Award 9: The Etchy

By defintion, the Etchy Award goes to the team's Most Valuable Player. The winner of this award should be the player who had the biggest influence in driving the team to victory. The award's namesake Marco Etcheverry helped deliver 3 MLS Cups to the club, and was named League MVP in 1998. He's also a member of the all-time MLS Best XI.

1. A great candidate for this award is our captain Jaime Moreno. With 10 goals and 10 assists this season, Moreno continues to be one of the most productive players in the league, even at age 34. A lot of people said his career was over before this season, and a lot of people have already been saying it after this season, but don't let them fool you. Because there is no doubt that DC United is a better team when Moreno is on the field.

2. Last year's league MVP Luciano Emilio was once again one of the top scorers in the league with 11 goals. Although he was quiet early in the year, and probably never fully recovered from injuries late in the year, Emilio is still one of the best strikers in the league, and this season even added 5 assists.

3. Our best defender this year has been Bryan Namoff. With so many new faces on the back line, Namoff was forced to take on more of a leadership role than in years past. The team struggled at times in defense, but it was rarely due to any faults by Namoff.

4. Clyde Simms displayed his best year to date with 2 goals and 2 assists while playing a central defensive midfield role. Simms was the model of consistency this year, being the only player on the roster to start all 30 games.

poll by twiigs.com

(the 2008 Benny Awards)

Embarassment

It seems like everyone in the stadium knew that this was a must-win game for DC United, except for anybody wearing black. What ever happened to being "hard to play against"? Wasn't that always Soehn's philosophy? This team was fairly easy to play against last night, making bad passes all over the field, including one that probably cost us all hopes of continuing our season. Over 28,000 fans showed up to give this match a playoff atmosphere, and our team let them down.


None


1. If every player on the team gave as much effort as Santino Quaranta then we may have stood a chance.


1. Possibly the worst mistake in the history of this franchise was Louis Crayton's inability to clear Peralta's passback. I guess we all knew that he would flub one of those eventually, but it had to be in THIS match?!

2. This is pretty much a rehash of what I said about him last week... But when you're at the end of the line in an absolute MUST-WIN game, Tom Soehn needs to put his best most proven lineup on the field. This was the WRONG time to experiment again with the 3-5-2. We finally had all 5 of our top defenders healthy, and he chooses to only start 3 of them? Gonzalo Peralta hasn't played a meaningful game SINCE JUNE and Soehn chooses to start him as our ONLY central defender? Yes, I'm bitter. And with the decisions he's made the past few weeks, Soehn is receiving a vote of no confidence from me.

3. We suffered from an inability to hold the ball, and frequently had way too much trouble advancing the ball out of the back. For that I blame Marcelo Gallardo, Clyde Simms, and Joe Vide. We had 5 midfielders to their 4 and STILL lost the battle in the midfield.

4. Some pretty poor and lazy defending throughout this match from Gonzalo Peralta and Bryan Namoff.

If the team is looking for a reason to keep fighting, then they need to look no further than the group of fans that stayed to the very end of this match, cheering and singing. In any other sport, you would have been hearing BOOs after the third goal, but not from United supporters! If those fans won't give up, then the team can't either. And the most ridiculous thing about it all is that we still actually have a chance! Even while blog commenters all over the land are calling for Soehn to be fired and for a complete roster overhaul (yeah, because that worked soooo well for this year), United still sits just 2 points out of fourth place in the East, and 1 point out of fourth place in the West. DC wasted this chance to get back into the playoffs with a home game against the weakest opponent left on the schedule. So with games against Houston, New England, and Columbus coming up, our chances are very slim. If we play the way we played last night, then our season is over, and so is Tom Soehn's career in DC. But if these players and this coaching staff somehow find a way to wipe the last month from their memory and embrace their underdog position after everyone else has written them off, they might just do something special.

Continuing the downward spiral

As frustrating as it was to watch this team on a roller coaster ride that had its share of ups and downs the past few months, I would trade the past three weeks for that roller coaster. I'm not going to argue that we deserved to win this match, because clearly we didn't, but it sure made it hard for us to have a chance when we suffered from the worst display of officiating that we've seen all year. And for the second match in one week, we saw a red card go to a central defender on a challenge that deserved a yellow at worst.


