The End

As United's season draws to a disappointing but not unexpected completion, you can't help but wonder about what could have been. There are plenty of "what ifs" we could discuss for the entire year, but there's no point in going back and mentioning Moreno's missed penalty in August against the Red Bulls. Namely, it's difficult to look at this game and the three times we struck the post. Plus there was the goal by Brad Evans that also struck the post. Two inches difference and the score could have been 3-0! The most troubling one to me was Khumalo hitting the crossbar from the 6 yard box. You shouldn't miss from that distance! I wasn't happy with the Khumalo for Doe sub to begin with, but really... Do you think a red hot Francis Doe would have missed that shot? Had we taken a single goal lead, the rest of the match would have been much different, and I don't see us giving up the Evans goal if we were leading.

Some other thoughts... What if our Argentinian central midfielder played with as much heart as Schellotto? What if Rod Dyachenko had been taken in the expansion draft and sent to Columbus instead of Brian Carroll? What if the Crew had started these 11 guys against New York last week instead of a bunch of scrubs? Now there's an interesting one! With the way the amazing Will Hesmer played against us, no way he lets a goalkeeper score on him! Had the Crew tried during that match, and earned a draw instead of rolling over to a lesser opponent, we would have been tied with the Red Bulls going into this weekend. We would have only needed a draw against the Crew instead of a win. That changes everything, as we would have been more content to settle for the 0-0 scoreline instead of sending everyone forward.

This just wasn't our week, and it just wasn't our year. We'll talk a lot more about United's future in the coming weeks/months.


1. Greg Janicki is turning out to be a great find for this club. He made several great tackles. My only concern is that our announcers are hyping him up too much that he's now maybe on Seattle's radar.


1. Luciano Emilio really played hard, and probably deserved a goal, but couldn't convert any of his chances.

2. Same goes for Jamie Moreno, who missed high on a ball at the top of the box that I thought for sure would have put us in the lead.

3. All the Ben Olsen comparisons may have been just a bit over the top, but we saw a lot of effort from Santino Quaranta last night.


1. See above for my thoughts on Thabiso Khumalo. I don't know if I could shoot the ball off the crossbar from 6 yards out if I tried.

2. I'm not sure if we can really fault him for the goal, but was it just a coincidence that Columbus scored not more than a minute after Gonzalo Peralta entered the match. Somehow, I'm not the only one who felt that coming.

Wednesday night's Champions League finale will be some interesting "Sport as Theater". You'll see a lot of guys playing hard to earn contracts for next season. But most of all, you'll see Tom Soehn in what we all expect to be his last match as DC United head coach. Where else in life do you get to watch somebody doing his job, moments before he will be handed his pink slip?

One down, one to go

What a wild ride. How is it possible that after all the injuries, all the mistakes, all the questionable decisions, and all the unlucky breaks, I can still go to mlsnet.com right now and see United currently in the playoffs? Pretty strange turn of events. It just seemed so fitting for this season to officially end on a stupid individual mistake that cost us a goal to a team that didn't deserve one. But no! DC came fighting back! And if this game is at all analogous to our season (and there's really no reason to believe that it is), then there's still hope for us yet.


1. Francis Doe scores big goals in big games. He impressed me tonight though even before his first goal. At the end of the first half, I was ready to say that we may have found our long term replacement for Jaime Moreno.

2. The decision by Tom Soehn to start Doe ahead of Moreno, and then bring Jaime on in the second half, turned out to be perfect. If Moreno, Doe, and Emilio all remain on the team next year, and are all healthy, I think this might be the dynamic we see more often going forward.

3. Devon McTavish and Marc Burch both had great games in defense. McTavish had his best game in a while and didn't miss a beat when having to switch from right back to center. Burch was solid in the back also, and had some pretty good free kick service.

4. I've been ragging on him and Vide too much lately, but Clyde Simms had a noticeably good game while wearing the captain's armband for the second week in a row.


1. Thabiso Khumalo and Luciano Emilio were a force for about 25 minutes in the first half, but disappeared most of the rest of the time. Khumalo definitely got the best of Khano Smith, which I always like to see, but his crosses still need some work before I'll be happy with him on the wing. Emilio created some good chances, but needs to get back into finishing mode. This is going to be way too boldly optimistic, but I think I could maybe see Emilio going on a scoring spree in the playoffs.


1. A bit of lazy marking by Gonzalo Martinez came pretty close to costing us the season. Not only did he keep Twellman onside on the goal, but he also hesitated before trying to catch up, allowing TT to be free on goal.

