Confederations Cup Final

Even in defeat, I'm the proudest I've ever been of the USMNT.  Aside from some strong showings in 1930 and 1950 of which I'm not too familiar, this tournament, and the final week of this tournament in particular, was the first time that the US has ever looked to be among one of the strongest teams in the world.

The first 45 minutes was the most I've been excited about US Soccer in my lifetime.  I was texting everyone I knew to tell them to turn on ESPN to watch the US make history.  Call me the jinx if you'd like, but that run was still historic in my mind.

We finished in second place in a FIFA tournament for the first time ever, and I truly believe that we were the second best team in this tournament.  The Spain win was NOT a fluke; we proved that.  The chatter on a lot of blogs before the Final was that if the US and Spain played 10 times, then Spain would win 9 of them.  That's incorrect.  We would have beat Spain again yesterday.  And Brazil would have needed fewer than 85 minutes to beat Spain yesterday.  If the US and Spain played 10 teams, I think we'd win 5 or 6 right now.  And if we played Brazil 10 times, we'd probably win 2 or 3.  Brazil looks to be the best team in the world right now, and should be the favorite going into World Cup 2010.

As I said in my previous post, one of the most important things we can take from this tournament is that Bradley is really starting to understand his players and develop his Starting XI.  Now I think I'll have to backtrack and agree with Rob from the Comments section of the last post.  Brian Ching > Charlie Davies.  Davies might be faster and have more dynamic ball skills, but Ching has more vision and better positioning.  On a 2v2 or 3v3 fast break, Davies needs to learn to pass the ball to another runner, especially when that other runner is Landon Donovan, who might be one of the best in the world in that type of situation.

Speaking of Donovan though, I'm not entirely sure that I'm satisfied with him on the left wing.  We gave Brazil way too many open crosses from Donovan's side.  Maicon could have pitched a tent, started a fire, and roasted a few marshmallows before any American player caught up to him with all the space he had.  This wasn't an issue after Brazil's second goal when Bornstein was playing there.  Not that I would ever think about starting Bornstein ahead of Donovan, but it's something Bob needs to figure out.

Bob is also going to have some difficult decisions to make in central midfield.  Ricardo Clark had another decent match in the bruiser role, this time without giving up any hard fouls.  And Benny Feilhaber and Michael Bradley have each looked world class in this tournament.  I guess the choice against Mexico would be to start Bradley and Clark, and have Feilhaber come on as a more attacking mid in the second half.

I was real curious to see how the local and national media would be covering the outcome today.
Top story with large picture above the fold in the Washington Post = awesome.
Mentioned several times on the Junkies = great.
Second story behind the Nats/O's on NBC 4 = acceptable.
Third story behind the Yankees and Wimbledon on SI.com = eh.
Third story behind Wimbledon and Joey Logano on ESPN.com = disappointing.

If ESPN is going to be carrying every major soccer match from here on out, then they would be wise to promote US soccer as much as possible.  The good news is that the water cooler chat is definitely happening this morning.  If our finish in this tournament gets the US population of casual sports fans to pay attention to soccer, then it's a win in my book.

Confederations Cup

I tend to keep this blog focused mainly on DC United, because there are hundreds of other blogs you can visit for USMNT match reactions, but with one of the greatest US Soccer upsets of all time on Wednesday, and with the biggest US Soccer match of all time coming up on Sunday, I just can't help myself.  Whether we take first place or second place in this tournament, it's been a really thrilling ride.  In the matter of just a week, we've gone from wanting to fire our coach and turn over the entire roster, to having a legitimate shot at winning a major international tournament.  US Soccer fans have a tendency to overreact in both directions, so let's put this in perspective in advance of the Final with some nice broad points that we can all take home with us.

