Award 8: The Popie

By definition, the Popie Award goes to the DC United defender of the year. I think this category is pretty self explanatory. The award's namesake Eddie Pope was the MLS Defender of the Year in 1997, and anchored our team in central defense from 1996 to 2002. Pope remains a member of the MLS All-Time Best XI. It's a bit hard to make an argument that any of United's defenders this year reach Pope's stature.

1. Ironman Bryan Namoff has been our most consistent defender, if nothing else. Earlier in the year I would have argued that he was having his best season as a pro, but I'm not sure that's still the case. Namoff should be considered one of the best right backs in the league, and even played well in central defense this year when he had to.

2. Maybe not the biggest, but certainly the tallest signing this offseason was Gonzalo Peralta. He had some great games this year in shutting down some good offensive players, but also made a few too many individual mistakes that led to goals. Hard to say whether or not the voting for this award would be any different had Peralta been healthy the entire year.

3. The most versatile player on our roster has got to be Devon McTavish. This year, he has played center back, right back, right midfield, and center holding midfield. The problem is that no one seems to know which position he's best at. McTavish began the year as our fifth option at the back, but has since won his starting job back from Martinez. Although not the most physically talented player on the team, Devon has mostly held his own in defense.

4. Sure, he's not exactly a defender, but Louis Crayton also deserves your consideration. Since joining the team, Crayton may not have a winning record (the team is 3-5-3), but he has already helped the team earn more clean sheets than Zach Wells.

poll by twiigs.com

(the 2008 Benny Awards)

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?

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.

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)

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...

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.

The win they needed

After a couple of underwhelming victories the past few weeks, this win was just what United needed to not only continue their unbeaten streak, but also gain some confidence going into Superliga. Recently, United has been beating lesser opponents while giving up too many goalscoring opportunities. But in this match, against inarguably one of the most talented offensive teams in the league, DC dominated possession, dominated the scoreline, and performed admirably well on defense. United struggled early in the year in international play, but after this big win in a great atmosphere over a good team, the team may finally be ready to make something happen in Superliga.


1. Luciano Emilio extends his goal scoring streak to 5 games by adding another 2. Now with 10 goals on the year, Emilio is back on pace to score 20 for the second year in a row, and is tied with Buddle for 2nd place in the league. With Donovan likely to miss a good bit of time on national team duty, Emilio should now be considered the favorite to win the Golden Boot for the second straight year.

2. What a perfect cross to assist Emilio on his first goal by Marc Burch. I gave him a hard time in my review last week, but in this match, when Quaranta left the pitch and Fred moved to the right, DC was able to take advantage of LA on the left side moreso with Burch than they had with Fred. Burchie was also just an inch or two away from a free kick score that rattled the crossbar.

3. It was disappointing to see Santino Quaranta come out after 25 minutes of fantastic soccer. He earned the penalty kick in the 5th minute, and made several great runs in his short time, and also made a good stop on defense. There was a very noticeable drop-off in play on the right side once Quaranta departed and Fred moved over.

4. Props to Tommy Soehn for rolling out his top lineup and using his substitutes I thought much more effectively than LA.


1. Although they all made some key stops during the match, I think any one of Zach Wells, Gonzalo Peralta, or Devon McTavish could have done better to stop Buddle's goal. Wells looked confident making some great saves, and for the first time looked like a decent starting keeper. Peralta's whiffed clearance and McTavish's inability to get a touch were the main causes of the goal, but Wells could have reacted a bit sooner too. This defense was just inches away from their first clean sheet, and it would have been wonderful to earn it against the top scoring team in the league.

2. Marcelo Gallardo was largely uninvolved for most of the first half, at least at times when he wasn't smacking Donovan in the nose. By the way, shouldn't ABC have done better to dump out Landon's cursing? Anyway, Gallardo redeemed himself later in the match with a well-taken goal.


1. In my love of creating controversy, I'm going to put Fred down here today. This was his second match in a row that I think he underperformed. My comments about Burch and Quaranta above show clearly that Fred was the weakest link on the wings in this match. His assist to Emilio's second goal was well-placed, but I think Emilio could have had a hat trick today had Fred played the ball across the front of the goal to him instead of taking a weak shot right at Cronin earlier in the second half.