2. I certainly appreciate the effort, but Santino Quaranta had a poor match when it came to shooting. Pretty sure he didn't get one thing on target all night.

So where does that leave us in the playoff race? One point ahead of NY and KC, but with one less game to play. Let's hope that Columbus puts such a beating on the Red Bulls and their reserve goalkeeper this Saturday that the Crew have nothing left when they face us next week. I have a little bit less faith in the Earthquakes going against the Wizards, but we really only need one of those two teams to lose as long as we do get another win in our final match.

Oh yeah one more thing. I'll be in the bleachers for the Reserve match tomorrow, rain or shine, cheering our boys on. Anyone with me?

When did the Red Bulls get good?

Who ever said that 0-0 matches aren't exciting? That had to be the most competitive match between these two clubs in a couple years. Usually we dominate these matches, and the last one against the Red Bulls should be thrown out, but I can't think of a time we've ever played them to a scoreless draw. But I was pretty surprised by the score, even after Moreno's uncharacteristic penalty kick miss in the 80th, I still felt that this game was not going to end scoreless. Especially with Gallardo on the field.


1. That was probably the best game in a United uniform for Joe Vide. He is all effort, all the time. And was one of our best attacking options for most of the match.

2. Even when switching to the middle, Bryan Namoff was our best defender in yet another shutout. I'm starting to like him in the middle. As our veteran defender, he should be the one to step up and be the leader in the back, and this is the first season that I'm starting to see that from him.

3. Another good performance by Marc Burch. I think most of us were more scared of Dane Richards than anyone else going in, but Burch kept him at bay for the entire first half.


1. That would be Louis Crayton's third shutout in four matches, but this one gets credited more to the back line than the keeper. Crayton's positioning was excellent and he made 2 key saves, but he was beaten once by Angel on a shot that went just inches wide from a tough angle, and he is likely to give someone in RFK a heart attack by the end of the year the way he dribbles out of the box.

2. Santino Quaranta looked dangerous last night, and controlled the ball well. As our only real attacking midfielder for most of the match though, I'd like to see him distribute more instead of taking sometimes unnecessarily long shots. But I did like how he immediately seemed to take a more defensive approach as soon as Gallardo came on.


1. Clearly he's not fit enough to play 90 minutes, or even 45, but I didn't see enough effort out of Francis Doe in this match. Just before Doe came out, there was one cross from Vide to him in the middle that I'm fairly sure Emilio would have scored on.

2. Not that he played poorly per se, but Ivan Guerrero was not a factor in this match.

Where does this leave us going into the Open Cup final on Wednesday? We might have lost Emilio, but it looks like we've got back Gallardo. If he shows up motivated, Marcelo Gallardo should be able to run all over a USL side. My only worry is who he will pass to without Looch. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that Emilio will be able to give it a go for at least a half. But regardless of who our attackers are, after the last 4 matches, I'm starting to get pretty confident in our defense. This could be another low scoring match, but with Crayton and Namoff around, I'm feeling pretty good about our chances.

Mid-Season Review part 1: Acquisitions

Given the focus that this blog has given to United's roster this year, I thought it would be appropriate to base our Mid-Season Review specifically on the roster moves that the team has made. In part 1, we will look at United's acquisitions, meaning the players that the team added since the end of last season that they didn't have to give up anything for. Then we'll move on to look at players who departed since last year and United didn't receive anything in return for. Then in part 3 we'll look at the trades that the team has made. Then we'll end the review with a summary.

Here are the team's acquisitions since the end of the 2007 season, in order from most important to least:

1. I could dedicate an entire post to the trials and tribulations of Marcelo Gallardo, but that's already been done. Specifically here though, we should be discussing what Gallardo adds to United that they didn't have last year. In that regard, he is a playmaker with creativity that has not been seen here since the retirement of El Diablo. But there are doubts about whether or not that creativity is really what the team needed to add. Because with Christian Gomez last year, the team may not have been as creative, but they were certainly more successful. Before the season started, I was insistent that Gallardo was brought to DC because he gave us a better chance in international competitions than Gomez. So how's that going for us? Perhaps it's difficult to truly grade Gallardo's impact since he's been injured for two out of the three tournaments we've played in this year, but if he can guide us to an MLS Cup, or better yet a Champions League title in the months to come, all will be forgiven.

