KEY TO REAL'S WIN
Wingert: 'We knew that all that matters is what happens between the lines'

By Michael Lewis
BigAppleSoccer.com Editor

SEATTLE -- It was almost two hours after the game Sunday night and Chris Wingert admitted that Real Salt Lake winning the MLS Cup hadn't sunk in, at least not yet.

"It hasn't quite hit me yet," defender Chris Wingert said in Real Salt Lake's champagne-soaked locker room at Qwest Field. It's the biggest win of my life. I played in some big games, Olympic qualifiers."

Then Ned Grabavoy, current RSL player who converted a shootout goal and former member of the Indiana team that defeated St. John's in the 2003 NCAA Division I men's final walked past Wingert's locker.

"This guy ended my college career, but he bought me home a championship today," Wingert said.

Wingert, a Babylon, N.Y. native, also put home a penalty in the tie-breaker that gave RSL a 5-4 win in the tie-breaker after playing a 1-1 tie with the heavily favored Los Angeles Galaxy after 120 minutes.

"It's an unbelievable feeling," Wingert said. "It's something that I don't think anybody realizes how far it's going to go because forever we're going to be the '09 champs. We're going to be reaping the benefits, 10, 20 years down the line, especially for the state of Utah. It's just incredible."

When you face off against a team with the likes of a David Beckham and Landon Donovan, it was easy to play second fiddle during the pre-game hype. Real as though it had something to prove.

"The whole star thing, none of that matters," Wingert said. "Not to take anything away from Landon or Beckham, they're big time players. They're superstars. But at the same time, it's not like basketball where one guy can completely dominate. We knew that all that matters is what happens between the lines. We were confident we would outplay them. We outplayed them, especially in the second half. We deserved to win.

"We didn't care too much about the whole media hype. We were fine with playing the underdog role or wherever they wanted to put us. We weren't too worried about that. We just concentrated on what we wanted to do and the game plan that we had. We felt we had outplayed every team that we went up against."

Real became the first team to win MLS Cup despite finishing with a sub-.500 record (11-12-7).

"There's just so much parity in the league," Wingert said. "So to be honest with you, I understand that we were a little below .500, The key was to get in. We knew anything could happen from there. We saw that last year. We felt if we got in, we could reset our goals, try to do some damage and you take it one game at a time. And that's what we did. The whole star thing, none of that matters."