Mid-Season Review part 4: Summary

So the main question posed throughout our series in review of the player acquisitions, departures, and trades made by DC United since the end of last season is whether or not the club is actually better off now than they were last year. Let's review, position by position.

Goalkeepers:

We added Zach Wells, Jose Carvallo, and James Thorpe.
We lost Troy Perkins, Jay Nolly, and Shawn Crowe.

Clearly we are NOT better off at goalkeeper. That's been quite obvious this year. Despite Wells FINALLY earning his first clean sheet, United's GAA was also lower with Perkins in goal. And even though he never quite caught on in DC, Nolly is now the starting goalkeeper for the team tied for first place in the USL1, and would likely have been a much more formiddable challenge to Wells' starting position than Carvallo was.

Defenders:

We added Gonzalo Martinez, Gonzalo Peralta, Pat Carroll, Mike Zaher, and Jeff Curtin.
We lost Bobby Boswell, Greg Vanney, and Brad North.

Judging by sheer numbers, it would be easy to say that we're better off, but I think the verdict is still out on this one. Early in the season, los Gonzalos looked promising, but ultimately some failed communication, disorganization, and maybe a bit of bad luck, caused the defense to suffer. If you're looking again at GAA, then we're worse off, but I still think there's time to turn that around. With the very recent emergence of Pat Carroll as a regular contributor, my gut tells me that the team's defense will ultimately be better off going into the playoffs than we were last year.

Midfielders:

We added Marcelo Gallardo, Ryan Cordeiro, Dan Stratford, Craig Thompson, Joe Vide, Quavas Kirk, Dane Murphy, Jeremy Barlow, and now also Ivan Guerrero (in a trade since the start of my MSR).
We lost Christian Gomez, Josh Gros, Brian Carroll, Justin Moose, Stephen DeRoux, and Bryan Arguez.

This is another hard one, but at the midpoint of the season, I actually think we're worse off. Setting aside the Gallardo vs. Gomez argument that entire posts have been devoted to, we lost two significant experienced MLS quality midfielders in Gros and Carroll, and tried to replace them with a bunch of unproven commodities. But the acquisition of Guerrero was certainly a step in the right direction, and might cause me to change my mind here.

Forwards:

We added Santino Quaranta, Francis Doe, and Franco Niell.
We lost Nick Addlery, Guy Kpene, Jamil Walker, Jerson Monteiro, and Mira Mupier.

In the midfield, we tried to replace quality with quantity. Well this is exactly the opposite. We took a whole slew of non-productive attackers and replaced them with two guys, Tino and Doe, with a scoring touch. The moves made at this position definitely improved the team, along with of course Jaime Moreno's return to form.

So where does that leave us in the end? The forwards are definitely better, the goalkeepers are definitely worse. I'm not sure about the defenders, but I think they're better. I'm not sure about the midfielders, but I think they're worse.

On paper, that should lead you to believe that the team should be right in line with where they were last year. Yet in the first half of the season, that hasn't been case. The collapse of DC United was the biggest story in the league when they started out 2-7, but since then, I think the team has flown largely under the radar. And different from the past two year, it's unlikely that United will enter the playoffs as the favorite to win the MLS Cup. I hate to get ahead of myself, but could we take advantage of that position and ride our underdog status back into the Finals?! Chicago, New England, and Columbus will be formiddable opponents, but this crop of players might just be up to the task.

Wishful thinking

A thought just occurred to me.

Each of the last two years, we ran away from the competition in the regular season, winning the Supporters' Shield, and earning the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Yet we fizzled out and failed to reach the MLS Cup Finals each year.

Is it at all possible that these early season losses are all part of Tom Soehn's diabolical plan to earn a lower seeding in the playoffs to reverse our luck of the past two years?

The more I think about it, the more this idea actually starts to make sense in some deranged way. Especially with the current playoff format. The Eastern Conference is stacked this year. The Western Conference is a bit more, um, flat. So DC United could conceivably have their sights set on fifth place in the East, a seeding that would move them into the West for the playoffs. Instead of having to face our arch nemeses Chicago and New England in the playoffs, or a resurgent Columbus or Kansas City, United would earn matchups against weaker opponents like LA or Dallas.

Mr. Soehn, you are hereby a genius.

MLS Cup in review

After 195 regular season games, 517 goals, and 3 rounds of playoffs, we have the same Cup champion as last year (Houston), the same runner up as last year (New England), and the same Supporter's Shield winner as last year (DC). Why did they even bother having a season?
And none of those three teams utilized the services of a Designated Player this year. So what does that say about the talent in MLS?