With this win, United moves solidly into the playoffs, now sitting in third place in MLS with 22 points. But more importantly, they are now beaming with confidence, ready to go on a run in Superliga, and are once again finally a reasonable candidate to win the Supporters' Shield. Also, how great was it to see our talisman Ben Olsen running around on the pitch again? And so unexpected. I'm curious to see how Soehn will use Olsen in the Open Cup match on Tuesday.

With this match being shown on national TV before the Euro final, with the obvious draw of David Beckham, I bet that DC United earned a lot of new fans across the country today. People who tuned in to see Donovan and Beckham didn't see very much of them in the second half, did they?. Any fan of the sport who isn't necessarily a big MLS fan who watched this match saw two good teams, but only one team good enough to pull off the victory, and only one team that fought hard for 90 minutes instead of giving up after 75.

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.

The blooper of the year

No, I'm not referring to the team's decision to trade Christian Gomez to Colorado. Or the decision to name Luciano Emilio as our second designated player. I'm talking about this...



I'm sure Devon's going to be really happy that I made this video. Do you think there's any chance that he slipped on purpose on the wet plastic surface that was for some reason being referred to as a "field"? Ya know, just so his teammates would have some reason to make fun of him other than for giving up the goal?

And so the countdown continues

Am I the only one who feels like watching that game was a waste of my time? Really an ugly match, with a lot of giveaways by each team. Neither team looked like they should be in the playoff hunt, save for maybe Toronto's defensive unit. At least last week at Chivas it appeared that both teams really wanted to win.


None


1. It was good to have Fred back certainly. Good energy, good creativity, but also too many giveaways. Fred was a header towards either side of the goal rather than right up the middle away from earning top honors.


1. Sorry but Devon McTavish has to be the goat for the most bone headed play by a guy in a DC uniform yet this year. How come these things always happen to us this year, but not against us? Shouldn't karma be turning by now? Or does karma want us to fire our coach too?

2. Jaime Moreno looked like the worst player on the field. If the MLS kept "turnovers" as a stat like the NBA, then Jaime would have had at least 6 of them in the first half. Not to say that this is a comment on Moreno's future in general because he's played some good games this year, but I'd like to see Quaranta get a chance next to Emilio in the home leg.

3. Do you think Marcelo Gallardo feels like he's the only good player on an otherwise crappy team? Like he's the Lebron James to United's Cavaliers? I figured that Gallardo would be the only player unaffected by the streamers on corner kicks, being the only guy with enough international experience to have seen that before. When we have our own stadium, can we locate seating near the corners like at BMO? Except that in typical southeast DC tradition, the fans will shoot guns instead of throwing streamers.

This is plain and simple now. If United earns anything less than 3 points on Saturday, Tom Soehn should and will be let go. Which is actually a bit unfortunate because I don't think he can be blamed for this loss whatsoever. I liked this starting lineup. But I wouldn't be surprised to see a switch back to the 3-5-2 in despiration on Saturday. But with Dyachenko not seemingly in the team's immediate plans, who will occupy the central midfield spot next to Simms? Here's my lineup:

---------Wells-----------
Namoff-Peralta-Martinez
---McTavish-Simms-----
Mediate-Gallardo--Fred-
--Quaranta--Emilio------

Legs, thighs, and breasts, but no wings

So Goff reported from practice yesterday that with the potential absence of Peralta, United will be switching back to a 4-4-2 for the match tomorrow night in LA. I guess the thought of Domenic Mediate as his lone center back in a 3-5-2 was enough to force Tom Soehn to face reality. But with Marc Burch moving to the back line, and with Fred still gimpy, Goff is also reporting that rookie Ryan Cordeiro may get his first start at left midfield.

Loyal readers should already know my thoughts on Cordeiro. Along with Stratford and Zaher, Cordeiro has been among the most impressive players I've seen on the Reserve squad. He's left-footed, he's got decent crossing ability, and he can even shoot from the outside. Others have pointed out that he's likely to lose the ball a couple times each match, but similar to Quaranta, Cordeiro has got the energy and the heart to chase down opponents to try to win the ball back.

But the idea of starting a rookie has got me thinking… How many wingers does DC really have on their roster? Or maybe a better way to ask this would be… If you were to put every player on United's roster in their BEST position, how many of them would be playing on the wing?

