RIVER OR LIFE: The front office

Stealing on old bit from the late Big O and Dukes Show, we will spend the next month or so playing "River or Life" with members of the DC United organization, starting with the front office, and then moving on to the players, by position. In an offseason that is bound to include multitudes of changes throughout the club, this will be a great way to show the team who we the fans want to see return next year.

Oscar and Chad used this bit to gauge listener reactions to guests and other show personalities. A vote for RIVER means that you never want to hear from that person again - to send him down the river. A vote for LIFE means that you want to keep the guy around - a stay of execution.

I strongly considered adding a middle ground voting choice, but I'd hate to diminish the effects of a clever bit. Besides, "River or life or something in between" just doesn't have the same ring to it. And with such a black and white voting structure, this will give us a sort of approval rating for each player/coach (even though that gimmick has already been used by another popular local blog). But if you're struggling to decide, feel free to use the comment section as your debate forum.

Starting at the top, Kevin Payne has been the team's President and CEO since 1994, before the official start of MLS. Under his leadership, the club has won 13 trophies and remains the most decorated club in the league, despite the disappointment of the past two years.

poll by twiigs.com

As General Manager, Dave Kasper is responsible for assessing and acquiring talent. His early years with the club saw the acquisitions of Christian Gomez, Freddy Adu, and Alecko Eskandarian. Kasper received a lot of criticism last year for going 0 for 5 in foreign acquisitions, but came back strong with the team's best draft class ever in 2009.

poll by twiigs.com

Tom Soehn finished his three seasons as the team's Head Coach with a 54-48-32 record in all competitions, which isn't exactly on par with the tradition of excellence that came before him. The team faced a tough time the past three years with injuries and fixture congestion, and although Soehn still managed to win a Supporters' Shield in 2007 and the Open Cup in 2008, he has taken a lot of criticism from the fanbase.

poll by twiigs.com

DC United tie at KC Wizards, 2-2

Plenty of fans were saying last night that this match was like a microcosm of our season. I disagree. A microcosm of our season would have included DC United grabbing an early lead and taking it into halftime. It also would have included many chances to go even further ahead, but we would have had multiple goals disallowed and/or our opponent would have scored after some poor officiating. And then we would have failed to put away chances to avoid everything coming down to the wire, and we would have been held back by injuries (ok, maybe that last part is true).

What we saw instead was a team that clearly wanted a victory. They fought hard, which is something that we weren't saying much during our three straight home losses just a short time ago. The team unfortunately left too many points on the table over the course of the season, and those opportunities will be second guessed from our couches, rather than from the bounching seats of RFK Stadium. Because our season has come to a premature end.


1. Julius James played well defensively as the center of our three-man backline. But after limping around on one foot and being moved to forward, it was his go-ahead header that will be a lasting image. I'm tempted to throw out all voting for the Grosy Award and hand it to James for that performance.

2. There's no doubt that the game changed at half time with Ben Olsen and Jaime Moreno joining the lineup. Olsen was able to hold more possession in his first 5 minutes than Szetela had in his 45. Moreno scored on yet another PK, and both players seemed to motivate the team to give their all. Which makes you wonder why they both weren't starting in the first place...


1. Steve Cronin made some very good saves in this match, despite looking a bit shaky at times in the first half. I'm not sure what the team will need to do to get him back next year, but they need to find out.

2. I was once again impressed with the effort of Fred. He earned the foul that led to the tying PK goal, and also made some positive contributions defensively despite some obvious cramping late in the match. His red card for a handball to keep the ball out of the net was the correct call, and I think every one of us would have done the same thing.


1. Rodney Wallace was getting beat nonstop by Kei Kamara in the first half, including getting beat on the Wizards' first goal. Wallace came within 2" of total redemption when his potential game-winning shot struck the post, but unfortunately it wasn't in the cards.

2. There were some questionable roster decisions by Tom Soehn, as has been typical over the course of this season. Even the players have complained about the coach's inability to establish a consistent starting lineup. And I just don't understand the decision to leave Olsen and Moreno home from Mexico mid-week, and then start both of them on the bench. It's doubtful though that we will have the chance to question Soehn's lineups ever again.

When the final whistle blew, it didn't feel real. And you could see that on the players' faces as well. It was as if they were each asking themselves: "How did we get here?" How did we take a team with this much talent, and drop so far so fast? You'd be hard pressed to find somebody who would argue that the 2009 DC United team was not better than the 2008 DC United team, yet they were in the same exact position at the conclusion of the season. One point out of the playoffs. Was that because of mismanagement? Poor coaching? Lack of production? Lack of effort? Officiating? Injuries?

You could chalk up our underperformance this year to any of those things. I'm not sure which one was the most crucial, but it doesn't really matter what I think. I'm much more curious about what Will Chang and Kevin Payne think.

