The Philadelphia Union and LAFC played 36 games and 120 Saturday minutes to the wildest of stalemates. They sparred for over two hours in Major League Soccer's dream final, trading goals and blows and everything in between. Philly scored a 124th-minute would-be winner. Gareth Bale scored a 128th-minute equalizer. They went to penalties to decide the greatest MLS Cup ever. And once there, up stepped the unlikeliest of heroes.
John McCarthy, a Philadelphia-area native who'd meandered through the unseen lower tiers of American soccer, came off the bench for LAFC to beat his hometown and former club.