1. With our backs against the wall, the US team prevailed.  This team might not have the talent to match the best teams in the world, but they've shown in this tournament that when they NEED to win, they win.  That gives me a lot of hope about the remainder of WCQ.  Even if we drop a couple points in some difficult matches that are coming up, I now have faith that if we go into our last match needing a certain result, we will get it.  This also raises our chances of advancing once we get to the World Cup.  If we're stuck in a tough group as usual, the other teams better not let us hang around, because if we've got any mathematical chance of advancing, this team has shown that they will give it their all and fight their way into the next round.

2. How's that for confidence?  For years, US Soccer has played with an inferiority complex.  We often take the tactical move of bunkering when faced with difficult situations (like Costa Rica).  Now I think Bob Bradley and the boys have learned that that is not a winning combination.  The US put out a pretty attack-oriented lineup against Spain with Donovan and Dempsey on the wings.  There was no bunkering involved.  And by keeping the pressure on the Spanish and the Egyptians, we were able to pull away late in each match.  If that tactic was effective against the #1 team in the world, it's certainly worth a try against Mexico and other Concacaf opponents.  Surely the 4-4-2 formation is here to stay.  Right Bob?

3. I think we've found our Starting XI.  Our lineup against Spain is the exact lineup I'd like to use against Mexico when we return to WCQ.  Rico Clark and Michael Bradley were studs in defensive midfield, blocking more shots than you see in an average hockey game.  And it's great that we've found another competent center back in Jay Demerit to allow us to move Bocanegra out to left back, a position that's been up for grabs since Agoos retired.  And while I'm not sold on them being our default starters from now until next summer, the current combination of Jozy Altidore and Charlie Davies is the best we've got up top.

I'm really excited about the possibilities for the future after watching this team.  And I'm also excited to see some fresh faces getting a chance in the Gold Cup.  I'm not counting on seeing anything more than a losing fight on Sunday, but as long as it is a fight and not a comprehensive victory for Brazil like in the Group stage, I'll be satisfied.  A win would just be icing on the cake.

Mid Season Review part 1: Acquisitions

16 games in to the season, with a two week break from MLS action, I can think of no better time to deliver to you the second annual installment of the Mid-Season Review. In this space over the next 10 or so days, we will take a look at the Acquisitions, Departures, and Trades that United has made since the end of the 2008 season, and then wrap it all up with a Summary. In each category, we will rank the moves in order of how important they are to the club.

1. The biggest impact addition for United in 2009 I think has been Dejan Jakovic. Brought in by way of Red Star Belgrade and the Canadian National Team, this Croatian finally gives us the reliable center back that we've been missing since the departure of Nelsen. Does anybody remember the name Roger? And how upset we all were that United wasn't able to sign this 34 year old Brazilian? I guess that worked out ok for us in the end. I don't even want to imagine how different this season would be without Jakovic. Sort of a scary thought to imagine that Janicki and McTavish might have been competing for our lone starting center back position.

2. With 4 goals and 2 assists on the year, Chris Pontius is the leading candidate for MLS's Rookie of the Year. His versatility, combined with his energy and his attacking prowess, has turned this young American from UCSB into a rising star. Pontius has played in every match, with 14 starts, and has seen time at striker, right wing, left wing, CAM, and CDM.

3. Fulfilling the required quota of having two Terrapins on the roster at all times so my blog background can be balanced, United's other first round draft pick this year was Rodney Wallace. This guy might be the most athletic player on the team, and is also versatile enough to play multiple positions. Wallace has appeared most often at left wing, being a dangerous threat in the box, but has also played well as a CDM next to Simms. I'm also hoping that the team will give Wallace another try at left back in a 4-4-2 formation at some point in the season.

4. With 5 starts in 10 appearances, Andrew Jacobson has done a decent job filling in for the often-injured Ben Olsen in the middle of the park.

5. Rookie Milos Kocic seems to have come in second in our three-man goalkeeper competition. He's shown some decent potential in 2 league starts, and even earned 1 clean sheet in our first match of the Open Cup. I'm happy to have Kocic as our #2 keeper, but it's way too early to tell if he'll ever be a true #1.