2. United completely rehauled the defense in the offseason with the acquisition of Los Gonzalos. So far, it has been Gonzalo Martinez who has appeared to be the most consistent new addition to the squad this year. He has quickly become one of the best left backs in the MLS, and despite calls for him to play centrally as he did at the start of the year, the left is where he is likely to stay. Gonzalo Peralta had some good games and some bad before going down to injury, and in that regard the early comparisons to Facundo Erpen seem appropriate. He won't have to fight very hard to regain his starting job in central defense from Burch when he returns to the field. But with the new look to United's backline, even though they SHOULD be better than the backline we had last year, why can we still not earn a clean sheet? The team had 8 last year.

3. Maybe the biggest surprise this year has come from the return of Santino Quaranta. With Olsen out, Quaranta has been a revelation (or am I going too far with that word?) on the right wing. He added some attacking flare opposite Fred that was an important part of the team's winning streak prior to his most recent injury before Open Cup. But has his 23-year-old body suffered too many injuries in his career for United to count on him long term? A return to health of Peralta and Mediate might push McTavish ahead of Tino on the depth chart at right wing.

4. Francis Doe has emerged of late as a talented attacking option next to Emilio. I had my doubts about him early on, but with two goals in the Superliga, Doe seems to have learned how to adjust to his new team quite nicely. And with Gallardo injured, Doe's continued production at forward will allow the team to move Moreno into the CAM role without losing too much.

5. Three rookies in Ryan Cordeiro, Dan Stratford, and Pat Carroll have been able to earn quality minutes with the first team this season. I wasn't the only one who criticized the team for drafting Cordeiro over other proven midfielders like Stephen King, but he instantly grabbed my eye in the reserve division, and looked pretty good against Houston in the Superliga finale. Stratford was the first rookie to earn first team minutes, and despite being pulled before half time in that game, the coaching staff certainly sees him as having a lot of potential. Strats picked a poor time to get injured though, because without Gallardo, I think a healthy Stratford will move above Dyachenko on the depth chart very shortly. The youngest Carroll has looked pretty good in Open Cup and Superliga appearances lately, but will likely lose playing time once Peralta, Mediate, and his brother Jeff return from injuries.

6. Three more rookies in Dane Murphy, Jeremy Barlow, and James Thorpe have yet to earn any first team apperances. Murphy has been on the 18-man gameday roster a couple of times, and I think he even got some action in the Rochester match. He's tall and a bit versatile. He seems to play mostly a central midfielder, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Soehn try to convert him into a defender. I saw Barlow score a goal in the opening Reserve Division match this year, but it doesn't seem like the club rates him too highly. He's got a good work rate, but will have to fight to keep his roster spot this offseason. I haven't seen Thorpe play yet, but at least he gave us the depth needed to be able to cut Carvallo from the roster.

7. I have my doubts about the acquisition of Joe Vide. I mean he was cut by San Jose of all places! I don't mind giving Vide a shot, since he was good enough to earn quite a few starts for the Red Bulls last year (yeah, but so could some of the women on my wife's team). But I feel like it might have been too much to give Vide a precious senior roster spot.

8. Let's not waste too much time by talking about these guys who aren't on the team anymore: Franco Niell, Jose Carvallo, and Jeff Curtin. Niell was not horrible in a United uniform, that is the few times that he was standing up (how could you tell?). But his salary was just too much for the team to keep around. I still feel like Frank O'Neal's biggest claim to fame should be this picture. Or this one. Carvallo stunk, we'll just leave it at that. It was unfortunate to lose Curtin due to injury, because he certainly could have been getting some minutes ahead of Burch in central defense if was still with the team.

So with all of those acquisitions, DC United should be a better team than last year. Right? Not so fast. Check back in the next few days for a look at all the players that United has lost.

Still not discouraged

To finish in last place in the tournament that we all had charted as our lowest priority this year isn't exactly a tragedy. It's a little bit disheartening, but not discouraging. Because I think the team played quite well, considering our current injury status and packed schedule. And I also think we showed more and maybe deserved better than the 3-1 loss last night and zero overall points in Superliga.


1. Alright so I'm starting to warm on Francis Doe. Two goals in two matches will do that. I think it took him a bit of time since arriving, but he's now settling in quite well with his new team. And he is quickly earning his spot in the regular starting rotation.


1. This was the game where you all finally got to see a bit of the attacking flare that I've loved about Ryan Cordeiro since I first saw him in the first Reserve match this year. Sadly though, that was overshadowed by his poor marking of Rico Clark on the first Houston goal.

2. He's still got a lot of room for improvement, and needs to be more aggressive, but this was probably the best I've seen out of Quavas Kirk. He missed a goal by about six inches.