I'd say that given his production last year, Ben Olsen's best position is on the wing, but you can't really include him in this discussion due to his injuries. Fred's preferred position is clearly CAM. Santino Quaranta is best as a withdrawn forward. Devon McTavish might be best on the wing, but he's also a pretty damn good central defender, so that might be a toss-up. I think Marc Burch is better at left back than left wing. Mediate's a utility guy who can play in many different spots, so his best position *might* be on the wing, but it's hard to say. Gallardo, Dyachenko, and Simms all definitely are better off in the middle.

Did I miss anybody? That's the entire senior roster midfield, and not one besides Olsen is definitively a true winger. Maybe McTavish, and maybe Mediate, but keep in mind that both of these guys are earning only the senior roster minimum salary. When is United going to start spending money on the wings? In the offseason they spent a lot of money in central defense, central midfield, and up top, but not a dime out wide. Obviously the team didn't know the severity of Olsen's injury at the time, but surely it was obvious to all of us that Olsen couldn't have more than a couple years left, and his history of injuries has always been troubling. Even if they didn't know that Olsen would be out the whole year or most of the year, the front office should be smart enough to realize that he was never going to be able to play 30 games. So despite Olsen's injury history, and despite the loss of Josh Gros, the front office's solution to our deficiency of wingers was to draft Ryan Cordeiro and acquire a 20 year old developmental project in Quavas Kirk?

I'm starting to lose faith.

But still. If only because of Chivas's ineptitude in defense, I'm predicting our first road goal, but not our first clean sheet. I'm gonna go with a 1-1 draw tomorrow, with United's goal coming from the run of play from a poaching Jaime Moreno.

Well deserved break

This weekend begins DC United's one-week break from official matches, and with the team, DCUMD will be taking a break as well. United played 6 matches in 20 days. Well I typed 92 posts in 6 months. Who do you think had the tougher schedule?!

My disappearance though will be mostly attributable to being sent to the midwest for a week on a work assignment. My company has recently started blocking access to blogger, typepad, and just about everything else useful, so I won't be very communicative in the soccer community over the next week, save for maybe a couple comments on the Soccer Insider.

But I'd like to leave you with something to think about... Just to reemphasize what seemed like just a throwaway line in my post about the Columbus match, it was at this point last year that Tommy Soehn elected to make some changes. In 2007 we started out 0-3-1, and in 2008 we're off to a 1-3-0 start, so yeah, I think its about time. 2007's changes meant for one a switch from the 3-5-2 to the 4-4-2, but it also meant benching regular starters Facundo Erpen, Brian Carroll, and even Jaime Moreno for one match. From those moves emerged some talented players who turned out to be regular starters in their own rite: Devon McTavish, Clyde Simms, and, um, Nicholas Addlery? Ok, two out of three ain't bad. But I think it's time to do the same now. When Soehn sat Moreno for a match last year, he showed that no one on the team is above a good benching. Coach would do well to teach that lesson to some of his newcomers. Soehn should not be afraid to sit for one match his Golden Boot winner Emilio, or his defensive "leader" Gonzalo Peralta.

Who would replace them? I don't know. It would be nice to see McTavish put his crazy tackling skills to use again at the back. And I think Quaranta has done well when given the opportunity at forward. And I learned today that there is a whole slew of talented rookie midfielders who would relish the opportunity for a start on the wing in McTavish's place (namely Cordeiro or Stratford, but not Kirk).

My break will be productive because I'll be furthering my sales career. I'm hoping DC United's break will be productive as well. See you guys next weekend.

Good riddance Rice-Eccles

After such a tiring and emotionally draining match just three days earlier, I guess it was pretty easy to see this coming. Especially once you saw the starting lineup. Gallardo, Martinez, and Wells deserved the rest, so I won't complain about the lineup, especially since I don't think that starting our true top XI would have even really made a big difference in this game.


1. Devon McTavish - Continued to show well. Especially liked his in-swinging left-footed shot with pace at around the 32nd minute. McTavish plays his position well, knowing when to hang out wide in the open space and when to cut into the far post.


1. Domenic Mediate - I thought he played well in left back, and didn't appear to make any big mistakes, but didn't have a huge impact either. What does it say about Marc Burch that he was taken out for Quaranta instead of Mediate?

2. Rod Dyachenko - Also played pretty well. I like his aggressiveness, but I have a feeling that he's going to earn himself a couple of red cards this year.