6. Reserve forward Ange N'Silu has very quietly earned 1 goal and 1 assist in 8 appearances for United. I worry though about his ability to adapt to the team, as he doesn't speak a lick of English, and has too often seemed to be on the wrong page from his attacking counterparts. United has had a tendency the past couple of years to cut any reserve forwards (Doe, Kpene, Addlery) at the conclusion of each season, so we'll see if N'Silu survives into 2010.

7. Midfielder Brandon Barklage is well on his way to becoming a fan favorite. Even in just his few brief appearances with the first team, Barklage has demonstrated huge amounts of energy. He's scored one goal in each of our two Open Cup matches. United has had a tendency the past couple of years to cut any reserve draft picks (Cordeiro, Kpene, North) at the conclusion of each season, so we'll see if Barklage survives into 2010.

8. Ok so I get that it's a good idea to fill up the developmental roster with a guy like John DiRaimondo, but I don't quite get using a valuable senior roster spot on Anthony Peters. Each has seen very brief bits of time in the Open Cup, but no appearances during the regular season. Unless the team is actually making a profit by loaning these guys out Richmond and other USL clubs, they will probably be off the team and playing full time in that league next year.

USMNT Gold Cup roster

As found on the Insider, the USSF released the names today for the preliminary Gold Cup roster.

And of course its just the same old names. Why would we expect anything more? It seems that Bradley automatically gives preference to anybody on a team in Europe, regardless of how good that player is, how good that team is, or if that player receives any playing time with that team. And the MLSers who do get called up to the national team are the same ones who always get called up to the national team, even if they've done nothing in MLS this season. The Gold Cup is a legitimate opportunity to get some new faces into the mix. There are plenty of fine young Americans who are having fantastic years by MLS standards, but they aren't even given a chance to compete.

I just don't understand how you could choose Eddie Gaven (2 goals, 0 assists) and Robbie Rogers (0 goals, 1 assist) ahead of Chris Pontius (4 goals, 2 assists), Arturo Alvarez (4 goals, 1 assist), Brad Davis (2 goals, 7 assists), and Colin Clark (2 goals, 5 assists).

The funniest one for me is Clarence Goodson. Playing for Dallas for 4 years, he was an above average defender, but not of high enough profile to receive any national team call ups. But the same month that he announces that he will not be returning to MLS and signs a contract in Norway, all of a sudden he gets his first call up! On the defensive side, I'm thinking Bryan Namoff, Aaron Hohlbein, Omar Gonzales, and Jeremy Hall are just as worthy.

Who else would you like to see get an opportunity?

DC United loss at Colorado Rapids, 3-0

I can't remember the last time I've said this, but this Colorado Rapids team is actually pretty good. And they deserved this win.

Also, I think this might be the first team we've played this year where I'm actually jealous of their defense. Very underrated. And with Colin Clark and Omar Cummings, Colorado has two brewing stars. Speaking of defense though, I'm not sure that this was the best match to bring back back the 4-4-2. Hindsight is 20/20, but I think the 4-4-2 would have helped slow things down a bit in the Seattle match. It certainly wasn't effective here tonight.

And what a big difference between the atmosphere on Wednesday night and tonight. The vast majority of the crowd in Colorado was seated and silent, which is a huge contrast from Seattle. The same can probably be said about the action on the field. The Seattle match was fast-paced throughout. This match was slow and consisted of a lot of giveaways.


1. It seemed like every chance we had on goal came from the head of Chris Pontius. Here's hoping that Quaranta to Pontius will be one of our top scoring options for years to come.

2. I was admittedly harsh on him earlier in the week, but Clyde Simms played well tonight. Most of Colorado's chances came from balls over the top, bypassing the midfield where Simms was roaming.


1. Dejan Jakovic seems to be better suited for the 3-5-2 than the 4-4-2. If he isn't trusting someone else to help cover, he's running all over the place chasing down attackers. The defense was better in the second half.


