DC United win vs Colorado Rapids, 3-1

After a first half consisting of two major mistakes (Namoff's own goal and Khumalo's terrible chip shot miss), United was a bit unfortunate to be down a goal. The teams looked very evenly matched. But from the moment that the whistle blew to open up the second half, one team was clearly better than the other. What did Tom Soehn say to the players that so inspired that passion? Who knows. But I do know one thing he said: "Jaime - you're in". And that might have been the biggest factor contributing to the victory.


1. Even before the third goal, I was ready to come on here and write about the wonderful interplay between Luciano Emilio and Fred. Emilio did really well with his back to the goal and with multiple defenders on him to hold up the ball and distribute back to teammates. He was frequently getting into dangerous spots, and his goal was well earned by the team. Fred looked the best he's looked on the wing in quite a while, with some good crosses, and even won the ball a couple times in the defensive third. As Fullback suggested, Fred probably deserved to be ejected though.

2. The resident veterans Jaime Moreno and Christian Gomez once again delivered a huge victory for the club. Gomez was instrumental on all three goals, earning the PK that Moreno ultimately converted, sending in the corner kick for Namoff's golazo, and putting Fred through to get the ball rolling on Emilio's goal. Moreno now has a goal in three consecutive MLS appearances.

3. Colorado's goal and pretty much every one of their chances came from long balls over the top. Credit Clyde Simms for shutting down every attempt in the middle.

4. Not the greatest starting lineup, but Tom Soehn sure did use his substitutes effectively. I didn't quite understand the decision to start Khumalo on the wing ahead of Wallace. But the team made adjustments when necessary, and maybe Moreno is best these days when coming off the bench.


1. This was obviously an up-and-down emotional match for Bryan Namoff. After the huge mistake of an own goal and a few other giveaways in the first half, Namoff unleashed the redemption on a beautiful diving header goal.


1. Really a poor decision by Boyzzz Khumalo to try to chip the ball over the keeper (and over the bar too as it turned out) instead of just taking a low placed shot at either corner. Luckily, this miss didn't change the result of the match, but it sure felt like it would at half time.

So after a well deserved and well needed week off, DC United now sets out on a very compacted portion of the schedule that will see us playing two matches per week for the next three consecutive weeks, including the US Open Cup semifinal on Tuesday (with tickets now discounted through dcunited.com), a home-and-home series in the Champions' League against Firpo, a couple trips to the MLS Western Conference (San Jose and Houston) mixed in, and of course the big matchup against Real Madrid on August 9th.

DC United loss at Colorado Rapids, 3-0

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

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

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


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

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


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


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

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

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

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

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