1. Gonzalo Peralta - Since when did Bobby Lightning grow his hair out and put on the number 2? Peralta looked Boswellian on the second goal, and the fourth goal was just a joke. Peralta has never been shy about yelling at/to his teammates, but where was the communication with Carvallo?

2. Jose Carvallo - DC continues the tradition of starting reserve goalkeepers at Real Salt Lake, with little success. Carvallo doesn't appear to be challenging Wells for the starting job very strongly.

3. Fred - Love the dude, but that was easily his worst game for us so far this short year.

4. The 3-5-2 - I was hoping Tom Soehn would have read my previous post before this match, but I guess he didn't. The 3-5-2 is good in certain situations, but as DCenters and Fullback have already pointed out, this wasn't one of them.

This game was ugly, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a predictor of anything else that will happen this year. This is the second game this year where the offense has been anemic, but I'm not counting on that happening very often. Just like a lot of other people, I was expecting DC to come up soft in this game, but I'm also expecting them to shoot out of the gates against Columbus on Thursday. In fact, I'll go so far as to predict that Thursday's match will be the start of yet another early season DC United sprint into first place and a considerable lead ahead of the rest of the Eastern Conference.

And so with that we bid farewell to Rice-Eccles Stadium, quite possibly the worst stadium in the MLS. Yes I put you below even a minor league baseball field. Attrociously adorned with bleachers, astroturf (why not just go one step farther and play on concrete instead?) football markings, and about 3 feet between the sidelines and barriers, I don't think I'll miss this field at all. Oh yeah, and with 3 goals in his last 2 matches against us, remind me to start fellow Arundel High School alumnus Kyle Beckerman on my fantasy team next time RSL plays against DCU.

MLS stakes its claim

2-1 was probably a pretty fair result to this match, with all three goals being scored by substitutes. Dyachenko's goal was well-deserved from the run of play, and Niell's goal was probably a bit lucky for him to get the ball in that position, but it was great to see him finish to stop the Kpene comparisons.

But where were the goals in the first half? Was our offense too slow, or was Pachuca's defense too fast? Maybe a combination of both? Seems like every time we had a good opportunity developing, a Pachuca player would block our shot. That's a skill you don't see as often in the MLS. Pachuca's defensive positioning was excellent, and DC's finishing was not. I'm going to keep the player ratings mostly brief so we can get into bigger and broader things.


1. Gonzalo Peralta - United starts a match in the 3-5-2 formation for the first time in almost a year, and Peralta did very well to keep the group organized.


1. Devon McTavish - I thought he played well in all places on the field, dropping back in defense when one of the back three went forward, and almost had a fantastic assist to Emilio in the first half on a ball that was shot just wide of an open net.

1. Luciano Emilio - How's that for a smooth transition? Emilio didn't play a poor game, because he positioned himself well to get lots of opportunties. But for a target striker, he needs to put away those opportunities.

All in all, a fantastic soccer match. I could gripe about the officiating if I wanted to, but despite that, this game between two very talented and essentially evenly matched opponents might turn out to be better than any MLS game we see all year. Which makes the result even more frustrating and disappointing. I really wanted to see DC compete in the World Club Championship. I think we play an attractive brand of soccer, and I was hoping we'd be able to showcase that to the world. Just to show them how far we've come as a team and as a league. This United team has the potential to be the best since Etcheverry retired, but its sad that we won't get the opportunity again to prove that to the world until Champions League starts for us in February next year.

That's it. Now I guess I'll go begrudgingly root for Houston. And ponder a question to which we'll never know the answer: Would the 3-2 aggregate result have been the same had the teams played the first match a bit closer to sea level?

Salaries

The MLS Players Union just released the annual salary figures for the league. For easy reference, below are the guaranteed salaries for each DC United player currently under contract as of 3/31/08:

DC Barlow Jeremy D $ 12,900.00
DC Burch Marc D $ 33,000.00
DC Carreiro da Silva Fred M-F $ 242,000.00
DC Carroll Jeff D $ 12,900.00
DC Carroll Pat D $ 12,900.00
DC Carvallo Jose GK $ 49,250.00
DC Cordeiro Ryan M $ 12,900.00
DC Dyachenko Rod M $ 33,000.00
DC Emilio Luciano F $ 313,125.00
DC Gallardo Marcelo M $ 1,874,006.00
DC Kirk Quavas F $ 136,500.00
DC Martinez Gonzalo D $ 244,750.00
DC McTavish Devon M $ 33,000.00
DC Mediate Domenic M-F $ 33,000.00
DC Moose Justin M $ 17,700.00
DC Moreno Jaime F $ 275,000.00
DC Namoff Bryan D $ 98,750.00
DC Niell Franco F $ 152,500.00
DC Olsen Ben M $ 215,000.00
DC Peralta Gonzalo D $ 199,000.00
DC Quaranta Santino M $ 35,000.00
DC Simms Clyde M $ 59,000.00
DC Stratford Dan M $ 17,700.00
DC Thorpe James GK $ 12,900.00
DC Wells Zachary GK $ 52,920.00

Some comments... I think it's far too easy to look at this list and say that McTavish is underpaid at $33K and Niell is overpaid at $152K. Realistically, there's a lot more to it. Franco Niell was probably earning around the same amount or less while playing in Argentina last year. So it costs more to bring him to the team than it does McTavish, who joined the league straight out of college.

Plus, (they'll probably hate me for saying this but...) you also have to consider the age/experience of Devon McTavish and Marc Burch, and the fact that DC United *could* have left them on the Developmental roster last year if they wanted to. But no, out of good faith, respect, and appreciation, United rightly gave promotions to these players who were making significant contributions. So what I'm getting it is... it *could* be worse...

It's also way too easy to say that Marcelo Gallardo ($1.874M) isn't worth four times as much as Christian Gomez ($430K). We've been through this and if you've ever read my blog before, then you know what my answer is going to be. Gomez couldn't get us anywhere in international tournaments, or in MLS Cup Playoffs the past two years. Gallardo was brought here to make the team more competitive internationally. So if DC United were to somehow manage to win the Champions Cup (seems unlikely at this point), then yes, Gallardo would be worth all that money and maybe more.

The Developmental salaries are kind of hard to follow too. All the rookies seem to be earning the minimum $12.9K, except for Dan Stratford at $17.7. I'm fine with that because it seems clear that he will be earning more playing time than the other rookies this year. But what jumped out at me was Justin Moose earning $17.7 while Jeff Carroll is still at $12.9. The answer here is easy too. Like Stratford, Moose started out earning $17.7 as a rookie last year, so United just decided not to give him a pay cut to come back.

Lastly, why did Gallardo insist on an extra $6 in his contract? $1,874,000 wasn't enough? I'm not sure if $6 will even buy you a beer at RFK anymore.

Dejected

I couldn't find the official box score online anywhere, so I'm just gonna estimate my own based on what I saw...

Shots on target: Pachuca - 42. United - 0.

Fouls committed: Pachuca - 2. United - 6323.

All things considered, a 2-0 final is maybe better than we deserved. We did have a lot of things working against us, so the team should not be completely dejected (like I am). It's hard to figure out how much of this loss was to blame on the altitude. And come to think of it, why is it only hard for a team from low-altitude to play in a locale with high-altitude? Shouldn't it also be difficult for a high-altitude team to play in low-altitude? Either way, next time around it will be Pachuca who has to play over the weekend and then fly across the country to play in an unfamiliar and unfriendly environment. And I bet THEIR team president won't foot the bill for a charter flight like ours did!


1. Gonzalo Martinez - I thought he played very well in the sweeper role. He's not the best passer, but he broke up a lot of plays, and was a lot of the reason why the score was only 2-0 and not 3 or 4-0.


1. Gonzalo Peralta - Ok he played well in defense. But I was really unhappy with his clearances, or were those passes? There were 3 or 4 times when we were trying to maintain possession, wound up passing the ball back to Burch or Martinez, he would pass it to the side to Peralta, and Peralta would just boot the ball forward. That's not the style of soccer I want the team to play.

2. Zach Wells - After the first half, I had Wells slotted in the "top shelf" category, or even as MOTM. But the first goal was a bit troubling. I don't like that the crowd was able to influence the referee into giving Wells a yellow card.


1. Franco Niell - Once again totally ineffective. Still holding out hope that he might be able to wreak havoc on MLS defenses coming on in the 75th minute, but he has yet to transition to perform well at this level.

2. Devon McTavish - After two of the best games of his life in the C-Cup, Devon laid a dud. I appreciate his newfound goal scoring touch. But what happened to that guy who made all those stand-up tackles in central defense that we all fell in love with last year?

