Warriors, on the field and in the parking lot at Home Depot Center

The Solar Powered Soccer Blog mobile unit was on hand yesterday in Carson for MLS Cup. Here are some scenes from the Crew’s first MLS Cup championship:

- Before the match, the Hejduk clan was out in full force, near an encampment of Crew fans at the edge of the parking lot. Frankie’s mom and aunt were grabbing anyone who walked by and inviting them to help themselves to the prodigious spread that was laid out behind their cars: fried chicken, homemade brownies, and — at Frankie’s insistence — the Columbus favorite, bratwurst. When thanked for his family’s generosity later, Frankie explained that the name “Hejduk,” in its original language, means “warrior.” “That’s us,” he said. “I’m a warrior on the field and she’s a warrior at the tailgate.”  (Full disclosure: the brats and brownies were delicious.)

- The Manhattan Beach Hyatt Hotel, temporary headquarters for the Crew, was the setting for the team’s post-game celebration. The scene would have been familiar to any Earthquakes fan who was fortunate enough to have attended the festivities following the ‘01 and ‘03 MLS Cup victories. Players and coaches grinning with their friends and families were there, of course, but so were a ton of supporters. Sigi Schmid was surrounded by well-wishers, congratulating him for both his victory and the enormous plate of crow he simultaneously served up to the Galaxy brass. (”It’s a very emotional moment for me winning the game here in L.A. in front of family and friends and, to be honest, in a town I was fired in,” he told the L.A. Times. “So it meant an awful lot.”) Guillermo Barros Schelotto was there and so was his twin brother Gustavo, which was good for some double-takes from people who didn’t realize he had a twin.

The new trophy was there, too, along with the Supporters’ Shield, and once the players had their chance to get their photos taken with the cup, the fans took their turn. Friends posed in groups or alone with the cup, some holding it triumphantly over their heads while others opted for the rare shot with MLS Cup in one arm and the Shield in the other. It’s times like those that the unique bond between MLS teams and their supporters really shines, and everyone who was there knew it was an occasion to be savored. “Can you imagine Philly fans being invited to pose with the World Series trophy after they won it last month?” a fan observed. “That would never happen.”

The presence of thousands of Crew fans in the north end of Home Depot Center even played into the team’s strategy, according to Steve Sirk, a Columbus journalist who has covered the Crew for years.  “They won the coin toss, so they set it up so they’d be attacking the north end in the second half, just like they do at home,” he said. “They wanted the fans near the New York goal at the end.”

The only sour note to be heard were laments that the team wouldn’t be together intact next year. The expansion draft is likely to take a player from their roster, the contracts of Schmid and Schelotto are up at the end of the year, and defender of the year Chad Marshall is out of contract then, too, and has expressed interest in playing abroad. The SPSB doesn’t often offer advice, but here it is: Enjoy the victory, Columbus. You’ve got plenty of time to worry later. This is your day.

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“The Quakes win the cup! The Quakes win the cup!” That was the call from Jack Edwards when Dwayne DeRosario scored the golden goal that won San Jose’s first MLS Cup in 2001, and it echoed again for the two ex-Quakes who won  yesterday, Alejandro Moreno and Danny O’Rourke. In fact, the last four MLS Cups have been won by the team with more ex-Quakes on the field. This year, Moreno and O’Rourke for Columbus outnumbered Kevin Goldthwaite for Los Toros Rojos, and the Crew prevailed. Houston, with their boatload of ex-Quakes, won the cup in ‘06 and ‘07. The Galaxy, behind Landon Donovan and Todd Dunivant, won in ‘05. The trend only faltered in ‘04, when Jimmy Conrad’s Kansas City Wizards failed to get the job done against DC United, who won despite having no former Earthquakes on the field.

Of course, when current Quakes play in MLS Cup, they’re undefeated. That’s probably a more meaningful statistic.