Tom Soehn's career in DC will likely end any day now. This makes you wonder if anyone else's career in DC is about to end also. Dave Kasper? Moreno and Gomez? Emilio and Fred? Bryan Namoff?

Surely I'm going to have a lot of write about over the next few weeks. I would much rather be writing more match reactions, but this organization is sure to still keep us bloggers busy.

Last note: I've said it before but I'll repeat it here: If we are changing head coaches we need to do it NOW. The expansion draft is exactly one month away. And I want our new head coach to be the one making the important decisions about who to protect.

Benny Award 7: The Harkesy

By definition, the Harkesy Award should go to the DC United player who has been the strongest leader for our team this season. On-field leadership is important, but for this award, it isn't everything. And that would be evidenced by the fact that Ben Olsen won the award last year after playing only 15 minutes. The award's namesake is captain for life John Harkes who was United's captain for the first three years of the team's existence.

1. Jaime Moreno is the team's captain this season, and has always had an uncanny ability to hold the ball, distribute, and take over a match. However, Moreno has apparently only been worthy of 11 starts this season, despite his 8 goals and 3 assists.

2. Ben Olsen leads by example on the field, exuding courage, heart, brains, and whatever Dorothy was looking for too. Olsen has been one of the few players on the team who looks like he has given all he's got every match of the year.

3. Santino Quaranta appears to be poised to take over as the leader of the next generation of players on the team. He has been the most vocal in the media, and has set a fine example for the rookies and other younger players.

4. Tom Soehn is by title the technical leader of the team. Parts of this season have certainly been a challenge for Soehn in assembling a strong lineup every week with injuries to key personnel and international appearances to fend off, but he was able to guide the team to first place for much of the first half of the season before being faced with these issues. Late in the year though, with United falling from playoff competition and dropping multiple home matches, Soehn may have lost his team.

poll by twiigs.com

Please enter your votes now through the end of the season, and remember to post in the comments section to be eligible for the exciting prizes that I announced last week.

Next up: The Popie - Who is United's best defender this season?

DC United lose to Chivas USA, 2-0

This was clearly a match between two teams going in different directions. Chivas was starting guys like Maicon Santos, Jesus Padilla, and Yamith Cuesta - all who joined the team in August and have already claimed starting jobs. They haven't been afraid to bench their veterans like Razov, Galindo, and Marsch and have instead sought out better players. Pretty interesting contrast against what United has been doing this year.

It's hard to admit but I think we are actually the worst team in MLS right now. I'm greatful that we don't play NYRB in either of our last two matches, because I think they would embarass us too. Just 3 points in 4 home matches, and those came against a Wizards team that couldn't put the ball on frame. We were looking forward to this 5-match home stretch all year, and we've just pissed it away.


No one even close.


1. Chris Pontius and Santino Quaranta were the hardest working players on the field. Pontius was maybe the only player who was involved in the match for all 90 minutes. Quaranta had a really poor first half, being dispossessed multiple times and failing to get to a couple balls. If he had given the same level of effort in the first 75 minutes as he gave in the last 15, we may have scored.


1. Where to start? Milos Kocic for getting beat to the near post on the first goal (sure it was unlucky that it bounced off his back, but he should have stopped it in the first place). Marc Burch for getting beat on the second goal (also unlucky the way the ball fell right to Padilla, but Burch should have cleared it in the first place). Ben Olsen for letting the team down. Tom Soehn for breathing. I'm going to move on and steal a good idea and hit some talking points instead:

I don't know for sure that a penalty kick would have been the right call when Jaime Moreno was taken down, but I definitely don't understand the call that was made. From my view, it looked like there was obviously SOME contact between Cuesta and Moreno, and even if it wasn't enough to justify a PK, I don't think it made sense to give Moreno a card for falling when he got hit while running at full speed. But if the ruling was that Cuesta got all-ball and Moreno dove, or that Cuesta got the ball first and the contact with Moreno was incidental, then shouldn't it have been a corner kick and not a goal kick?

I was not happy with the "Fire Soehn" chants that could be heard throughout the match, even when we were just down 1-0. I'm fine with chanting for Moreno to come in, and I'm fine with booing at half time and chanting "Fire Soehn" after the game. But if BB/SE are going to brag about being the only fans in MLS that sing for 90 minutes, let's please sing in support of United, not against it.

Speaking of Soehn though, I don't understand the roster decisions either. Fullback makes a good point in criticizing the decision to start the same players who produced mid-week. I thought the whole point in starting Gomez and Khumalo ahead of Emilio and Moreno on Wednesday was for our two leading scorers to be at full strength on Saturday. Apparently not. That was a combined 17 goals sitting on the bench for the first half last night in a must-win match. The adjustments during the match didn't make much sense either. Quaranta and Pontius frequently switching places doesn't do much good when they have pretty similar playing styles. What I wanted to see was the team move Khumalo into his natural forward position, where he scored one of his goals against SJJ. Khumalo is fast and can shoot, but doesn't have the defensive ability or creativity to be a regular starter in the midfield. Even New York figured out eventually what to do with a similar player in Mac Kandji. Our coaches aren't that smart though.