The view from section 404 row 7 at RFK was a lot better than I expected. Close enough in the upper deck that you could still read the names on the backs of the jerseys, but yet still high enough that you can see the entire field. And all three goals were on my end.

Speaking of goals, I called the Twellman and Ngwenya goals correctly, but picked a goal from the wrong CAM. Here's a few more observations from the Cup:

1. Khano Smith is a bit of a jerk. This is after hearing him clearly say "Get the fuck up man" to Blanco in the ECC game, and he was getting booed by most of the stadium by the end of the Final.

2. Craig Waibel sucks. He was getting beat by Smith almost every time the ball was in that area. It's just a shame that Smith was more concerned with arguing with the ref than he was with helping his team, because they couldn't convert any of those opportunities into goals.

3. I'm still trying to figure out the Andy Dorman sub. Because the fourth official had Noonan's number 11 up, but then Ralston came over instead and they changed it to 14. Was Ralston injured? Or did he overrule his coach and decide to take himself out of the game? If so, that's a little bit too noble of him, because Noonan was pretty ineffective and the team seemed to be missing Ralston's crossing ability when they needed it the most at the end.

4. Pat Noonan is over the hill. The Revolution should try to find a speedy striker in the offseason who can come in for Noonan when they are behind.

5. Dominic Kinnear straight up outcoached Steve Nicol. Kinnear's decision to move Dwayne De Rosario farther up top wreaked havoc on New England's 3-5-2, and they failed to adjust at all. Ngwenya's goal was on a kind of scrappy/lucky play, but I definitely credit De Rosario's goal to the Revs just being outmanned in the back. You could see Parkhurst in man coverage follow Ngwenya out to the side, which basically took New England's best defender out of the play and left DeRo open in the middle.

Fantastic game though to watch in person. I'll post some pictures that my wife took in here later when we get a chance to upload them.

MLS Cup Preview

I'll be there today with my DC United scarf and University of Maryland blanket, cheering on the Revs for one final day.

Houston is a good balanced team, that doesn't rely on just one player to make a difference, but I think it will be the Brian Ching injury that makes a difference today. These are essentially the same teams that met in the championship last year, and Houston prevailed. But if you think about it, if Ching hadn't played in the Final last year, then New England would have won that game on a golden goal in overtime, and we would be talking about them possibly repeating this year instead.

With or without Ching, Houston still looks like the favorite, but I think the Boston area just has too much going for them this year.

So I'm predicting a 2-1 Revolution victory, with goals by Ralston, Twellman, and Ngwenya. We might see Ching as a sub in the second half, but he won't be 100%, and he won't be very effective. I'm also predicting that there will be some bit of controversy that has us all talking (arguing?) while walking to the parking lot. Like maybe a Houston goal off a corner kick that's disallowed because of pushing in the box or something like that.

This game will be over in regular time, giving us all a chance to make it home (or to a bar?) in time to see the Redskins dominate the Cowboys :-/

Midnight Riding a Bike

Let's see the Boston Globe try to top that headline!

So I guess 32 credits was all that Taylor Twellman needed at the University of Maryland. Wow, what a goal.

And I don't need to hear the arguments that it should have been disallowed. The rule says that a dangerous play call is at the discretion of the referee. And this is coming from a guy who just saw United knocked out of the playoffs on a "discretionary" handball call.

The Revolution sure have this whole 3-5-2 thing figured out. Heaps, Parkhurst, and John were great, and Joseph was brilliant. I'd like to see Clyde Simms develop more into the Shalrie Joseph type. He's got the body for it. But Joseph is such a leader, pointing and directing wherever he goes. I also think Parkhurst's Defender of the Year title is well deserved.

I will be wearing all black to MLS Cup in support of United, no doubt about it. But don't be surprised if you hear from me a couple of "Taylor Twellman! Clap, clap, clap-clap-claps"

ECC Preview: Chicago at New England

Let me preface this by saying that I hate doing this. But sometimes if you want to be right, you've got to pick against your team. I've been a Redskins fan all my life, so I'm used to it.

I've been a reluctant Revolution fan for only about 72 hours now, and I'm already having my doubts. As much as I'd like to see them just get it over with already and win an MLS Cup, I don't think it's in the cards for them. And it's not because they're not good enough.