1. Boyzzz Khumalo scored his first MLS goal, and was maybe our only attacker to look dangerous for any sustained period of time. What do you guys think of the nickname "Z3" for him?


1. As pissed off as I was at the midfield in general, I've got to hand it to Santino Quaranta. He showed a lot of heart, clearly playing through some significant pain, even a eliciting a Curt Schilling bloody sock reference from Bretos. I'm just worried though that some longer term damage could have resulted from Soehn leaving him in too long.


1. Sorry, but I will not be joining the Louis Crayton apologists from this match. Sure he made some great 1v1 stops, and maybe there was only one goal that you could truly blame on him, but he let in five goals, which hasn't happened to us in over two years. That's unacceptable.

2. This is one of those matches where you'd tend to hold the entire backline accountable. But McTavish did manage to score a goal, so it's just Marc Burch, Bryan Namoff and Gonzalo Martinez for this one.

3. But worse even than the defense was the midfield. And that's Clyde Simms, Ivan Guerrero, and Fred. I have a feeling that the team of Fred/Simms/Quaranta/Guerrero is the best foursome that we've got for most of the rest of the season, and this was their worst match collectively. Simms looked like he belonged back in Richmond the way he was abused by Donovan. The wingers didn't have horrible matches, but I expected much more. When the speedy Guerrero is on the same side of the field as David Beckham, we should be using that to our advantage. Becks may still be a world class crosser, but Guerrero should have been able to beat him up the left side all night, if only the team had tried. And I only saw Fred make one of his patented diagonal runs in this match, and he was called offside for that one.

4. Tom Soehn was straight up out-coached by Bruce Arena. Arena knew enough to take advantage of our lack of speed in defense, and Soehn did nothing to adjust. Of course he was hampered for most of the second half thanks to the Beckham Rule (You know, the one where you automatically get sent off if you knock him over?). I also thought the 77th minute was way too long to wait to bring in your first offensive substitute.

I'm normally very optimistic about this team, but I think we've reached an obvious crossroads here. Even with the 3-7 start, and the mid-season roller coaster, I never really had any doubts that we'd miss the playoffs. Until right now. This is the first time all year that I'm thinking DC has about a 50-50 shot at making the playoffs, and that's scary.

So with that said, I'm ready to punt the CCL. We really have no shot of winning at Marathon, even if we sent our best lineup. So really, why bother? I would have no problem with Moreno, Emilio, Fred, Quaranta, Martinez, Namoff, and Crayton all heading home to DC until the weekend. None of these players should be forced to see action during the remainder of the CCL, as they need to be as healthy as possible for the playoff push. And I sure hope Peralta is close to recovered, because Burch's suspension really necesitates his availability for our big road match this weekend.

By the way, what kind of shitty scheduling would cause the only two professional sports teams that I'm emotionally attached to to both be playing Sunday afternoon in Dallas this weekend?

Another international disappointment

I was wrong when I suggested earlier that DCU would probably be taking the CCL seriously, since they had rested Emilio and Fred for the Dallas match. Instead we sent out an even weaker team tonight, that included the reappearance of Zach Wells! Goff says it's because Crayton had a sore knee, I'm not so sure. A 2-0 loss to the best team in Concacaf isn't necessarily an end to our international play this year though. As long as Saprissa beats up everyone else too, we've still got a chance. That is if we want one.


1. Clyde Simms was the best player on the field last night for us. And he had our best scoring chance of the night with a header off of a Burch cross in the 72nd minute.


1. That was another quality match from Boyzzz Khumalo. He certainly gave a lot of effort.


1. I don't agree that the challenge by Devon McTavish deserved a red card, but he sure did hang his team out to dry. Even though it looked like we were playing something like 8 v. 13, not just 10 v. 11.

2. I debated in my head for a while where to put Marc Burch. His defending was poor, but he was our best offensive threat. I'd almost forgot he had that kind of crossing ability, and is really much more of a left back than a center back.

