LEWIS CENTER, Ohio - Twenty-seven seconds into the 2015 MLS Cup final, Diego Valeri of the Portland Timbers stole the ball from Crew SC goalkeeper Steve Clark and scored into a gaping net. Valeri did both of these things, the steal and the shot, with one sliding tackle - which is something almost unimaginable given the time, place and circumstances. Sepp Blatter could not rig this.

LEWIS CENTER, Ohio � Twenty-seven seconds into the 2015 MLS Cup final, Diego Valeri of the Portland Timbers stole the ball from Crew SC goalkeeper Steve Clark and scored into a gaping net.

Valeri did both of these things, the steal and the shot, with one sliding tackle � which is something almost unimaginable given the time, place and circumstances. Sepp Blatter could not rig this.

A standing-room crowd of 21,747 at Mapfre Stadium, gearing up to celebrate the biggest professional sports title in Columbus history, tried to rally the home team. Then, in the seventh minute, an assistant referee blew a call, a discomfited Crew defense buckled and the Timbers took a 2-0 lead on a quick counter. The game was over before it got started.

�I have to shoulder a lot of the blame,� Clark said as the Timbers danced on Columbus soil.

Forty-seven days later, after a brief vacation, Crew players gathered at a local indoor training facility for their preseason physicals. This was Friday.

�I�ve watched it many, many times,� Clark said. �It�s a mistake. This is what happens: I�m going to ask for the ball in that situation again � and again and again and again. For a couple weeks, put your head down, then get up and go. That�s just who I am.�

Clark is still emotional when it comes to Valeri�s goal. You can see it when you look him in the eye.

�I�ve got a lot of great teammates,� Clark said. �The disappointment, for me, was for them, and for the idea, and for the city. I have a lot of great teammates. And it was nice to have teammates in that situation.�

Captain Michael Parkhurst, a central defender, has played in four Cup finals with New England and Columbus and has yet to spill a drop of Moet & Chandon.

"Honestly, with this one, fewer plays went through my head than with previous ones � just because I feel like we gave away two goals,� Parkhurst said. �As a defender, you always think of the goals. What could I have done differently? Maybe I shouldn�t have played that ball back to Wil (Trapp), the ball that Wil played back to Steve. Maybe I should have just kicked it forward. But all of that is water under the bridge.�

The Crew�s starting 11 remains intact as the team heads to Florida for training camp. Coach Gregg Berhalter has a glaring need for a backup forward and he said, emphatically, that he will soon sign one.

Berhalter sees the upcoming season as a chance to further hone the Crew�s possession-attack game. The annual goal is to make the playoffs and, after that, �anything can happen.� He believes the experience gained in 2015 can only help, all the way around.

�You never want to be complacent,� Berhalter said. �When I talk about the middle (of the process), I�m referring more to the cycle of the MLS, how potentially difficult it is to keep a core group together for a long period time. It�s just hard, because of salary cap. We still have time with this group. The process is ongoing and this team has learned a lot, so we�re going to be more prepared than we were last year.�

To be sure, a deep postseason foray is vastly different from a 15-1-1 record down the stretch of a nonplayoff season.

�I don�t feel like I�ve played in my last MLS Cup,� Parkhurst said.

Hear, hear.

Michael Arace is a sports reporter for The Dispatch .

marace@dispatch.com

@MichaelArace1