1. Cummings abused Greg Janicki 1v1 on the first goal. We should all be worried about how the team will cope to the loss of Jakovic to Canada's Gold Cup team.

2. Was Avery John trying to improve his fantasy stats by giving an assist directly to Cummings on the second goal? And he was in no man's land standing in the middle of the box on the third goal, instead of looking to see if someone (Clark) was attacking the back post. John might also be better suited for a 3-5-2, where he played for so many years in New England. Meanwhile, I think Burch is better suited for the 4-4-2, so this lineup didn't really make sense to me. You guys all know where I stand on the Marc Burch versus Avery John debate, but hopefully now we can at least all agree that John is NOT the solution to our persistent problems at left back.

3. I didn't see any game changing saves from Josh Wicks in this one.

4. Ange N'Silu looked disinterested, and really not a part of the team. I counted three times in a row that he gave the ball straight to the Rapids on his first touch, and two times he should have made a run if he was correctly reading a play, but did not. We really thought this guy was better than Francis Doe?

Alright so United just didn't have it tonight. A tired team going up against a well-rested team in high altitude isn't a great excuse for a less than energetic effort, but the result wasn't entirely surprising. United was shut out only one time in the first half of the season. Let's hope this is the only time they get shut out in the second half.

The Third Sixth

This is the third in a recurring series where we look at the DC United season, five games at a time.

Results: 2-1-2. 8 GF, 6 GA

Standings: First place in the Eastern Conference

Statistical Leaders: Christian Gomez (2 goals), Jaime Moreno (2 goals), Fred(1 goal, 1 assists), Santino Quaranta (1 goal, 1 assist), Luciano Emilio (2 assists),

Most frequent lineup:

What we liked:

• Goalkeeper controversy resolved - The only low point that I wrote about in both of my first two posts in this series is an issue no longer. Starting Josh Wicks ahead of Louis Crayton has earned us 4 points to date, and it's really nice to have a keeper that we can count on to come up big when we need him the most.


• Rotating attackers - The biggest different so far between 2008 and 2009 is our wealth of attacking depth. Last year, if just one player was injured, we suffered major setbacks. But now, hearing the news that Moreno or Fred will be out for a couple weeks doesn't even seem to phase the United community. Because between Christian Gomez's surprising return to form and the versatility of Quaranta, Pontius, and Wallace, we've got plenty of players who can fill in without skipping a beat. This year, our bigger problem has been trying to find enough playing time for all these talented guys, which is a good problem to have.


• Defensive progress - Bryan Namoff has consistently been one of the best and most underrated outside backs in MLS over the past several years. It's looking like you might be able to add Dejan Jakovic to that list also. He continues to fly under the radar, while emerging as one of the league's best center backs.

What we didn't like:

• Stupid fouls - In reaction to the two penalty kicks we gave up in these five games, the team needs to be a bit more careful when defending in the box. Clearly the MLS officials have been directed to award penalties at the slightest hint of contact (reference Namoff on Twellman, and Jakovic on Nyarko), so we need to make sure that we don't give them any reason to think about calling fouls in the box.

Defining moment: Josh Wicks' penalty kick save on Brian McBride to preserve United's lead against Chicago and move back into our rightful position in first place. A major theme of this sixth of the season would have to be Wicks' heroics, including several spectacular saves and two clean sheets.

Overall impression: After the second sixth of the season when we finished tied for first place, it didn't really feel right. United wasn't playing like the best team in the Eastern Conference at that time. Now though, I think we deserve it. Closing out the first half of the season with a huge victory over Chicago and a tie at Seattle should provide the team with steady momentum as we head into a rough portion of the year that includes Open Cup and Champions League matches in addition to the regular season

DC United tie at Seattle Sounders, 3-3

"What an advertisement this has been for Major League Soccer here tonight". I heard Glenn Davis speak that line twice during the broadcast, once in the 68th minute on ESPN2, and once before the game was being shown on television (thanks atdhe.net). At first I was thinking that that was a terribly hypocritical thing to say. That if ESPN really wanted to advertise MLS, they might think about broadcasting the entire game. But then I realized that ESPN was just thinking of that literally. They treated this match as if it were nothing but "an advertisement". It was 11:55pm ET when ESPN2 joined this game in progress. That's when cable stations are usually showing Paid Programming right? But then later from Allen Hopkins I heard "This is exactly what MLS was hoping for." Really? MLS was hoping ESPN2 would only show 30 minutes of this match?

