Can we laugh about it yet?

Last night I was pissed. Today, I'm over it. We weren't going anywhere in the CCL anyway, so unless Martinez's injury is significant, we really didn't lose anything important yesterday. I'm ready to just look back at that match and laugh. Because really, what a freakin embarassment for CONCACAF that was. That match was hardly a representation of what any competition called the "Champions League" should look like.

The best part of all though is that if you go to google and type in "referee roberto moreno" (with or without the quotes), the first link you get is my blog post from last night. Guess what... He deserves it! It will take Moreno a long time to live that one down.

And that was even before the second goal! And before the second United keeper was ejected! Has anyone ever seen a match before where two goalkeepers on the same team were given red cards? Hilarious is how I'll remember this match. Hopefully the players feel the same way and won't let this demotivate them at all. When Martinez was on the ground, I would have loved to see all the other United players, including Crayton, just take a seat on the ground also. I wonder if that would have gotten Cruz Azul to stop play. Probably not. I'm sure they still would have celebrated, the fans still would have sang, and that stupid train horn still would have blared.


1. Our center backs Gonzalo Martinez, Bryan Namoff, and Marc Burch all played admirably. I'm not 100% sure that Martinez wasn't to blame on the first goal, although Miles and Dunseth felt certain that it was Zaher's responsibility to mark two men. But obviously no one was to blame on the second goal besides a bit of poor sportsmanship.

2. It's such a shame that James Thorpe wasn't given an opportunity to play the whole match, because he was playing well, and I'm sure his confidence was building. I think it's safe to say that Thorpe played his way back onto the roster for next year, so United won't have to use any draft picks on keepers for once. And if for some reason Wells didn't return, I might even be satisfied with the Division II keeper of the year as our #2.


1. This was my first time seeing Ryan Miller, and he was alright. Seemed to be very cool and composed. He needs to do a better job of marking though. It was Miller's man who got a free header on goal that hit the crossbar somewhere around the 15th minute or so. If Miller's defensive abilities don't improve, I don't see him supplanting Cordeiro on the depth chart at left wing.

2. How about Quavas Kirk earning his first clean sheet in 4 minutes of action between the pipes! I honestly thought the ref would give Q-Nasty a straight red for taking too long to put on the keeper gloves.


1. Troubling that this isn't the first time I've had to say that Craig Thompson was the weak link in this match, but again, it's not really his fault. Hopefully the coaching staff will learn soon enough that he isn't tall enough, quick enough, or aware enough to be a defender. Why not play McTavish at right back?

Ah well. At least now we're officially eliminated from this thing so we don't have to worry about it interfering with league play again until next year. Oh wait, we still have another meaningless match against Marathon? Dammit!

Anyway, I'm just ready to suck up my pride and pour my support into the Chicago Fire tomorrow night. Let's hope old No-Neck can deliver a victory over NY and help us into the playoffs!

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?

Even when we deserve a point, we don't get one

Win, loss, or tie, the result of this match didn't matter much to me as far as the CCL goes. We're just not a better team than Saprissa or Marathon, so even if we'd managed to beat Cruz Azul at home, we still had relatively no chance of advancing out of the group stages. But this match had a larger meaning than that. A win in this match would have been a great start towards building some momentum for the final 4 games of the MLS season. It would have reminded the players that we are actually still a good team. But for a totally unlucky and undeserved goal. It's kind of nice for the reserves to be able to say that they should have beaten a Mexican team. But it would have been nicer if they actually had.


1. Our center back pairing of Marc Burch and Greg Janicki had a really good first 80 minutes. The final 10 were a bit hectic, but I think you can probably attribute that to the whole midfield staying farther up to try to grab a goal back.

2. I loved this lineup from Tom Soehn. Finally, he is punting the CCL. And the starting lineup was smart anyway because (and I mean no offense to our veterans with this) guys like Thompson and Vide are always going to put forth more effort than guys like Peralta and Simms in this kind of match. Most of the players we saw tonight are unlikely to play on Saturday, so they had no qualms about giving their all. And Soehn is giving guys like Dyachenko, Wells, and Kirk the chance to fight for their rights to stay on the team next season.


1. If Jaime Moreno had given that kind of effort this past weekend, then we might not be in the same situation, and he probably wouldn't be suspended for two games.


1. I think it's unfair to fault him with the goal just because of a bad cross, because afterall, there were a lot of bad crosses in this match, but Craig Thompson got beat too many times. Just about every good opportunity our opponents had came on Craig's right side.

2. I wasn't as impressed with Quavas Kirk as Bretos was. A speedy winger that can't cross might be better suited for a track team. I much preferred the Zaher/Cordeiro combination to Thompson/Kirk.

