The Morning After – Thoughts from the game

It's been an evening since the big game. We've all slept off our jovial drunkenness, or at the very least attempted to. There's confetti and streamers in our hair and on our walls, I assume we'll clean it off later. We've ordered our new Rapids Championship gear – a kit with a star, a shirt with the cup, a scarf with "Champion" on it, Burgundy or not – and we've begun our lives again. Some of us have the day off and are at our homes or with our friends, some of us have gone back to work after an eventful Sunday, some of us are in school but we as Rapids fans can all cling now to our one thing in common.

Today, we've all woken up champions.

Since the 'game recap' last night hardly was at all, here's a collection of thoughts and whatnot from the game last night.

* Dallas is a damn good squad and they showed it last night. In so many of the pre-game reports by various other writers I saw that the general idea was if the game was going quickly back and forth it was probably to a Dallas advantage considering their style of play. They were able to force quick play and keep the Rapids on the counter-attack for some pretty serious stretches there during the game, using their style of play to perfection. If there is a team I'm rooting for to upset the Rapids championship repeat run next season, it's the Hoops. They play some very nice football.

* I'm rather concerned about Brian Mullan going forward. He looked very tired and ineffective out there, as though the weight of the season and the 90 minutes he had been putting in per game finally caught up to him. I've said before how incredible it is that he has been able to keep his speed and demeanor despite his age, but it looks like the last legs of his career truly have started. I do hope they keep him next year, but perhaps a high draft pick or a trade should be used for another high caliber right midfielder just in case his age has finally caught up to him.

* Why does Omar Cummings stink to the heavens so highly against Dallas? This is the third straight game against them now that he has been not just invisible on the pitch but noticeably out of his game. He was looking for the pass so many times when he should have shot, over-running the ball as he did right before Dallas scored their lone goal and all around playing like he was uninterested. Perhaps it was the leg injury that was keeping his game down but it is a disturbing trend against Dallas to see him put in underwhelming performances time and time again.