It's because Chicago is just too good right now. The Fire are exactly that.

They are hitting their stride at the most perfect moment. DC United was the best team in the league for about 9 out of the 10 month season, but right now I think the Fire might have that title. If Chicago can beat a great team in United, how could they possibly lose to a mediocre team like the Revs?

Juan Carlos Osorio is a great coach. I've sort of joked about it before, but he really could have a future as the USMNT coach someday. His adjustments throughout the 180+ minutes of soccer in the United series proved it. The Fire's tactics may have been ugly, but they were effective. Even our boy Jaime Moreno said "that's not soccer."

So my prediction is Chicago with a 2-1 victory. Both goals in the first half, and New England gets one late trying to come back. Let's hope I'm wrong.

Conference Champhionships

The Conference Champhionship matchups are set. Although I'm still not sure that you can really call them Conference Championships when you've still got an Eastern Conference team playing in the West... But I've already complained enough about that.

So we've got Chicago at New England on Thursday night.
And Kansas City at Houston on Saturday.

Really glad that Houston was able to knock out Dallas. I was getting pretty worried that we would have to sit through a Dallas vs. Chicago final at RFK. Between Blanco and Carlos Ruiz, I might have had to BOO through the entire match.

DCUMD has decided to officially support our boy Taylor Twellman and the New England Revolution for the duration of the playoffs. But I think the Fire are at the top of their game right now, and peaking at exactly the right time (which has been DC's problem the last two years), so it won't be easy.

Oh well

As soon as it was announced that MLS Cup 2007 would be played in RFK Stadium, we knew our mission for the year.  That mission failed last night.

But what a game!  If the Gomez hand ball goal had counted to force overtime and potential penalty kicks, this match probably would have gone down as the greatest game in MLS history.

ESPN didn't show it, but I'd like to see a replay of the Olsen to Gomez to Addlery attempt that Nick whiffed on.  My thought is that if Emilio was at full strength, he would have played the full 90.  Emilio buries that one in the back of the net.  Addlery whiffs.

Oh well.

I just named two "what ifs" and I could probably name a dozen more.

Maybe DC United should plan to finish in 4th place instead of 1st next year so we don't have to play at home in the playoffs anymore.

Now we just get to sit back and wait for the fallout.

The playoffs

I'm still trying to figure out the new MLS playoff structure.

I distinctly remember earlier in the year the MLS announcing that they would be switching the playoffs to a straight table structure, with no conferences. Then a couple of months later they changed it so that the top 8 teams, regardless of conference, would still make the playoffs, but the playoff matchups would still be determined by conference.

I guess it's cool to try to be original…

But if DC United has won the Supporters Shield, then they are considered the best team, and they should get to play the worst team. That's how the playoffs work in every other civilized league in the world. But here we have the #1 team playing against the #7 team. And the #2 team playing against the #8 team.

That's odd.

This happened because 5 teams qualified from the playoffs in the East, and only 3 teams qualified from the West, so MLS's theory is that they should send the 5th place team from the East over into the West. But here's how the theory SHOULD work. Since 5 teams qualified from the East, the East is clearly the stronger conference. DC United should be rewarded for winning the stronger conference, and play against the 5th place team, not the 4th place team. It's the 4th place team (Chicago) that should be sent out West, not the 5th place team (Kansas City).

I guess it's silly for us to be complaining about it. DC United is the best team in the league, so they should be able to beat the #7 team OR the #8 team. Right? It shouldn't matter. But you never know.

There must be some way that MLS thought that this playoff system would have somehow benefited LA and NY, otherwise they wouldn't have done it.

So that's what we call a finale?

A 3-2 loss at home would have been crushing earlier in the year, but let's not get too down on ourselves. We were without our best central defenseman Greg Vanney for 90 minutes, our biggest inspiration Jaime Moreno for 80 minutes, our lucky charm Clyde Simms for 40 minutes, our hardest working player Ben Olsen for 45 minutes, and our leading goal scorer Luciano Emilio for 40 minutes.

How great would it have been for Olsen to score that goal inside the six yard box with his head while LITERALLY sitting on his ass.

I've never heard of him before, but that Robbie Rogers kid is a stud, and would be a great addition to the DCU/UMD connection. I could see him as the heir-apparent to Olsen's spot on the right wing. One can only dream.

Regardless of two disappointing results at home in the final two matches of the season, DC United still owns the Supporters Shield, and should still be considered the favorite to win the MLS Cup.