3. I might as well copy and paste this into the post for just about every match he plays: Just too many giveaways from Rod Dyachenko.

There's no reason to get depressed about this result, because we weren't going anywhere in this tournament anyway. It's the MUST WIN match on Saturday that I really care about. Since we totally didn't deserve to lose this match, let's cross our fingers and hope that the Soccer Gods will repay us with a win on Saturday, and maybe losses by RSL and Colorado too!

A respectable performance, but still no points

After 60 minutes of this match, I was all ready to come on here and say I was wrong about wanting to punt the CCL. A goalless draw would have been a wonderful result. But as is typical with this club, we let up 2 soft goals off of shotty defending. And now we're staring up from the bottom of a fully stacked group.


1. The best man wearing black last night was again Bryan Namoff. Once we have 5 healthy eligible defenders, it's hard to predict who the 4 starters will be. But we do know for sure that Namoff will be one of them.

2. Gotta give some credit to Tom Soehn. He sent out a pretty good lineup that played admirably well, while still allowing Quaranta to rest, and removing Fred and Simms early. Of course I'd be singing a different tune if Emilio or Guerrero or somebody had gotten injured.


1. Two reserves stepped up and played well, and that's Craig Thompson and Rod Dyachenko. Thompson saved a goal early with a clearance that went off the post, but he was the one who got beaten on that play anyway, so it's hard to rave about it. Dyachenko played well as the transitionary player between the defense and attack. Thompson may have earned a few more Convey votes in this match, and Dyachenko may have earned a few less Donnety votes.


1. Gonzalo Martinez was constantly getting beaten on the left side throughout the entire match.

2. When the tallest players on the field are Marc Burch and Gonzalo Peralta, that second goal really should NOT happen. Pretty sure it was Peralta's man who got a head on it.

3. I expected more out of Luciano Emilio and Fred. Anything really. Like maybe at least a few more shots on goal? With their keeper clearly being uncomfortable, it would have been nice if we'd been able to test him.

So what does everybody feel now about our chances of advancing and what our lineup should be for the remainder of the tournament? It would not be looked on kindly by Management (and by the home fans at RFK) if we rolled out a starting XI filled with reserves next Wednesday. But I have no problem adding one or two more reserve players to the starting lineup as the CCL continues, and as our chances of advancing get slimmer, and as the playoffs draw closer.

On the bright side, DCU's play was inspirational, despite earning 0 points. And going into Sunday's match at Dallas, we're just one Designated Player shy of full strength.

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.

I guess the better team doesn't always win

A tie at home against a lesser Western Conference opponent certainly should feel like a loss. Somehow for me though, this one doesn't. Maybe it's because we outplayed Dallas, to the point where I think we really deserved the win. This felt like it should have ended at 2-1. Oh well. I guess we'll just have to steal back those extra two points when we play them again on the road in two weeks.


1. That's two weeks in a row now where the standouts for me were Ivan Guerrero and Santino Quaranta. Guerrero's effort throughout the match, but especially on Tino's goal, made a huge difference. He laid it all on the line, and may have even injured himself falling into the advertisements after his awesome assist. Quaranta has really come on strong since Superliga, and added his fifth goal of the year.

2. Jaime Moreno continues to make a plea to be considered for the MVP award this season.


1. Louis Crayton was 10 minutes away from earning Man of the Match in my book, that is until his failed dive to block the cross leading to the Fire's second goal. He made a lot of great saves tonight though.

2. I'm not sure whether to truly hold either of them at fault, but I feel like Marc Burch and Gonzalo Martinez each may have been able to do more to stop the second goal. But both looked good through most of the match.

3. I liked the starting lineup. But there was one move made by Tom Soehn that was just inexplicable to me. Our left midfielder gets injured, so you replace him with Dyachenko of all people?! A move that forces Quaranta, who had been excellent all day in the middle, out of his natural position to cover on the wing. You make that move while up a goal and while having two legitimate wingers in Cordeiro and Thompson sitting on the bench?! D brings up a good point too in asking why Zaher and Carroll were both left off the gameday roster behind Dyachenko and Doe. Most teams would have subbed in a more defensive minded player when up a goal with 15 minutes to play. Not Soehn. He went for Dyachenko.


1. It was a poor touch and a costly mistake by Devon McTavish that led to the first goal. I'm starting to look ahead to which players will be protected in the expansion draft this offseason, and wondering whether McTavish might be left exposed in favor of guys like Burch, Quaranta, and Guerrero.

2. I do believe that Rocha should have been Rod Dyachenko's man to cover at the back post. Seriously though, why was he in?! Do you think Craig Thompson would have let that happen? WHY?!

