to the side of the Galaxy goal, receiving treatment for a concussion he suffered in a fearsome clash of heads with Tyrone Marshall in the dying seconds. The next day, the right of side of Joseph's face had swollen to the point that simply speaking was almost impossible.
"We almost had to carry him off the field at the end of extra time, he was so beat up," said Revolution head coach Steve Nicol, recalling the incident on Friday. "It tells you everything about a guy. You need to shoot him to stop him."
A year later, Joseph cast his mind back to that day, calling it "the most disappointing of my career." However, he refuses to dwell on it and, instead, is firmly focused on making sure he walks off the field with a smile on his face on Sunday.
"Yeah, I definitely want to do that. There is a sense of desperation and hunger among this team," said Joseph after the Revs' training session at Pizza Hut Park.
It has been a topsy-turvy couple of months for Joseph. Having started each of the Revolution's opening 26 regular season games, an altercation in a Boston bar in September resulted in him having surgery on his right hand and a spell on the sidelines that lasted until the MLS Cup Playoffs began. He returned in the first leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinal Series against Chicago, only to be suspended for the return game.
After his teammates got past the Fire on penalties, Joseph was back in the side for the Eastern Conference Championship game against D.C. United and looked sharp in helping the Revolution progress to their third MLS Cup in five years. A further week of training now has the Grenadian back to feeling he is at his best.
"I feel great compared to what I was in the first playoff game," said Joseph. "I wasn't sharp and I wasn't concentrating and I wasn't ready to be out there. I think my sharpness is coming back and this is the best time of the year for that."
The hand injury is still an impediment for Joseph, who will again play on Sunday with the affected area heavily bandaged. Though he says he is not unduly affected by the added weight he has to carry -- the wrapping takes 10 minutes to apply -- the 28-year-old does admit that extra protection to an area in which all of the feeling has yet to return is something he could do without if it was possible.
"I am getting used to it. It is just heavy and I don't really have my arm to push out but it is something I can deal with and not worry about. I have dealt with it and practiced with it and its gets better and better. Even when I have fallen I don't worry about it and I probably don't think about it as much as I should."
Joseph will need to be on top of his game against a Houston Dynamo side that offers a varied range of offensive dangers. The midfielder's aerial ability will be required to neutralize the heading threat of Brian Ching, while the technical skills and dangerous movement of Dwayne De Rosario will see Joseph tested on the ground. He knows he is in for a tough test.
"With Brian you know there are going to be a lot of aerial balls, he is great in the air," Joseph said. "You can't give him time and space to get to set pieces, especially with Brian Mullan whipping balls in. With Dwayne, he is going to be making runs through midfield. He is going to be pushing on and I have to be responsible and keep my eye on him. I need to limit his touches and his chances and the more I do, the better it is for the team."
The end of last season saw many New England players reach the limits of their stamina and energy reserves. Joseph said that, for several days following the final, he was unable to do very much other than rest. This year, he believes, the side has an extra spring in its step heading into the final. It has been a long season but their talisman thinks the Revs are coming to the boil at the perfect time.
"Coming into preseason, we knew the most important thing was to get into the playoffs and, once we did, to get into the final," said Joseph. "We just took it week-by-week and practice-by-practice. The good thing is that we have coaches that know how to deal with it and our bodies were feeling great by the end of the season when the playoffs started. We feel fresh and we feel good."
Andrew Hush is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
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