3. And another rookie Pat Carroll looked pretty damn good and confident.

4. I like some of the things that Tom Soehn did in this match. It was good to see Cordeiro, Carroll, and Zaher. I was also hoping to see Thorpe and Murphy, but maybe next time. But is it possible that the team has been relying too heavily on some of the non-big-name starters lately like Burch, McTavish, Simms, and Namoff? These are guys who play the full 90 of virtually every outing, and between the Open Cup and Superliga, they've been stringing together a lot of minutes lately.


1. For letting up 8 goals in 3 matches, a bit of general criticism goes out to Zach Wells, Marc Burch, and Devon McTavish. Wells is admittedly improving, and it was mostly the marking to blame for the two set piece goals, but shouldn't a good keeper make one of those saves? It was McTavish's loose defending that allowed ol' Bobby Lightning to score. And where was Burch on either of the two set piece goals? Shouldn't our biggest defender have been marking Boswell?

2. This match also saw Luciano Emilio's hot streak come to a close. He is typically the guy on corner kicks who heads out balls that are struck too low, but failed to clear the first goal, and evidentally left that role absent on the second.

So I'm not taking this match and this tournament as the end of the world, like others would have you believe. The team fought hard, but they know they have to do better. It also gave them a couple of things to work on at practice. We'll see how different Tuesday's match turns out to be.

What I really liked though was the attacking effort of the last 20 minutes or so. Did you notice that all 6 of United's front players at that point are not our normal starters? If this was a Reserve match, you would likely have seen those 6 guys starting. And they dominated possession. That gives me just a little bit of hope for the future. I think that this current crop of reserves is our best in years. But that's a small consolation. Now if only our current starters could be our best in years too...

One less tourney to worry about

Due to a limited budget, I haven't made it to too many United games this year, but this was a game that I feel was probably much better to watch in person than on tv. Good atmosphere at RFK as always (and the lights stayed on!), but it seemed like less attendance than usual. All in all, a pretty exciting game, including a frantic final 10 minutes that had my usually quiet section standing throughout.


1. Credit goes as usual to Jaime Moreno and Luciano Emilio for the second goal. Most of the stadium was yelling for Jaime to shoot, but instead he lays the perfect touch to Luchi for the goal.


1. Ok so Francis Doe can score. That's not something we tend to take lightly around here, but I still see where all the Kpene comparisons are coming from. Sometimes Doe has a tendency to try to outdo himself. He needs to learn that the cheeky backpass or the underside-of-the-foot-flick is not always necessary; that sometimes the better option is a simple trap and pass or a through ball. Doe has good vision, but his talent lets him down sometimes, and he isn't always on the same page as the rest of the team. Um... nice goal though.

2. At least I'm not the only one eating his words about Craig Thompson. I'll give in that his positioning and tactical decision making is greater than Moose's. I'd still like to see him lose the ball a bit less though.

3. One month later, I totally get what Fullback meant about seeing Fred play in person. He works a lot harder off the ball than comes across on tv, tracks back well, and is often making a run that isn't always rewarded. Seeing it live, I personally thought Fred played well, yet I'm also not at all surprised to find the rash of comments against him on the Insider. After seeing this game, I totally disagree with those who would suggest that Fred should be our starting CAM whenever Gallardo is injured. With Olsen out and McTavish permanently in central defense, Fred is the only player we've got who is good at making dangerous runs from the outside.


1. A poor game from Marc Burch, clearly not fully comfortable in his role in central defense against a team whose only offensive weapon is the counterattack. I could put Martinez, McTavish, and Namoff down here too for overall poor team defending, but each of these three made a couple of good tackles as well. Burchy didn't.

2. What more is there to say about Rod Dyachenko? I guess just that it's unfortunate that he is having his worst year as a professional in his third season with the club.

As far as gauging where we stack up against the Mexican clubs, I'm still unsure. I think we were better than Chivas and Atlante at creating opportunities, and even though we lost both matches, I think our attack as a whole was better than theirs. But the Mexican clubs are much more organized, and defend better as a team. They are so quick to pressure our players when trying to just maintain possession in the midfield. And at times when DC is content to pass the ball around the opponent's third, waiting for the perfect chance, Atlante was also waiting for the perfect chance - the perfect chance to touch the ball away and quickly counterattack, thereby taking advantage of our slower defenders, which turned out to be our weakness tonight. We failed in the Superliga, but given an entire season to play in the Primera Division, United may fall into the upper half of the table, but would most likely not be championship contenders.