And that's really a shame. A high scoring match between the two most exciting teams in MLS, playing in undoubtedly the stadium with the best atmosphere in MLS, is the type of match that should be shown in HD in primetime on national television. It's a shame that ESPN doesn't agree. With hockey and basketball done for the year, and the NFL still a couple months away, sports fans are dying for something exciting to watch. The College World Series doesn't qualify. It would really be in ESPN's best interest to treat soccer as if it were a major sport, but I don't see this country's perception of soccer changing until the media's coverage of soccer changes.

OK let's actually talk about the match some. I'll be honest, I actually went into this one expecting a loss. After an emotional victory over the supposed best team in the league Chicago last week, I figured it would be hard to keep up that momentum. And I was right for most of this match. But then... In the match that concludes the first half of United's 2009 campaign, as we've seen so many times already this season, we stormed back. Thanks to some continuous pressure up top, Sigi's decision to take his foot off the pedal, and a little bit of luck.


1. Right now Christian Gomez is playing the best he's played in two years. Here's hoping that he is healthy enough to start on Saturday. He sure looked like he will be.

2. Chris Pontius was our only attacker who looked dangerous for all 90 minutes.

3. What a perfect cross by Santino Quaranta to set up Pontius's goal. That would be his 6th assist of the season, putting him in second place in the league, and just 1 behind Brad Davis.


1. I think it might be time to start counting the number of points that we owe to Josh Wicks. I count 1 in the tie against RSL, 2 in the win against Chicago, and now 1 tonight. Wicks could have done better on the second goal, but didn't have much of a chance on the other two. He had several great saves to keep us in it.


1. Dejan Jakovic and Marc Burch seemed to feed off each other's mistakes. This was the worst performance by the DC defense this season, by far. These two need to wash their memories of this match quickly, because I'm expecting much better this weekend.

2. The link between the defense and midfield was missing tonight. That would be Clyde Simms and Andrew Jacobson. After this match, I'm officially moving Devon McTavish up above Jacobson on my depth chart.

3. I didn't like Tom Soehn's lineup from the start. I figured that if Ben Olsen is healthy enough to play only one out of the two games this week, it should be this one. And we definitely missed his leadership out there tonight. But my bigger issue with Soehn was bringing in N'Silu when Fred had to come off, instead of just making a straight swap with Gomez. I understand occassionally resting Gomez, but if the plan was to bring him on at some point in the second half, why not just move that up instead of wasting a sub?

4. And speaking of that wasted sub, Ange N'Silu was rarely involved in this match, and when he was, he was usually giving the ball away. United has a recent history of cutting its reserve forwards after each season (Addlery, Kpene, Doe), and I doubt 2009 will be any different with N'Silu.

So that's twice as many Rail as Top Shelf players in a road draw? Seems sort of odd, but then again, this point was a bit of a gift. And this is an important stretch of the season where we've got 3 matches in 8 days, and Chicago has none. With the chance to increase our lead in the East, what was the most points we could expect from this two game road trip? 4? 3? Well we're on our way towards that.

Saving penalty kicks

According to Wikipedia, roughly 76% of penalty kicks result in goals. Then how come so many of us standing in front of our seats at RFK Stadium on Saturday night had a good feeling that Josh Wicks was going to make a save against Brian McBride? It really defied logic, but I absolutely felt like there was better than a 50% chance that Wicks would come up with the stop, and reading some of the comments on the Insider, I wasn't alone with that feeling.