3. Craig Thompson looked like a rookie reserve player who has been asked to play way too many minutes for the first team. Oh wait, that's exactly what he is, and it's not really his fault.

4. Minor demerits to Bryan Namoff for his second below average performance in a row.

Now I usually reserve space in this blog only for discussions of in-game developments and thoughts on particular players, but let's take a step back and look at the broad league-wide political issues that this and other tournaments have raised. Fixture congestion, the salary cap, and roster restrictions are major impediments to the success of MLS teams in international competitions. The best example is New England's somewhat comical home loss to Joe Public. The league needs to set its priorities straight. If the priority is still to make the league and the teams profitable as soon as possible, then I understand the cap restrictions, but then why play so many damn games? If the priority is make the league better respected internationally, then the league needs to give the teams more incentive to try to do so in international tournaments, instead of just rolling out the reserves, and needs to give the teams the tools (cap space, increased roster spots) to do it.

Award 1: The Richie

By definition, the Richie Award goes to the hardest working, most underrated player on the United roster. The award's namesake Richie Williams is probably most famous for his diminutive stature, but he is second most famous for his work rate. The dude just went nonstop, constantly interrupting plays for the opposing team. And yet he received much less recognition for his role in those three championships than many other players on those teams (Harkes, Agoos, Pope, Diablo, Stewart, etc).

By virtue of playing the same central defensive midfield position as Williams, Clyde Simms would probably be the favorite to win this award. He's made every start this season, and has played a critical role with the team since beating out Brian Carroll for the CDM job last year. Simms has even developed a little bit of a scoring touch this season with two goals. Nonetheless, he's still virtually unknown in the national press when compared to players like Joseph, Mastroeni, and Clark.

Challenging Simms would be our Ironman Bryan Namoff. He's played almost every minute of every match this year, and has been definitely our most consistent defender, if not also our most talented. If you're looking for proof that Namoff is underrated, look no further than the fact that he's had only 1 cap for the national team, while Marvel Wynne continues to get called up.

Also throwing his name into the race this year is Devon McTavish. This Champions Cup scoring machine has probably made more appearances in all competitions combined than any other player this year. And you can't question his work ethic when you realize that he's started in at least 3 different positions this season.

And rounding out the Richie Award nominees is a newcomer to the club Joe Vide. Since joining United in July, he's fought his way into the starting lineup and leaves it all on the field every match, even eliciting comparisons from some to Ben Olsen. Obviously the guy is underrated too when he's been cut by two lesser teams like the Red Bulls and Quakes in the last year.

poll by twiigs.com

(the 2008 Benny awards)

Benny Vide delivers the victory

With his one-time shoe-string shot to give the team a 1-0 lead, I could have sworn I was watching Benny Olsen. Or maybe Benny Feilhaber. But definitely somebody named Benny. Nope, it was Joe Vide. That goal really made me wish I was listening to Dave Johnson and Thomas Rongen do the broadcast. I could just hear Rongen saying his usual "Shoelaces... Thanks for coming..." line.

Anyway, up until around the 80th minute, this felt like it was going to be a very underwhelming victory. We looked noticeably mediocre, playing against a middling Western Conference team whose coach had just resigned. DC dominated possession for the most part, but could only generate one goal, and that one was off of a rather spectacular atypical shot. We rightfully pulled away at the end, but it wasn't quite the victory I was hoping for. Once again, it was Gallardo's presence that was missing.


1. Obviously it was the goal by Joe Vide that allowed us to knock the ball around more in the second half. The other two goals would have been much harder to come by if it wasn't for Vide's.

2. Our two stalwarts Brian Namoff and Clyde Simms had their usual awesome performances. I'm thinking that the final 5 minutes after Simms was subbed out was actually the first time all season that either of these guys have come off the field.

3. Playing once again in a CAM role, Santino Quaranta's goal was a beaut. Not often in the MLS do you see someone score from the top corner of the box like that.

4. I'm not likely to take back everything bad I've said about him quite yet, but it was cool to see Quavas Kirk score his first MLS goal in his first minute on the field.