Ah well. I had Superliga below Open Cup on my priority list, given what is at stake. So now Saturday's match against Houston can be treated as if it were a Reserve division match. It will be nice to see James Thorpe get a chance between the posts, and maybe some of our other youngsters like Murphy, Barlow, and Zaher will get a chance with the "first team". I also liked some of the teamwork and chemistry I saw between Cordeiro and Quaranta, and hope to see more of that developing.

And as I write this, I hear Lindsay Czarniak saying that United's Superliga chances are "virtually over". Well if Lindsay says it, then I certianly can't argue.

2 games away

Wow. Nothing like a little controversy to help egg on what has become the biggest rivalry in MLS. What I do like though is that several DC fans have invaded the Fire's big-media blog, but no intelligible Fire fans have dared to opine on a similar post in the Insider.

I'm not going to write too much about the game itself because I once again did not witness it like some bloggers, and other radiophiles have already had their say.


1. The legend of Jaime Moreno appears to grow stronger at every turn. The dude enters the game in the 60th minute and is subbed out before the final whistle, yet is still named the Man of the Match by all accounts. And he didn't even score!

2. He's gotten very little love from me before now, but let's give a shoutout to Francis Doe for a clinical finish and other bits of hard work.


1. Marc Burch is really trying to make a name for himself. First he goes and scores two free kick goals, then he gets ejected for retaliating against the most hated player in MLS. Which of course elicits positive "Burch!" chants from the United fans, and racist claims against him on the Tribune's blog.


1. After a good debut against Rochester, Pat Carroll comes up lame and is at fault for Chicago's goal in this one.

We have been asking all year who would be the cold-hearted assassin to step into Ben Olsen's unoccupied role of professional retalator. I proposed a couple of months ago that Burch could be a prime candidate, and that's looking like the truth. Burchie's fan appeal is growing steadily in DC, and maybe regressing elsewhere, but he has quickly gone from a nondescript journeyman player to a guy that all teams are learning to watch out for. Hard to say whether or not thats a good thing, because Burch's crossing ability was far more dangerous last year before teams knew which foot he preferred, but if he can keep taking free kicks while being a physical presence on defense, Burch has seemed to earn his way into the starting lineup. The coaching staff is going to have some difficult decisions to make if they are ever to have Burch, Fred, Olsen, and Quaranta all healthy at the same time.

It's unfortunate that Marc Burch will have to sit out the semi-final. Of course the red card was deserved for his actions, but the fact is that Burch never would have had to push Blanco had the asshole not tried to injure one of our players. As for ol' no-neck himself, his team lost, so his red card doesn't matter so much. And I think most of us are very doubtful about MLS taking any action against one its biggest stars for a match outside their jurisdiction. What I would really like to see is for the Chicago Fire organization to settle this matter in house and bench Blanco for a game. He is supposed to be the leader of the team, and should act as a role model for their many young talented players, and I certainly hope that the team does not condone his actions by letting them go unpunished. Surely a classy organization like the Fire will handle this situation properly and not just try to sweep it under the rug. Right?

With this victory, DC earns another home match against the Revolution in the semifinals, but this time thankfully the match is at RFK. If only Crystal Palace Baltimore could have converted two more PKs to be the third USL club to advance to the semi's. But the Charleston Battery versus Seattle Sounders matchup does guarantee that one USL club will be participating in the Final. How great is that? Name another sport where a minor league team has a legitimate chance to beat major league teams, thus earning their way into a tournament against the best teams in the world.

Round 1 to Gomez

In the first match between the two players who will be linked in the minds of DC fans for the rest of their MLS careers, Christian Gomez dominated United and Gallardo with two assists. Even Facundo Erpen scored a revenge goal, in a match where he had shockingly zero bicycle kicks.


1. Bryan Namoff - Had a couple goal saving tackles, and looked totally badass with the bandage over his head in the second half.


1. Francis Doe - His first touch of the game, he got the ball around midfield, carried it all the way up the left sideline with three Colorado players on him, and won a corner kick. He then immediately went into the locker room and was never seen again. At least as far as I could tell.

1. Let's just make this simple and list the entire midfield. Marcelo Gallardo, Clyde Simms, Rod Dyachenko, Santino Quaranta, and Marc Burch - Gallardo was ineffective, not even challenging the keeper on corner kick or free kick attempts. Simms seems out of place in the 3-5-2. I like him better in the bruiser role in the 4-4-2. Not sure he knows what to do with himself with Dyachenko next to him. Speaking of the Russian, I don't think he had as poor a game as a lot of the overreacters on the Insider are claiming, because he did win two free kicks in good spots, but he also gave the ball away a lot. Quaranta kept up the hustle, but did nothing on offense. Burch played alright, but his crosses were always off the mark.