The worst feeling was the sense that United didn't have a chance to win. Just 10 minutes in, it was easy to see that Chivas's defense was better than our midfielders/forwards, and it was far more likely that our piecemeal back line would leak a goal than that we would earn one against the best goalkeeper in the league this season. It was a lost cause from the start. And I don't see it getting any better with our last home match against Columbus.

Olsen and Moreno's comments in the Insider's Rewind post could be signs of what's to come. Olsen saying that the team was better without him could certainly be a hint at a pending retirement. But Moreno saying that the team doesn't have rhythm because they change their lineup every week is even more telling. Soehn has lost the team.

So the only thing left is to ponder who our next head coach will be. Curmudgeon is calling for an immediate switch to Olsen. And I've seen other pleas for Moreno and/or Etcheverry. But as savory as it might be to see a United star from years past guide our team back to the promised land, I don't think that's what makes sense for our club. I could see any one of those guys implementing the same "possession oriented" style that we've been using with mediocrity for the last several years. It's time for a change. I was salivating listening to Sasho Cirovski doing the commentary, and would love to see him promoted to the pro ranks, but it's sad that I don't see him taking a job here. Rejecting both those options, who do we turn to? I wish I knew.

The Fifth Sixth

This is the fifth in a recurring series where we look at the DC United season, five games at a time.

Results: 2-1-2. 4 GF, 4 GA

Standings: Third place in the Eastern Conference

Statistical Leaders: Josh Wicks (3 clean sheets); Namoff, Burch, Moreno, Emilio (1 goal each), Gomez (1 assist)

Most frequent lineup:


What we liked:

• Discovering our starting XI – I’ve often wondered during this season if we’re ever going to have a single consistent lineup that can be used every week. It looks like we’re finally stating to see that, and surprisingly enough, that lineup is going to be a 4-4-2. While I might not necessarily agree with all of the starters in every match, at least the coaching staff is finally starting to decide who they want to count on to be their regular starters, and that is happening at the perfect time with the playoffs just over a month away.
  
• Josh Wicks, the savior – Wicks has come a long way since emerging from the three-man goalkeeper competition to be our starter. And while the team only earned 5 clean sheets in all of 2008, Wicks alone has now earned 5, including 3 in this set of matches. He made a lot of key saves to preserve the scoreless draw late in the Galaxy match. We saw two on-field blowups from Wicks during this period, which is something to look out for, but his play speaks for itself.
  
• United can score on corner kicks – Throughout this team’s history, they have struggled to score from corner kicks. Prior to 2009, I think maybe the only corner kick goal ever scored by United came off the head of Eddie Pope in 1996. But suddenly every corner kick is now a scoring opportunity for United. Bryan Namoff scored his second corner kick goal of the year in United’s win over Chicago, and the winning goal sequence against KC also started with a corner.

What we didn't like:

• Lack of scoring – United did not score in the run of play during these five matches. It’s incredible that we had a winning record during this stretch when the team was only able to score on corners, free kicks, and a penalty kick. With the attacking firepower of the likes of Emilio, Gomez, Quaranta, and Pontius, that’s just not acceptable.
  
• Coaching inadequacies – Some of this is due to injury, but Coach Soehn continues to play some of his players outside of their best positions. Simms at CB? Wallace at LB? Olsen at RW? Quaranta at forward while Pontius is in the midfield? And what was Fred doing on the field anyway while Chris Pontius was sitting on the bench? It’s sad to point out that Jaime Moreno only started 1 league match during this stretch, and Pontius only 2.

Defining moment: The moment that sticks out to me most clearly from this five-game stretch is unfortunately the handball by the LA Galaxy that was not called. And that was after Emilio was shoved over in the box earlier in the match. Maybe someone could debate the foul on Emilio, but the handball was indisputable, and it was even used as an example of a bad call by the USSF. We saw so many non-calls in that match that I think we may have won if only a United player could have picked up the ball and ran rugby-style into the goal. Anyways, a penalty kick in the 85th minute of a scoreless game would have virtually guaranteed us a victory, and two extra points in the standings sure would have looked nice about now.

Overall impression: Last time I wrote the following: “United's 1-2-2 record in the fourth Sixth is a bit misleading, because this stretch of the season also included three Open Cup victories to return DC to the Final, and a home-and-home series victory over Firpo to return DC to the Champions League group stage.” This time its exactly the opposite. United had a winning record through the fifth Sixth in MLS action, but while also losing two CCL matches and the Open Cup Final. Despite our current place in the standings, United remains in a precarious position because every other team but one has played fewer matches than us. But with four out of the last five matches at RFK in front of its adoring fans, DC definitely is in control of its own destiny during the final playoff push.

