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And so it is! The 2006 MLS Cup goes to Houston, 4-3 on PK's!

MLS Cup Final - Sunday November 12 - From Pizza Hut Park in Frisco Texas:
Houston Dynamo 1-1 New England Revolution - Houston takes it 4-3 on PK's.
-Taylor Twellman scored in the 114th minute of extra time to give New England the lead, and their only goal in three trips to the final. But Houston stormed back with a goal about 20 seconds later by Brian Ching! The game finished 1-1 and went to Penalty Kicks.
-Here is the Penalty Kick rundown:
Kelly Gray scored for Houston
Shalrie Joseph scored for New England
Stuart Holden scored for Houston
Matt Reis scored for New England
Dwayne De Rosario scored for Houston
Pat Noonan shot high and wide for New England
Brad Davis had his shot saved for Houston
Taylor Twellman scored for New England
Brian Ching scored for Houston
and then the finale:
-Houston keeper Pat Onstad stopped the PK by New England's Jay Heaps to clinch the Cup.
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Just go to the Houston Chronicle's Dynamo page and read all the fantastic Houston stories & video. There are a pile of them!
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Then there is the other side of the coin.... the New England reaction to losing in the finals for a third time, and twice in a row. The Boston Globe and Boston Herald. As someone else said, New England are now the Minnesota Vikings of MLS.
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Glenn Davis's Soccer Hour Radio now has a website, and it looks like they have lots of video clips from the final.
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The mayor of Boston has to send 10 Boston cream pies to the mayor of Houston, from a bet they made prior to the final.
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In the press room after the final at Pizza Hut Park they served the journalists pizza, but it wasn't Pizza Hut!!!!!!!!!! Who is in charge??? I remember last year at the final at Pizza Hut Park they ran out of pizza for fans to buy! Again, who is in charge??????? I also noticed that all the concession stands at the game were raising money for youth sports. Youth soccer right? NO! Youth Lacrosse & Cheerleading.!Nooooooooooooooooo! Come on people!
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MLS had several big announcements over the weekend past, concerning the near and distant future of the league:
-The league will launch their so-called "Beckham Rule", officially known as the "Designated Player Rule", that will allow teams to sign a player above and beyond the regular salary cap. They can also acquire a second Designated player from another team.
-Every team will have their own "Youth Development Program" that will allow them to bring young players up through their own system and not have to release them to the general league player draft. About time!
-You shall not murder.
-The regular season will be reduced from 32 games to 30 games.
-There will be a slight change to the playoff structure in '07. The top 8 point getters will be in the playoffs no matter which conference (East or West) they reside in.
-Details should be forthcoming on a mid summer tournament featuring MLS teams v MFL teams.
-All teams must televise every game next season.
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The 2007 MLS Superdraft will take place Friday January 12 at the NSCAA convention in Indianapolis.
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Commissioner Don Garber let slip during his speech at the Supporters Summit that the 2007 All Star game will be played in Colorado's new home stadium - The Big Dick
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Colorado also announced that their new shirt sponsor for '07 will be Enzyte. (Thanks to DJW & DL for that hot one-liner.)
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The grass will be removed immediately from New England's Gillette stadium and be replaced with Field Turf. Meaning the Rev's will play on fake stuff until they build their own home. But at least now they won't have an excuse not to play early spring games at home anymore.
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Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer writes about the potential for another club in New York City. When & where are two important questions.
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Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America looks at the current MLS coaching searches going on.
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Soccer America also says Toronto FC has signed 3 more Canadians:
-Marco Reda - defender from Sogndal in Norway
-Adam Braz - moron/cheapshot from Montreal Impact in the USL First Division
-Chris Pozniak - midfielder from Haugesund in Norway
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Let's check in with our favorite Americans in Europe and see how their weekend matches went:
-DaMarcus Beasley - Manchester City - Did not dress in a 0-0 tie with Newcastle. It's still the ankle injury sidelining him.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - Played the full 90 in d-mid again, and helped steal a 1-1 draw at Portsmouth.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - Came on for the final 20 minutes in a 1-1 draw with Breda.
-Danny Califf - Aalborg - Played the whole match but his team came up short losing at home 0-1 to Kobenhavn.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - Went the full 90 at right back but lost yet again, this time 1-2 to Stuttgart.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - Did not dress for Reading in a 3-1 win over Tottenham. The knee injury has him down.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - Took a 90 minute beating at Chelsea 4-0. Pulverized!
-Benny Feilhaber - Hamburg - Started again and played the entire game but only tied Gladbach 1-1 at home.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - Played solidly the whole game as always, but lost 0-1 to Manchester United. They are sliding down the table, and now sit in 15th.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - Went down a goal early but the keeper played the whole 90 and his side won 3-1 over Tottenham. A huge win!
-Tim Howard - Everton - Played very good in goal but could not keep his team from losing to the simply amazing Aston Villa 0-1.
-Kasey Keller - Monchengladbach - Drew 1-1 at Hamburg with Kasey starting in goal as usual, but took a serious knee to the shoulder and had to be subbed out in the 32nd minute. No word on the extent of the injury.
-Eddie Lewis - Leeds - Started and went 76 minutes, providing a pinpoint cross for the second goal in a 3-0 win over Colchester. Can they turn it around?
-Brian McBride - Fulham - Played as the lone striker and was only subbed out at the 90 minute mark, in a game they probably deserved to lose but got a 1-1 draw at Portsmouth.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - Started at center back and played all 90 in a 3-2 road win at Mons-Bergen.
-Claudio Reyna - Manchester City - Started and went 60 minutes as his team missed tons of chances in a 0-0 draw with Newscastle.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - Went 90 minutes in defense, but lost 1-0 at Middlesbrough.
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According to Yanks Abroad 2 American MLS players are in Europe on trial right now: KC striker Josh Wolff is in Munich Germany with 1860 (featuring another American, defender Gregg Berhalter), and LA midfielder Kyle Martino is in Holland this week with NEC Nijmegen. Good luck boyz.
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DC United midfielder Brian Carroll is currently on trial with Bundesliga team Alemannia Aachen.