So despite playing with one more midfielder than the opposition, we were still dominated in the middle third. That right there is a really bad sign. But a worse sign is that Soehn continues to roll out the 3-5-2 regardless of the situation. Coaches always talk about how its important to be able to play successfully in more than one formation. I believe we have the team to be able to do that. So why not take advantage of our personnel and tailor the formation to the situation. Playing at home against a team that is weak offensively: that's a good time for the 3-5-2. But playing on the road against a team with a proven (and vengeful) MVP leading the attack, in a game where we would probably have been happy with a nil-nil draw: not a good time for the 3-5-2.

Also, with Chivas's 0-0 draw against Houston yesterday, DC United is now officially THE ONLY team in the league without a clean sheet. And with Blanco, Rolfe, and Chicago coming to town in just four days, it's hard to be confident. But now I've also done a bit more research and stumbled across another jaw-dropping stat. DC United is also THE ONLY team in MLS with no away goals.

It's not really hard to see where the team should go from here. The injuries to Olsen, McTavish, Fred, and Mediate are certainly cutting down on our options. But still, I feel like we're all just sitting here, waiting for the chemistry to develop on its own. Well we've been waiting for almost two months now. How much longer is it going to be? For me, I'd like to go back to the proven strategy that worked so well last year. It's simple, really. It's Burch and Namoff as the wing backs, with two regular starting center backs, but with an occassional rotation of McTavish into that position. It's Clyde Simms as the lone defensive midfielder, behind our #10, with Fred on one wing and Olsen on the other when he's healthy, and any number of other talented options when he's not (Quaranta, McTavish, Mediate, Kirk). And of course, it's the Godfather of Goals and the Golden Boot winner up top. We're out of the crowded portion of our schedule, so I think that with a single solitary starting lineup, with only minor changes when necessary, we will see the chemistry develop much quicker than we have with the frequent changes that we've seen over the past two months.

It will be hard to overcome the negative though in a short week of practice before a game against a quality Chicago opponent. So for now, I pose the following question to the public... Which stat is more troubling... That DC United has ZERO clean sheets, or that DC Untied has ZERO away goals?

What we missed

So I spent a week away on business, and cruising the college bars at IU (Has anyone else played "Sink the Biz"? Great fun. And probably the easiest way to get random girls to come over and drink with you.) In anticipation of tonight's home leg of the Ben Cup against RSL, I figured I'd take a quick chance to review what I missed while I was away.

• DC United signs Francis Doe to their last remaining spot on the Senior roster. Doe should give us the speed that we've all been yelling about since Emilio started apparently playing with twenty pound weights in each of his pockets. Goff is saying though that Doe has yet to receive his work visa, so will not be eligible to play tonight.
  
  
• As United prepares for tonight's revenge match against Sideshow Kyle and Real Salt Lake, it looks like Santino Quaranta will be starting at right midfield in place of the injured Devon McTavish. Also emerging from this week's practices was this fantastic quote from Zach Wells after a collision with Franco Niell: "When I lift my shirt later, there's definitely going to be an imprint of a gnome on my chest."
  
  
• The Men's Olympic Team gets I think a pretty tough draw, in a group with Holland, Nigeria, and Japan. I guess it's far from being a Group of Death or anything, because I think all four groups are actually pretty even, but it will certainly be tough. The Netherlands won all of Europe, knocking out England in the semifinals and then won the meaningless final against Serbia. And we've consistently had a hard time with African nations. But the Americans are lucky to avoid Brazil, Argentina, and Italy in the group stages.
  
  
• The defending Supporters' Shield winners DC United and defending MLS Cup Champion Houston Dynamo each find themselves in last place in their respective divisions. This isn't really new for either team, because both of them started fairly slowly last year too, and I don't think it's really too surprising for Houston this year either given the loss of some key players. But DC seemed to upgrade at every position other than goalkeeper. They should be due for a big win tonight.
  
  
• Toronto and San Jose each earned victories last weekend, making it two in a row for TFC. The Rapids continue to be wildly inconsistent. One week after a big victory over New England on the road, the Rapids lose at home to give San Jose their first win. In an effort to rebound, Colorado will announce this guy as their new defensive midfielder at halftime.