1. How about our new assist machine Luciano Emilio? I don't think we're going to be comparing Looch to John Stockton anytime soon, but I liked seeing him share the wealth with his teammates.


1. It's hard for me to put a defender down here after a clean sheet match, but I was once again a bit disappointed with Gonzalo Martinez. His passes are sometimes too lazy and his dribbling is sometimes too wild. If we ever have Peralta, Burch, and McTavish available all at once, I don't think Martinez should be an automatic starter anymore.

So it wasn't quite a domination as the score suggests, but it was a victory nonetheless. Now let's see if, for the first time in a while, DC can string together multiple wins. They've got the potential to do it, with matches coming up against New York at home and San Jose on the road, with the Open Cup final against Charleston mixed in. Hopefully the team can build on this game and gain some confidence, because I'm not sure the kind of lackluster first half that we had will be enough against an energized USL opponent.

Roller coaster continues

Despite knocking on wood as often as possible, I hate to admit that I called this. DC United was consistently crappy early in the year, and was consistently victorious just before the start of Superliga, but at all other times of the season, we've been horribly inconsistent. The team once again failed tonight to string together victories. And for the first time, I'm really starting to miss Gallardo.


1. It was just a couple weeks ago that I called Mike Zaher as a potential regular option for us at left back, and he proved it tonight. He made one great stand up tackle on Naissey, and even got involved in the attack. Quality first start for the rookie.


1. If it weren't for him being a step behind Twellman on the first goal, I would have called Marc Burch our man of the match. He made 6 good tackles that I noticed, and kept Joseph from having any good chances on New England's corners.

2. For the first 60 minutes of the match, I had Jaime Moreno slated as a Rail, but he really stepped it up after that and almost willed his team to a point. Loved the cheeky chip shot. The team seemed to follow Jaime's example as leader in this match. They were slow when he was slow, but then they also pushed when he pushed.


1. This was probably more due to some good defending by Parkhurst and Heaps, but I was disappointed in Luciano Emilio for not being more involved. Probably should also admit that the midfield did a poor job of getting him the ball.

2. In general we definitely lost the battle in the midfield, even when shifting to the 3-5-2. We could not maintain possession, and for that the blame should fall onto our holding midfielders Clyde Simms and Joe Vide. Both left the field way too open for Larentowicz to score his ugly goal. Simms continued his bad habit of giveaways, but I did like how he pushed forward more late in the match. Vide completely disappeared in the second half.

3. According to Johnson and Rongen, Quavas Kirk has been impressing the coaching staff playing as a forward lately in practice. I just don't see it. The dude needs to learn how to pass the ball to guys who are wearing United jerseys.

This was the type of match where we really could have used Marcelo Gallardo. Without him, and with Moreno largely uninvolved for most of the match, the team had no one to turn to in the midfield. No one to create. No one to generate an attack. And that ultimately led to turnovers. Maybe it was also the lack of Ivan Guerrero that contributed to our inability to maintain possession, but something's got to change. I'm really looking forward to this team one day being at full strength.

Off to watch our boys down in Guatemala. Hopefully they show better.

Stealing an ugly one

I remember writing before the season started that we would probably have to win a lot of games 1-0 this year. Well it took five months and a goalkeeper change to finally do it.

I got back from a great week at Ocean City today and opted to purchase the discounted $9.95 MLSlive package, which will probably be used only to watch tonight's match and next Saturday's. There's nothing like some out-of-town commentators to make you really appreciate Dave Johnson.


1. Despite being referred to as lazy once by the Chicago announcer (yeah, because running for 90 minutes straight is a sure sign of laziness), I thought Bryan Namoff may have been our man of the match. Lots of good tackles and clearances.

2. The goalscorer Fred was very active tonight. Less educated fans would tell you that his goal was easy because he was completely unmarked, but many other players would have headed that over the bar, or straight at the keeper. Fred hit it hard and low.

3. I was also very impressed once again with the play of our other winger Ivan Guerrero. The dude just doesn't stop. He made several plays on both sides of the field.