3. Tom Soehn - I can't argue with any of the roster moves. He started the correct eleven players. Maybe he could have brought Dyachenko and Mediate in a couple minutes sooner, but I don't want to split hairs. My real complaint is the tactical decision to have Wells boot the ball out of the back every time he touched the ball. We were only maintaining possession of about 20% of those punts. Why not throw the ball out occasionally and let the midfield do their work?

How can consecutive 2-0 losses feel so completely different? Altogether, this isn't an entirely insurmountable lead. But it feels to me a lot like our 2-0 loss at Chicago in the playoffs last year. And I have a bad feeling that the home leg will be similar too, with a much-improved DC squad that will score a goal or two, but ultimately still come up short.

Ok to put this all in a different perspective. I still insist that the sky is NOT falling. DC United will still have a fine season in MLS play, in route to another high seed in the playoffs. BUT… That wasn't really the goal this year was it? And Soehn knows it, he's said it. The goal this year was to do well in international tournaments. I've said it before, but Ownership did not bring in Gallardo to win the Supporters' Shield. That's something we could have done with Gomez again. They brought in Gallardo with the intention of winning the Champions Cup and representing the continent in the World Club Championship. The rosy expectations about this season are fine, and I don't disagree with them. But is the whole season a disappointment if we don't advance?

This is depressing.

An early test of United's depth

3/29/08 at Kansas City
4/1/08 at Pachuca (Mex)
4/5/08 vs Toronto
4/9/08 vs Pachuca
4/12/08 at Real Salt Lake
4/17/08 vs Columbus

It all starts this week! With all of the competitions and tournaments that United is playing in this year, we knew this would happen eventually. I was just hoping it wouldn't be this soon!

Some have proposed just sending a "B" team to KC so our starting XI will be fresh to travel to Pachuca. While I would have no problem sacrificing the Supporters' Shield if it meant winning the Champions' Cup, resting ALL of our starters seems a bit unrealistic. Still, no player should play in every one of these matches. And I think we can even get by while trying to have no player start more than 4 out of these 6 matches.

Although there are some signs that Jaime Moreno might be back and healthy soon, and Jeff Curtin could possibly join the club soon too, I'm just going to assume that they are both out, along with Olsen and of course Jeff Carroll.

Hopefully most of you agree with me that the "C-Cup" has got to be the top priority. (The C-Cup! Haha! This is just like that time in guitar class when I couldn't keep a straight face any time the teacher said "G-String.") We definitely need to start McTavish and Emilio in both of the Pachuca matches because they are C-Cup gods! Anyway, as a free service to Tommy Soehn, here are the lineups that we here at DCUMD would use in the upcoming matches:

at KC: Wells, Namoff, McTavish, Peralta, Burch, Quaranta, Simms, Gallardo, Moose, Emilio, Kpene

at Pachuca: Wells, Namoff, Martinez, Peralta, Burch, McTavish, Simms, Gallardo, Fred, Emilio, Niell

vs TFC: Carvallo, Kirk, Martinez, Carroll, Cordeiro, Moose, Stratford, Gallardo, Mediate, Quaranta, Niell

vs Pachuca: Wells, Namoff, Martinez, Peralta, Burch, McTavish, Simms, Gallardo, Fred, Emilio, Niell

at RSL: Carvallo, Namoff, Carroll, Peralta, Burch, Quaranta, Simms, Dyachenko, Fred, Emilio, Kpene

vs Columbus: Wells, Kirk, Martinez, Carroll, McTavish, Mediate, Stratford, Gallardo, Fred, Quaranta, Niell

Alright, I failed a little bit because I've got Gallardo starting in five games, but he's (temporarily) our captain! I also think the team should showcase Gallardo in the opening match, the home opener, and the ESPN2 game against Columbus, so he doesn't get to rest. What's really cool though is that I've got McTavish playing in three different locations in four games. Not that I think Soehn will actually use these lineups, but it's just a testament to the depth and flexibility that we do have this year, and hopefully this will provide a bit of relief to some worry warts. I guess my only concern is that some of the reserves aren't quite ready for this kind of test.

Some would say that many of the moves this offseason were specifically made to prepare the team for stretches like this. But man do I miss Benny and Jaime right now...