Wicks says that he picked the direction he was going to dive before McBride had even stepped up. I buy that, but I also think there's more to it than just picking a side. For me, it's all about confidence. And confidence is something that Wicks clearly has plenty to spare of these days. If the goalkeeper actually THINKS that he is going to save the ball, and based on how things had been going in the match, if the shooter actually THINKS that the goalkeeper might save the ball, there's got to be a greater than 24% chance that the goalkeeper IS going to save the ball. All about confidence. Wicks was in the head of the Fire attackers on this night, and he's probably still in McBride's head 48 hours later.

One last thing thought… Josh Wicks was not the only MLS goalkeeper to save a penalty kick on Saturday. Danny Cepero of the Red Bulls also had a penalty kick save, yet it still resulted in a goal. The difference there was in the defending of the rebound. United's match saw Bryan Namoff charge into the box after the shot and knock the rebound clear out of play. Toronto's match saw a handfull of Red Bulls standing around watching as their savior of 2008 made a great stop on Amado Guevara, and then continuing to watch as Danny Dichio easily tapped in the rebound. A good goalkeeper will only get you so far if you have a terrible defense in front of him.

DC United win vs Chicago Fire, 2-1

This was my first journey to RFK this season, and boy did I pick a good one. It sure did feel right for this to be a battle for first place, because United and the Fire did look like two of the best teams in MLS tonight. Great atmosphere in the stadium.

Just a shame for a really well-played competitive match between two good teams to be influenced so heavily by the officials. In the end though, the two soft penalty calls balanced each other out. D makes a good point about the symmetry in the officiating. I'll wait until the video highlights are posted online, but in person, I didn't see a foul worthy of a penalty in either case. The difference tonight though, was in the goalkeeping.


1. Ladies and gentlemen we have a goalkeeper! Josh Wicks earned us 2 extra points in this match, not only with his penalty kick save on McBride, but also on a couple other point blank saves, and total control of the box on corner kicks.

2. It wasn't just Wicks though that held Chicago to one goal. The strong defense of Marc Burch and Dejan Jakovic also helped preserve the victory. Brian McBride is the best aerial attacker in US Soccer history, and Burch was marked up against him on every corner and free kick. Great job. Jakovic singlehandedly shut down numerous scoring opportunities, including quite a few from the speedy Nyarko.

3. Christian Gomez isn't going to let the starting central attacking midfield job get away from him that easily. Dude was awesome tonight. It's been far too long since we've seen United score directly off a free kick like that.

4. All of the loud side was buzzing in response to the play of Boyzzz Khumalo after he entered as a second half sub. He put in some hard work during the final minutes to keep Chicago honest.

5. Despite missing Emilio, Tom Soehn did well to put together a great starting XI. Wallace had another strong match in central defensive midfield. And the subs did well to close it out (finally we saw the reapperance of the 4-4-2!) Soehn was also smart to switch Fred and Quaranta after Rolfe and Pappa had already switched, and Pappa was clearly abusing Fred.


1. While putting in a good effort whether on the wing in the first half or up front in the second, Santino Quaranta should have made the final score 3-1 if he was able to finish off Khumalo's perfect cross late in the match.


1. I had a good view of Fred's multiple giveaways in the first half. It wasn't pretty. I think the only passes he completed were backwards to Burch.

Ah, first place. It feels good. This team is really starting to come together. We all were counting on United to score plenty of goals in 2009, but now that they have an above average starting goalkeeper, along with maybe the best center back in the league, this team could be in for a very good year.

Take this survey!

DC United wants you to take a survey on the latest potential stadium locations.

Living in Southern Maryland, both the Dulles area and Rockville area will be terrible locations for me, which is a big step down since the previously proposed PG County site adjacent to the Morgan Blvd Metro stop would have been walking distance from my office. But neither of these new locations will keep me from going to games. So go take the survey and tell the team that a longer drive wouldn't keep you away either.

Dulles is closer than St. Louis!

See you all at the match tomorrow night.