4. In his MLS debut Louis Crayton proved to be incredibly competent, and a force to watch for. He was plucking down crosses all over. It took Zach Wells 16 matches to earn his first shutout. It took Crayton 1. But I'm still not sure if this will mean a permanent switch at the keeper position. I guess the question is, would Wells have earned a clean sheet tonight also?


1. I'd say any game that we play against Chicago where Blanco doesn't score is a good game for Clyde Simms. Would be nice if he stopped giving the ball away sometimes though.

2. Neither really stood out as an outstanding performer, but the all American team of Devon McTavish and Marc Burch earned their second clean sheet together in central defense. And this time it was against a really good team. Give the guys some credit. I think its time to stop shuddering every time you see Burch starting in the middle, as these two have proved themselves adequate.


1. Is it just me or is Gonzalo Martinez still off his game a bit? Maybe he's got some nagging injury that hasn't been disclosed?

2. Not a horrible game from him, but I'd like to see more out of Santino Quaranta. It was over two months ago that I was advocating to see Tino in a CAM role, but he didn't seem to produce much offensively, aside from a decent long range shot early on. But to his credit, Quaranta did track back defensively more than Gallardo usually does, which gave Fred and Guerrero a bit more freedom on the outside.

This match won't be remembered for it's beauty. It was entirely too chippy from the start. But DC took advantage of their opponent's mistake to steal the victory. Which is great to be able to say, because I feel that we've been the ones losing games because of stupid mistakes far too often this season. The roller coaster ride continues.

I'll be back some point later to give player ratings for the two games I missed last week, based only on the opinions of Goff, other bloggers, and Chest Rockwell comments.

United streaks continue

DC United can now boast of a 4 5 game unbeaten streak. But how about a streak of 2 underwelming wins at home against weaker opponents? Makes you wonder how this team will fare against a much better team in the Galaxy next week.


1. Clyde Simms extends his goal scoring streak to 2 games, and has another solid performance in the midfield.

2. Luciano Emilio extends his goal scoring streak to 4 games, and although he disappeared at times throughout the match, his consistency as a scoring threat will continue to open up other options for DC as opposing defenders keep marking him tightly. It's nice to have confidence in him again. I'm sure I'm not the only fan who felt sure that he was going to score in that 1 v. 1 opportunity in the box; and he did.


1. Every member of the DC starting backline now has at least one goal this year as Gonzalo Martinez tallied the game winner, taking advantage of a nice long spell of possession in the San Jose third. Chalo might earn MOTM honors, but I still refuse to put any defender in the Top category until we can get ourselves a clean sheet.

2. At least two potentially goal-saving tackles from Devon McTavish, but also some very loose marking and a lack of pressure by McTavish and Peralta led to the Quakes' goal.


1. I don't think we lose a whole lot of overall talent when Marc Burch starts in place of Quaranta, but we definitely lose a lot of energy. Burch appears to be in danger of losing his job as 12th man to Ryan Cordeiro.

2. Another shutout wasted by a mistake by Zach Wells.

The past two weeks, DC has beaten the teams that they are supposed to beat. And that's good and continuing to do that should get us into the playoffs. But it's not inspiring a whole lot of confidence that we'll do very well in the playoffs, or in international competitions. After the win on the road against Chicago, I think we were all starting to expect a bit more. A matchup at home against the best team LA has fielded in years will be a good test to see if we're ready to take it to the next level. And then the real challenge comes to town with the Superliga.

Continuing the series domination

I'm a bit late writing this due to numerous festivities that resulted from my sister-in-law's wedding this weekend, not the least of which included a couple of hangovers, so I'll keep my comments brief since several other smarter analysts, wittier writers, and merciless bloggers have already opined on the match.


1. Luciano Emilio scored a hat trick. Enough said? Lucigol is now finishing just about every good opportunity he gets.

2. Obviously Clyde Simms deserves recognition for a really well taken goal, but I also think he played a fantastic game in the midfield. Clearly he was more involved in the play than he normally is with Gallardo present.

