Tonight it could have been very easy for the Crystal Palace FC side to mailed it in against the New England Revolution in their quarterfinal US Open Cup Matchup.

Nobody expected much from the Crystal Palace side against the MLS league best New England Revolution. That is except me!! I had a strong feeling that the New England Revolution side would take this Crystal Palace side lightly. I have been reading or should I say trying to read articles from the New England press on this game. There was no coverage of the upcoming match. To me it seemed as though the New England Revolution was more interested in their upcoming match against a Mexican Club Team.

As I listened to the game tonight on New England Revolution online radio I was a little disappointed at first on how the broadcasters Brad Feldman and Andrew Rush were talking about how the New England Revolution team should easily take care of the Crystal Palace side. In the 6th minute of the game when Revolution's Kenny Mansally scored their 1st goal on an assist by either Taylor Twellman or Brandon Tyler I started to get a little worried that the Crystal Palace side would fall apart. But to my relief the Crystal Palace side came right back and tighten up their defense and then scored in the 20th minute on a goal by Dan Lader.

The rest of the 1st half went back and forth between the 2 sides with both having excellent chances to score. But the 1st half ended with a 1-1 tie.

At halftime it was funny to hear the broadcasters talking about how the Revolution defenders were playing poorly instead of how well the Crystal Palace players were preforming tonight. The broadcasters kept talking about how the Crystal Palace side was from 2 levels below the Revolution and that Crystal Palace was playing their US Open Cup Final here tonight against the Revolution. Well someone forgot to tell the Crystal Palace players who they were playing!!

In the 2nd half the Revolution had the better of the game with several opportunities to score but the Crystal Palace defense and goal keeper Brian Rowland kept the ball out of the back of the net. The 2nd half ended as it started with both teams tied at 1-1.

The lowly Crystal Palace side had taken the elite, almighty Revolution to overtime. Both of the overtimes were fairly even in my opinion with both teams having more then one chance to score the go ahead goal. But no goal ever came and both teams were forced to go to penalty kicks.

Penalty kicks, to me, is the worst way to end a game like this!! But this is the way that it is and it is not going to change anytime soon. So again the Crystal Palace side, who were not suppose to be in this match, has the chance to pull one of the biggest upsets in the history of US Soccer.

Both sides made their first three attempts. Crystal Palace's Val Teixeira was stopped on his attempt by Revolution goal keeper Doug Warren after the Revolution had made their 4th kick. This left it all up to the Revolution's Castro to either make it or miss it to decide the game. Unfortunately for Crystal Palace Castro made his penalty kick giving the Revolution a 5-3 win in penalty kicks.

I do have to give the New England Revolution Broadcasters Brad Feldman and Andrew Rush a shout out after the extremely nice way the two talked about the play of the Crystal Palace side after the game. Their wishes for continued success and further growth in the Charm City area was all CLASS!!

Eventhough the Crystal Palace team lost this game against the Revolution they have nothing to hang their heads about. Crystal Palace played one heck of a game against one of the best teams in the US. Proving that this team can play with anyone in the US on any given day.

The Crystal Palace side will play their next game in the USL2 away against the third place Cleveland City Stars Saturday, July 10th. Crystal Palace's next home game will be Friday, July 18th against the Western Mass Pioneers at UMBC Stadium at 7 PM.

Again Congratulations to the Crystal Palace FC for their tremendous game against the Revolution. Also best wishes to Co-Manager Jim Cherneski and his wife as they are expected another Soccer Player at anytime.