Guest Post by Matt - US Soccer Daily

To be completely honest, I was pulling for the Galaxy last night, even though I have no connection to the team or the city of Los Angeles. I wanted to see Landon Donovan win a title in what might be his last game in MLS, and I figured a championship for David Beckham would lead to plenty of media exposure for the league both domestically and internationally, which is always a positive. Despite that, it was hard not to root for Andy Williams as he walked up to the spot last night trying to seal victory.


Williams is one of the league’s truly crafty veterans, periodically injecting a piece of skill that even opposing fans can’t help but appreciate. And as he roamed the midfield last night and helped push an increasingly confident RSL attack forward, there was little evidence of what has surely been an extremely draining and difficult year for the Jamaican international. With his wife Marcia now improving after an innovative treatment for her rare form of leukemia, it would have been a storybook ending if Williams could have earned his team the title to complete the happy ending to a trying time.


Unfortunately, things didn't work out perfectly, as Josh Saunders made a huge save to keep the Galaxy alive and put RSL's championship dreams on ice for the time being. However, once Robbie Russell found the back of the net to give Jason Kreis’ squad the title, you could see just how much it meant to Williams, who broke down in tears. As he hugged teammates and wiped his eyes with a scarf, I couldn't help but feel so happy for him. Soccer is just a game (as Williams of all people has surely realized through these difficult months), but it can bring so much joy, particularly to those who need a ray of sunshine in their lives. So though I'm not particularly thrilled about RSL winning the title after being fairly underwhelming for an overwhelming majority of the season, I couldn't be happier that it was Andy Williams hoisting the trophy above his head last night at Qwest Field.