3. In the twilight of his career, let me be the first to throw the name Jaime Moreno into the discussion of MVP candidates. Moreno is currently tied for 6th in the league in goals with 5, and 2nd in the league in assists with 6. This thought may be worthy of a post of its own in some midweek session in the future, but I guess the point that we all missed in the Gomez vs. Gallardo debate was how much Moreno's stats would actually benefit from the departure of Gomez.

4. With Emilio's resurgence, the excellent chemistry between him and Fred appears to also have resurged.


1. Honorable mention marks to Gonzalo Martinez and Marc Burch, both of whom had to play out of the position that they'd played most frequently this year. The defense overall was slightly above mediocre in this match, and I'm banishing all defenders from the Top Shelf category until we're able to earn at least one clean sheet.


I could search out players to blame for all of the opportunities New York had, but I'd rather just say None. As much as I've bashed Rod Dyachenko and Quavas Kirk at times this season, and though neither was very impressive, nor did either of them specifically put the team in danger of losing.

It's tough to say what we should take away from this victory. Do we rejoice in our continued dominance over a weak opponent who claims to be our rival? Or do we instead worry that this match could have gone much worse for us? That could have very easily been a 4-3 game had Angel and Altidore been playing. And maybe a 5-4 loss if we give that many chances to LA in two weeks. But regardless, my desire for no less than 7 points from this three-game homestand remains very much intact.

Scaping the goats once again

Good game. But then again, games between these two rivals usually are.

I think I lost a bit of respect for New England tonight though. It was as if Nicol told a couple chumps like Larentowicz, Cristman, and Smith at half time: "Just throw your bodies around. Hack some dudes! The ref won't call it. Who cares if you injure somebody!" Not a bad strategy considering Okulaja was at the post, but that's not really what I want our little league to be about. And I'm sure the Revs don't want to be considered the Philadelphia Flyers of the MLS.

I'll keep my player reviews brief because I want to get into some deeper issues later on...

1. I haven't mentioned him in a while, but it was the play of Clyde Simms that brought us the early lead and he really did well in the midfield as we dominated possession in the first half.


1. A bit of an up and down game for Fred. He got the well-placed goal early in the second half, but it was his failed clearance that led to Cristman's goal shortly afterward.


1. Santino Quaranta looked like the weak link to me tonight. Watch the replay of Dube's goal if you dare, or just take my word for it that Larentowicz was Quaranta's man and got by him cleanly to earn the assist.

In the end, two things stood out to me tonight. Two striking differences between these teams. They're both similar, and they're related to the two biggest scapegoats who have seen the most criticism this year: Zach Wells and Tom Soehn. The two big things that stood out to me that kept New England in this game were (1) the oustanding play of Matt Reis and (2) the changes made by Steve Nicol. While I don't think that United's failure to earn the win can be called Soehn's fault or Wells's fault, I'm also really tired of saying that things aren't their fault. Both can be deemed adequate, but nothing more. The fact is that I have never seen Zach Wells play well enough where I'd be able to say "Boy, Wells sure kept us in that one" like Revolution fans are all saying about Matt Reis tonight. And I've never seen Tom Soehn make tactical changes during the course of the game that made me say "Boy, Soehn really deserves credit for this victory" like can be said about many other coaches.

Tonight, DC had better forwards than NE, better midfielders, and better defenders. But we did not have a better goalkeeper, and we do not have a better coach. If Wells and Soehn are adequate, then I guess adequacy will occassionally earn you ties on the road against good teams when your field players are up to the task. But it won't earn wins.

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?

Hope you made it to your seats in time

I did. But not by much.

Overall, a great game from United. I don't understand why so many of the Insiders are complaining that this game didn't inspire confidence against a weak opponent. 4-1 is a good result, and its really poor karma to be upset that the game wasn't 6-0.


1. Clyde Simms - He was my man of the match. Just puts himself in great positions to win the ball. If "steals" was a stat category in soccer like it is in basketball, Simms would probably lead the league. Had a few dangerous shots too. I like how he keeps the ball low on those shots from distance. There are other players who send the ball into the box seats in those situations (cough Cunningham cough). Simms will score some goals this year.