Aw well. A decent performance by a still somewhat limited team doesn't help us much in the standings, but does still give me hope that we may be able to put together a decent run in the CCL and/or the MLS playoffs. Soehn's starting lineup for this game though does seem to indicate that we will be taking the Champions League fairly seriously. Fred and Emilio started this match on the bench, but it's a pretty safe bet that they'll both be starting on Tuesday, and so may Gallardo and Peralta.

I think we all saw this coming

In a match where we were missing Emilio, Moreno, Namoff, Fred, Vide, and Peralta, a loss wasn't necessarily surprising. I guess the bright side is that we escaped without any more injuries! Also, I saw tonight that we've got some young players with a lot of heart, and that's got to count for something, even if it didn't earn us any points.


1. The best player wearing white tonight I think was Ivan Guerrero. He showed up to play against his former team.

2. It was no coincidence at all that Santino Quaranta scored within the first 5 minutes after Gallardo left the field. It's becoming more and more evident that center attacking midfield is Quaranta's natural position.


1. That was a bit of a break out performance for Ryan Cordeiro. He had two great chances immediately after entering the match, but both went just wide. It would be nice to see him put a couple more on target, and he still needs to play better defense if he wants to crack the starting XI.

2. I'm hoping that the fantastic hustle that earned him an assist on Quaranta's goal will be enough to give Rod Dyachenko some confidence again. But still, he could win awards for having the worst first touch in all of football.


1. In general, that was just poor team defending by Gonzalo Martinez, Marc Burch, and Mike Zaher on Alvarez's goal. Martinez lost the ball (I wish I could use the adverb "uncharacteristically" here, but that just wouldn't be true) leading up to the first goal, and then again soon afterwards on a play that almost led to another goal. Burch looked better once they switched to the 3-5-2 in the second half, but he was caught in no-man's-land without a marker on both goals. Most of the chances in the first half came on Zaher's side, and he was the guy who should have been marking Alvarez on the first goal. Huckerby's goal was well deserved though.

All in all, we turned in a valiant effort while shorthanded, so you can't fault the club too much for this one. When we were down 2-0, it didn't feel right, but 2-1 is probably the correct score. Ultimately, this wasn't a very heartbreaking loss, mostly because we all saw it coming, and more importantly, because the Red Bulls lost too so it didn't really affect our place in the standings. Let's hope the team is back closer to full strength in time for the Champions League to begin in just over a week.

Champions again!

In a season that's had its fair share of ups and downs, we've finally got something to show for it! Maybe a title in the US Open Cup wasn't necessarily the goal for this season, but it's certainly an accomplishment the team should be proud of, and most importantly, its great that United has fought its way back into the international picture.



1. Santino Quaranta is making an excellent case to be our regular center attacking midfield whenever Gallardo is absent (or after he retires?). Quaranta was instrumental in both goals tonight, and was in my opinion our man of the match.

2. Since we haven't seen him in a little while, I'd forgotten what I love most about Fred. Those quick diagonal runs from the outside totally changed the match and caught the Battery by surprise. Fred missed his first chance but hit on his second.

3. Credit to Tom Soehn for the lineup decisions tonight. This is a point that Bretos brought up, but getting Fred in in place of Vide just before halftime gave him a chance to get acclimated to the tempo of the match before the break. That decision could have made all the difference in the world.


1. Just after I got finished hyping up Marc Burch for fending off Dane Richards, he has to go and get beat by Chris Williams. Other than that though, Burch was quite possibly our best defender in this match. I think the dude might really be starting to "get it".

2. Maybe Ivan Guerrero was such a non factor on Saturday because he was saving all his energy for the Cup final? This guy made a big impression tonight.


1. As is typical, just too many giveaways from Rod Dyachenko.

So we should be able to expect this level of play from United for the rest of the season right? Not quite. I'm with Fullback on fully expecting a letdown on the road against San Jose this weekend. Because that's just the way this season has gone.

But this United team that we've all had our doubts about over the past two years has finally gone and WON something. Finally! So let's take the next couple of days to enjoy it, because this season is far from over, and we've still got another Cup to win!!!

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.

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.

Cleaning the sheets

How's that for a confidence booster? With only 7 of our normal starting 11 in the lineup, and only 6 guys starting who started against KC in the season opener, United somehow came together to produce a big win and their first shutout of the year. With a first look at the starting lineups and the revelation that Ryan Pore was starting at forward, I kind of had a feeling that this could finally be THE ONE, and the team did not disappoint.


1. With apologies to Wellsy, the #1 performer in this match goes to Tom Soehn, who took a roster made of straw and spun it into gold. The straight 4-man midfield worked out surprisingly well, allowing the team to control possession for the majority of the match, and shifting the solid Namoff into central defense was the right decision here.