Philadelphia Funyons

There was a bit of an off-hand comment from a user on the Soccer Insider this morning when Goff revealed the news that Josh Gros had been offered a position in the front office by Piotr Nowak and the Philadelphia Union.  The commenter b18bolo suggested that Nowak might also go after some of his other former players like Ben Olsen and Bobby Convey.

It may be five months away, but this has really got me thinking about the expansion draft for Philadelphia that will immediately follow the season.  Assuming that MLS will use the same rules as the past three years, we'll get to protect 10 players, but with United's surprising depth this season, that won't be enough.  How do you protect only 10 players when you have a solid 18-20 players who are key contributors?

Jakovic, Namoff, Simms, Olsen, Pontius, Wallace, Quaranta, Fred, Gomez, Moreno, Emilio…  I just don't see how any of those 11 guys can be left exposed, yet we only get 10 slots.  I can't picture any one of those guys playing in a different jersey next season.  And that still leaves Burch, N'Silu, Jacobson, Barklage, McTavish, Janicki, and Wicks.  That's scary.  No matter what, we're guaranteed to lose a good player in the expansion draft this year.

And don't even get me started on the TWO expansion drafts they'll have for 2011!

DC United win vs Red Bulls, 2-0

Ah, the elusive 90 minute performance. Now I remember what a true victory feels like! It was easy to expect United to let up a late goal after clearly being the better team for the entire game, but instead they added another, thanks to our two veteran super subs.

All that glitters might not be gold here. This wasn't necessarily a domination, because New York had some chances. Luckily for us, they only have one player who knows how to finish those chances, and he was thwarted by Wicks on his only good opportunity. If we give the same chances to Chicago next week though, we might be looking at something closer to a 2-2 scoreline. Brian McBride is no John Wolyniec, and Chris Rolfe is no Danleigh Borman.

1. The best player on the field on this night was Fred. His set up to Santino Quaranta on the first goal was great. And he had at least two good tackles to help on the defensive side when moved out to the wing in the second half.

2. Some credit goes to Tom Soehn for rolling out maybe the best lineup of the year. The 3-5-2 worked well last night, and I liked him mixing things up with Wallace in the middle and Pontius playing, um, wherever. Also, Soehn proved that he's a better coach than Luciano Emilio, because even though the striker clearly disagreed with the move, inserting Gomez preserved the victory.

3. And how about those veteran super subs Jaime Moreno and Christian Gomez? Within five minutes of entering the match, Gomez is wreaking havoc and hitting crossbars. These two combined to earn the final goal with Moreno's pass to Gomez in space, then Gomez initiating contact to draw the penalty, which Moreno of course had no problem putting away.

4. Santino Quaranta continues to have a quietly fantastic season. He probably deserves consideration for the All Star game. His finish on the goal didn't seem like much, but he made that run from just across midfield to get in the perfect position on the near side of the box to get on the end of Fred's pass.

5. That would be the second clean sheet in three matches for Josh Wicks. He was up to the task to stop everything thrown his way, including one great save on JP Angel late in the match. What would have happened had Louis Crayton been in net? He might have made that save, but there's also a good chance it would have gotten by him. However, none of us would have blamed him, because the shot from Angel was tough, and we'd instead be pointing fingers at one of the defenders. None of that has to happen now though. Wicks is a game changer.

1. Another solid defensive performance from our outside backs Bryan Namoff and Marc Burch, but not their best outings when it came to crossing the ball. With the 3-5-2 formation, when Namoff and/or Burch join the attack but miss on a cross, they leave the team susceptible to a quick counterattack from the opponents.

1. His play on the field was adequate, but I'm disappointed in Luciano Emilio for the water bottle incident. Was that really necessary? Emilio needs to understand that he's not going to play 90 minutes of every match this year. Our offense is just too deep for that right now. Some of the best players in the world sit on the bench because their teams have so much depth. Didier Drogba doesn't throw water bottles, so why should Emilio? It will be a real shame for him to miss the 1 versus 2 match against the Fire next week.