2. Luciano Emilio - Clinical finishing on the first goal in the second minute. Actually if you think about it, Emilio was just inches away from 3 or 4 goals. He had the great shot from 20 yards out that hit the underside of the crossbar, leading to Quaranta's goal. Another shot later in the half that was barely saved. And then put the ball in the net after being called offside in the second half. I thought he was in line with the ball when Fred played it across the box, and I didn't see a good replay, but even if he was off it could have only been by a couple inches.

3. Santino Quaranta - Perfectly placed shot to get his goal, and totally cool of Tino to celebrate in front of the Barra. (D- Is all forgiven yet?) But I was most impressed with Quaranta's work rate, playing the full 90. That's certainly something we've yet to see from Niell. Also a good point from Edgell on how Quaranta makes Emilio's game stronger.

4. Zach Wells - Made a lot of great saves last night, and distribution looked much better. Although I really could have used the extra 20 points that a Clean Sheet would have earned in fantasy MLS. I missed the lead-up to the Edu goal so I can't comment on it.

5. Gonzalo Peralta - He isn't getting much love from the Insiders. But keep in mind that Peralta's job last night was to keep Danny Dichio out of the play, even including risking a red card by taking him down the one time where he may have been through on goal. Well Dichio didn't have one shot on goal, so Peralta did his job well.


1. Jaime Moreno - Fullback describes it best, but I thought it was hilarious when Moreno took the ball away from Niell in the box as if to say "What are you doing? THIS is how you finish!" Moreno did look slow though, and is certainly not 100%. But now I'm a little bit less worried about whether he will be fit enough to start against Pachuca since Quaranta is looking good.

2. Gonzalo Martinez - Quite a few scary opportunities, including one very early in the match when a cross was sent in and you saw Namoff going up for it along with two TFC players, and then yelling at Martinez afterwards. One of those guys was yours Chalo.


None! It feels great to write that.

A few other remarks... Was that a 3-5-2 or a 3-4-3 in the second half? Definitely an interesting choice by Soehn to switch to a more attacking formation when up 2-0, but with Toronto's ineffective offense, why not? If you missed the game, most of the second half looked something like this:
---------Wells-----------
Namoff-Peralta-Martinez
---------Simms----------
McTavish-Dyachenko-Fred
----Moreno-Quaranta-----
--------Emilio-------------

Whatever it was, I guess it worked, as we scored 2 more goals. But I almost wonder if having only 3 in the back led to Edu's goal.

Anyway, great atmosphere at RFK, and a nice relief that the rain held off. Also, love the selection in the new DC United store. Check back later for pictures from section 312.

The season started? That wasn't just another scrimmage?

Someone must have forgotten to tell the DC United players that last night's match against Kansas City was actually the season opener, and not just another scrimmage. Really though, I can see why they would make that mistake. Maybe it was that the stadium reminded them of the high school field that they played in in Texas. Or maybe it was the lack of live television coverage. Maybe they just figured that since they're playing a much more important game in a few days, this game probably didn't matter all that much. Regardless, it was not a very pretty sight, and yet no one is apparently all that upset about it.


1. Bryan Namoff - Was his usual consistent self on defense, and was a cheap offside flag away from notching an assist to Peralta in the box.


1. Marcelo Gallardo and Clyde Simms - With these two pitted against Carlos Marinelli and Kerry Zavagnin, we really should have dominated the midfield. No such luck.

2. Franco Niell - Not a strong game. I have a feeling that he will be much more of a weapon coming off the bench than is he when he starts. If Moreno isn't fit enough to start, I'd rather see Quaranta in the starting XI and Niell as a super-sub.


1. Luciano Emilio - I thought it was a tale of two halves for him. In the first half he had one great shot on goal that forced Hartman into a diving save, and even got more involved in the defense than usual. But he seemed to lack any bit of motivation in the second half, and his giveaway led to the second goal.

2. Marc Burch and Dominic Mediate - Not a great game for the two Terps who grace the left border of this blog. Either one of them could have done more to stop the first goal. Jewsbury should not have had a clean pass to Trujillo like that.

