On the Open Cup Hunt: Messi’s Miami in Footsteps of Ray Hudson’s Fusion

“But that game showed how much these lads were up for the fight,” said Hudson, whose colorful press conferences became the stuff of legend in those early MLS years.

Fire Engulfs Hudson’s Doomed Fusion

After a 2-1 win in the Semifinals over Lothar Matthaus’ MetroStars (now the New York Red Bulls), Miami’s Fusion fell in the Final against a Chicago Fire team loaded with superstar names and well in the habit of winning.

Hudson, always a generous sort, still feels for “poor Tyrone [Marshall],” whose late own-goal ended the fight and saw the Fire lift another trophy (2-1) at Soldier Field.

“We thought we had it,” Hudson remembered of that defeat. “But [DaMarcus] Beasley and [Peter] Nowak and [Hristo] Stoichkov and Jesse bloody Marsch. We were up against the gargantuan. But we ran them down to the final whistle.”

In the end, the Fusion were doomed as an organization. The writing was on the wall. With poor attendances and a lack of local interest, MLS shuttered the club at the end of the 2001 season despite Hudson’s new-look squad winning that year’s Supporters Shield and reaching the MLS playoffs.

Hudson put in two more seasons on the bench at D.C. United before returning to his home in the broadcast booth. But bittersweet memories of that plucky Fusion, and the 2000 Open Cup, stick with him.

“It was a happy pirate ship. The winds were against us and that team just enjoyed the battle,” said a wistful Hudson, involved in so many attempts to make top-tier soccer stick in his chosen home.

“But he’s here in my hometown now” exclaimed Hudson, ready to watch Messi, his on-field muse and idol, take a run at the trophy that only just slipped away from him 23 years ago. “Unbelievable.”

Fontela is editor-in-chief of usopencup.com. Follow him at @jonahfontela on Twitter.