Knockout soccer for Europe's top competitions? Only if we go the whole way

In November 2004 I was lucky enough to be at one of the most thrilling MLS games in the league’s history, when D.C. United beat the New England Revolution on penalty kicks following a 3-3 draw in theEastern Conference final. It wasn’t the end of D.C. United’s season — eight days later they won the MLS Cup by beating Kansas City 3-2 in the final, way out west in California. But that noisy see-sawSaturday night in front of 21,000 mainly home fans in RFK Stadium was the absolute climax of a most memorable season.