3. Zach Wells - Can't fault him for the first goal, but the second goal is exactly what I've been afraid of since we first got word that our boy Troy was bolting for Scandinavia. Perkins would have been off his line quicker and would have made a sliding tackle before Lopez was able to get off that chip shot.

One lesson learned though... Kansas City is probably better than I thought. Claudio Lopez really seems to have been embraced by his team, and Ivan Trujillo seems like a bit of a jackass, but will probably score a lot of goals this year.

Mediocre start to the year

Last night's match saw the debut of my new player ratings system. And tonight: the debut of my player rating icons...


1. Marc Burch - So energetic in both halves of the field. I see a theme developing this year with the Burch/Fred combo. More on that later.
2. Clyde Simms - Looked like the best player on the field at times.


1. Zach Wells - Very quick and aggressive. Not at all afraid to come up to the top of the box to challenge a defender. Almost Perkinsian!
2. Gonzalo Peralta - The dude is effing huge! And fast. And loud. Every time the Ref calls a foul, you see Peralta standing over the ball talking to him. Reminds me of Olsen, but taller, and with less facial hair.
3. Devon McTavish - Early in the game I had him slotted in the lower category. That is until he scored a goal. He seemed a bit too tentative in the attack. That is until he scored a goal.


1. Luciano Emilio - Not his best game, but he had a few poor games last year too, so it's nothing to worry about. I was hoping that being handed the captain's armband by Moreno would inspire Luci, but I guess not.
2. Bryan Namoff - This might be more of a credit to Burch/Fred than a knock on Namoff/McTavish, but you would think that since Namoff and McTavish played next to each other for most of last year that they would be able to communicate better. And because, um, they actually speak the same language!

I also thought Soehn could have used his subs a bit earlier with a lot of tired legs out there. The Stratford sub was fine, but I also would have liked to see Mediate for McTavish or Namoff, or maybe Dyachenko for Gallardo.

All in all, not an unfair result when you consider its our first competitive match with this team and they've been playing together for months. And we were missing our two emotional leaders. United should be able to take care of business next week with the home crowd and a familiar playing field. But at least now we have some idea what to expect from all these fresh faces.

Andrew Jacobson

Recent developments are going to force me to write about the United SuperDraft selections (Supers?) in their actual order rather than reverse order. Wait... If Fullback claimed Suppies, can I claim Supers?

But anyway, this guy really isn't worth writing a full blog post about, and he's certainly not worth researching. Yeah you got that Andy, you're not even worth 5 minutes of my time.

In case you didn't hear, Andrew Jacobson, who was United's first selection in the SuperDraft (second round), will be joining FC Lorient of the French Ligue II. Jacobson could have possibly provided depth behind Clyde Simms as a defensive midfielder. Or then again, he could have provided about as much depth as Arguez provided last year. We'll never know.

So what does this mean?

In general for MLS... It means that a promising young player is choosing to play overseas, probably because the $17,000 salary that he'd earn on the Developmental roster won't get him into very many apartments in the DC area, and he doesn't want to have to wait tables on the side in order to survive. At least not when he can earn a decent living wage, but probably not a whole lot more playing time, with a second division European club. It's almost more of a wonder why more players DON'T go overseas right away if they can get an opportunity with a second or even third division club with more money and more contract flexibility.

In general for DC United... It means very little in my opinion. The SuperDraft is so hit and miss that this really doesn't bug me at all. Our second round draft pick last year was Brad North, and he's already out (although I did see him hanging around the practice field in street clothes on Monday). Lately, we've had about as much luck with our Suppies (McTavish, Kpene) as we have with our Supers (Moose, Dyachenko). And we've arguably had more luck than any other team in MLS at identifying foreign talent that fits our needs. So this doesn't bother me much.

Specifically for DC United... This is great news for the Carroll family. Jeff Carroll now inherits the role of second string defensive midfielder from his brother. And younger brother Pat Carroll now has a greater chance of making the team in a Developmental role.

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"

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.