2. Zach Wells really earned the shutout in this match. He made two fantastic saves (one immediately after halftime, and one around the 66th minute) that easily could have been scores for KC, and if they had been scores, we all would have been sitting around saying that neither goal was Zach's fault. He put in a game changing performance last night, and to get his first clean sheet without los Gonzalos in the lineup might have made it feel even better.

3. Screw Budonovuddlen, I think the best forward-forward combination in the league right now is Luciano Emilio and Jaime Moreno. Moreno had a goal and an assist, adding to my plea that he be considered an MVP candidate. Is it just me, or has Emilio scored a lot of goals with his left foot this year?

4. Bryan Namoff really stepped up as the leader of the defense in this match. Made some great blocks and remained very involved in the attack, despite playing centrally. Hopefully no one in the USMNT camp watched this match, because if they did, Namoff might deserve some consideration.

5. Two very strong debuts from the two former Quakers Ivan Guerrero and Joe Vide. BDR makes a good point about how Guerrero's work rate (and I would add Vide's as well) helps free up Fred more, to allow Fred to be Fred. One assist in one game for DC is not too shabby for Guerrero. And although Vide can at times be a bit Dyachenkish in his challenges, he plays the enforcer role quite well. Maybe it's just the scruffy beard, but at times he almost reminded me of another UVA product.


1. Kudos to the rest of the defense Marc Burch, Devon McTavish, and Pat Carroll for helping the team earn its first shutout. Burch's biggest contribution came on the offensive end though with a perfectly placed free kick for Moreno's goal. But I agree with Fullback that the defense did make me a bit nervous a couple of times that we would lose the shutout because of a stupid mistake.

2. Hopefully everyone agrees that Fred just played his best game in many weeks. And he did it while playing on the wing, NOT in the middle. On the wing, where he belongs!


NONE

So DC turned in a great game, and one that they really needed against a team who we were tied with for points before the match. DC is now solidly in third place in the East, with one game in hand over Chicago and two over Columbus. But that comes with a very tough stretch of matches ahead. Following a winnable game against the improving Red Bulls, United then faces NE at home, Chicago on the road, and NE on the road. It's the Open Cup semi-final match next Tuesday though that we should all consider the first MUST-WIN game of the year. Really a shame that it won't be seen on tv anywhere - I'll be in Ocean City that week :(

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.

Still not quite better than the Mexicans

Just got finished watching the match immediately following my three hour drive home from Virginia Beach. At least I should say I just got finished watching 81 minutes of the match. I missed the rest thanks to the lights at RFK delaying the match past 10:00 pm. What's with that anyway? That's just embarassing. Anyway...


1. Luciano Emilio was once again the best player wearing a United uniform in this match. Trouble was that he was being marked by the best player wearing a Chivas uniform. Emilio still managed to score one goal and create many other scoring chances. I really hope he didn't just play his heart out in this match as a sort of audition for the Mexican league next year.


1. I thought the two young Americans Devon McTavish and Marc Burch played adequately well in central defense. Neither were at fault for either goal, and both were involved in solid scoring opportunities on the other end. Why can't Burchy get the ball on frame when shooting free kicks during games that are actually televised?

2. Zach Wells had another good game, although still not a clean sheet. With Peralta out, this was the first match where Wellsy actually looked like the leader of the defense.

3. I didn't like the starting lineup that Tom Soehn utilized, but I did like the changes. His halftime lineup is probably what we should have started the match with.


1. Rod Dyachenko started out the match by averaging one giveaway every five minutes. That ratio dropped slightly after the first 20 minutes, but only because the team stopped passing him the ball. Don't get me wrong. I like Rod. But I like him only as a roleplayer. I like him coming on in support of Moreno or Gallardo in the 75th minute to provide some aggression and energy in relief of tired legs. I don't like him as a starting CAM.

2. This was my first time seeing Craig Thompson. He gave the ball away too many times too. He seems to be a speedy, hard-working, short right winger. But not quite as speedy, as hard-working or as short as Justin Moose. So if we were looking for that type of player to fill a role on the right wing, why is Thompson here when Moose is gone?

Overall, this was an exciting game, and certainly not one to feel bad about losing. This wasn't like the Pachuca road match earlier in the year when we lost after getting dominated and not generating any opportunities. We certainly had opportunities, with two struck posts, and a penalty kick that was left unconverted only due to a fantastic save. This game served to prove that one of the best teams in MLS in midseason form is basically on par with one of the average teams of the Mexican top division in preseason form. That might be a bit unfair to United, but I'd like to see them win on Tuesday night before I say anything better.

As for the lineup, I think we need to try something slightly different on Tuesday. Praying that Peralta is healthy enough to play, I'd like to see McTavish moved back up to right wing again. He's had some success there in international competitions before! And I liked Doe/Emilio up front with Moreno behind them much more than I liked Dyachenko's tenuousness.

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.