FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – It’s one of the greatest comebacks in New England Revolution history.
Trailing the MetroStars 2-0 on aggregate with only 30 minutes remaining in the second and decisive leg of the 2005 Eastern Conference Semifinals, it appeared as if the Revolution’s stellar regular-season showing would be all for naught. An early playoff exit was on the cards.
But nine years later, Khano Smith remembers that there was never any doubt.
“The major strength of that team was the self-belief,” said Smith, who now serves as an assistant coach with the Revolution’s Under-18 team. “I honestly feel that we never thought for one second that we were going to lose that game.”
And they didn’t. Jose “Pepe” Cancela cut the deficit in half with a little more than 20 minutes remaining, before Pat Noonan leveled the score just five minutes later. That set the stage for Smith’s late winner and one of New England’s most memorable wins over a fierce local rival.
Plenty of memories have stuck with Smith from that late October evening, including the weather.
A native of Bermuda, he remembers driving to Gillette Stadium through the snow, wondering just what kind of factor the conditions would play on such a critical match. The field crew kept busy, clearing snow off the playing surface all the way until game time. Heavy patches were still visible at kickoff.
“Me being from an island, it wasn’t too pleasing on the eyes, but we got through it,” Smith recalled with a chuckle. “When it’s snowing and your socks get wet, your feet get cold. You’re done after that.”
Smith, who started the match on the bench, had perhaps the most challenging task of all. Marshall Leonard suffered an injury just 20 minutes after kickoff and Smith was forced to take the field cold – both literally and figuratively – without any warmup time.
Smith used the final 25 minutes of the first half to work himself into the game and adjust to the pace, but in the meantime, the Revs weren’t able to make any headway. They went into halftime still trailing on aggregate after Amado Guevara had earned New York a 1-0 win in the first leg at Giants Stadium.
But at that point there was still plenty of hope – 45 minutes was ample time to make up a one-goal deficit. Until it was no longer a one-goal deficit.
Latching onto a hopeful ball from Sergio Galvan Rey – and capitalizing on a rare mistake by Rookie of the Year Michael Parkhurst – French star Youri Djorkaeff raced into the box and fired a shot past Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis, nestling it just inside the far post. That was in the 59th minute.
Play-by-play man Brad Feldman wondered aloud on the broadcast whether Djorkaeff’s goal was the dagger in the heart which would end the Revolution’s season.
But according to Smith, that wasn’t a reality the Revs were ready to accept.
“From what I remember, the first leg I think we played pretty well and we fancied ourselves a bit unlucky to be down 1-0,” he said. “The second leg, we started well and they kind of hit us on the break.
“We knew we were better than New York that day. Throughout that year we knew we were the better team and we still honestly believed that we would still win that game.”
It didn’t take long for that belief to galvanize.
The MetroStars’ two-goal advantage lasted just nine minutes. Shalrie Joseph looped a pass forward to Taylor Twellman, who let the ball skip once off the surface before knocking a header back to Cancela. Two touches later, the Uruguayan was around the backline and firing low past Tony Meola.
It was a goal which offered a spark at an increasingly desperate time – just 20 minutes and change remained – and it provided all the impetus New England needed to push forward.
Cancela was at the center of the action again in the 73rd minute, whipping a vicious corner kick to the back post. Meola took a hopeful swipe but came up empty, offering Noonan the chance to pounce. The Revs’ forward climbed over then-18-year-old Michael Bradley to nod a header inside the post.
All square.
“Noonan’s goal, once we got that one, there was only one team that was going to win that game; it was going to be us,” said Smith. “Our belief kept growing and growing and growing. I just happened to be the lucky guy that got the winner.”
There was more than luck involved for Smith, who had registered three goals and two assists in his first MLS season. With less than eight minutes remaining of the 90, he burst down the left side to get on the end of a long, curling pass from Clint Dempsey.
After taking one touch to brush off the challenge of Eddie Gaven, Smith – from what seemed an impossible angle – drilled a shot past Meola’s ear and into the far side netting.
“I just remember trying to hit it far post as hard as I could past him,” said Smith, who noted that he had plenty of space down the left side in the Revolution’s 3-5-2 system. “Luckily for me, it went in.”
Smith’s celebration is one of the more memorable in Revolution history – a full-tilt sprint up the sideline to dive into the arms of assistant coach Paul Mariner, immediately followed by a mob of teammates.
But unfortunately Smith’s celebration was short-lived because of a freak injury suffered just minutes later.
“It was an eventful day for me,” Smith recalled. “We were defending and New York was coming at us, trying to get the equalizer. [Jay Heaps] pushed Djorkaeff into me and Djorkaeff fell on my leg, and I hyperextended my knee. I had to get carted off.
“One of my memories as I feel like I’m about to throw up is Shalrie saying, ‘We need you for three more minutes.’ I’m like, ‘Shalrie, I can’t even walk.’ We ended up playing with 10 men for the last five minutes.”
The injury kept Smith out of the Eastern Conference Championship – which the Revs won, 1-0, over the Chicago Fire – and MLS Cup, but it didn’t dampen how he remembers that win over the MetroStars.
Instead, his memories of that night drift to his goal, which earned the Revs a 3-2 aggregate win, and the celebration with his teammates and coaches, a picture of which still hangs at his home.
“That’s probably one of the better memories of my career,” Smith said.
As the Revs prepare to face the New York Red Bulls in this year’s Eastern Conference Championship – the first postseason meeting between these two sides in seven years – memories of those past playoff matchups are once again brought to the fore. For the Revs, it’s all good memories.
There was a rivalry between New England and New York back in the mid-2000s, Smith said, but it’s faded a bit in recent years, due primarily to a lack of postseason meetings. As more and more teams have joined the league, some of those original rivalries have been diluted in the process.
But there’s no doubt that there’s an old school feel to this year’s Eastern Conference Championship, even if the names and faces have changed since those consistent matchups back in 2003, 2005 and 2007.
Maybe this is just the spark needed to renew the rivalry.