DC United win vs KC Wizards, 1-0

That wasn't exactly how I wanted to see us play against one of the worst teams in the league, but a win is a win, and somehow I still feel like we earned this one. It definitely took this team 30 minutes or so to settle in, and gave up way too many chances during those first 30 minutes, but we looked like the better team in the second half, and ultimately we prevailed.

Thoughts on the surprising back line? A lot of fans have been clamoring for McTavish and Wallace each to get a chance in defense, and they both did tonight. Both were adequate, but probably not spectacular enough to unseat Jakovic and Burch when they return from injuries. I really didn't understand the move of taking off Julius James in favor of Avery John and moving Simms from CDM to CB, but it seemed to work out, because I only counted one scoring opportunity for KC after that change. I think the most likely back line for Saturday's match will be Namoff-James-McTavish-John.


1. It's unfortunate that he doesn't get credited with an assist, because it was the hard work of Chris Pontius that created Emilio's goal. Pontius really put himself in danger and got hit by Hartman and a defender in the process of sending a diving header off the post. Hopefully Soehn is starting to realize also (as I've been saying for months) that our team plays its best when Quaranta and Pontius are on the field at the same time. These two combined for three or four good chances tonight.

2. The predator Luciano Emilio made a return appearance in this match, poaching the winning goal after Pontius's header deflected off the post. Emilio had two great chances to put away the game late too, once on a perfectly timed run to beat an offside trap in the 81st minute, and then again in the 88th minute with a lob over Hartman's head which was clearly goal-bound if not for being cleared off the line by Conrad.

3. Bryan Namoff also deserves credit for an assist, as it was his cross to Pontius that set up the goal. This guy is really turning into a huge asset on corner kicks. He was also our most consistent defender tonight and helped us preserve the shutout.

4. Props to Tom Soehn for a nice and creative starting lineup. He also did well at recognizing how little Gomez was contributing and replaced him with Olsen at the half. And even though I didn't understand the John for James move at the time, that did ultimately seem to shore up the defense. Although that may have been more due to Kansas City running out of gas to attack.


1. The two surprise defenders Devon McTavish and Rodney Wallace each filled in admirably. McTavish demonstrated some Jakovicesque traits, occassionally starting the ball up the field or making runs into the midfield in transition. I might even go as far to say that McTavish looked like the more competent of our two central defenders, making me wonder if he should be the one to start alongside Jakovic when the Canadian returns from injury. Wallace had his ups and downs in his first MLS start as a left back. I questioned whether the best time to try Wallace in defense was in a match where Jakovic was not there to help guide him. Wallace got beat a couple times for some shots on target, but he did look excellent when pushing forward, and also was a big help in killing off the game with his aggression when moved to CDM after John entered.


1. Christian Gomez was largely ineffective and I wasn't surprised to see him subbed out at the half. I think it's time to move on from the days when it used to be a requirement to start Gomez and Moreno at the same time.

Inefficiencies aside, this was exactly the result we needed to kick off our five game home stand. Not just a win, but also a clean sheet to give our defenders some confidence back. And oh look! Suddenly we jumped from out of the playoffs to #3 in the East! Just in time for my Fifth Sixth posting later this week! Even though we've played one more game than just about everyone else, we're still in a very good position to make the playoffs with the schedule remaining, and as I expect New England and Chivas to continue to drop off. Next up: Seattle on Saturday, then another double match week with home games against Marathon and San Jose.

DC United tie at FC Dallas, 2-2

So my DVR inexplicably taped nothing but a black screen, and calls to Comcast expectedly got me nowhere (their proposed solution: turn it off and turn it back on). So this reaction will be based solely on MLSnet highlights and comments in the Insider.

With our remaining schedule chock full of home matches, a tie on the road is certainly not the end of the world. And we're now technically in the playoffs if the season ended today (tied with New England and Chivas, but with a better goal differential) although there are several teams who have played less matches than us. So the overall result is fine. What is troublesome though is that we SHOULD be better than FC Dallas. Outside of Cunningham, we're a much more talented team. But from what I saw, these two teams were fairly evenly matched. And since FCD are not a playoff team, that's not good.


1. Our most dangerous player on the field was Santino Quaranta. He's really starting to put this team on his back and emerge as a leader for the younger generation of players. It's questionable whether that should have been a penalty kick when Tino was taken down in the box, but the ref certainly didn't have a good enough angle to be able to say that he dived, so it was well earned in my opinion.

2. Marc Burch hit three awesome free kicks in a row, each with a good chance at scoring. The first two resulted in chances for rebounds, and the third one went in. The good thing about hitting free kicks low is that they don't go over the bar that way. This might sound obvious, but it would be a lesson well learned for other players.


1. Interesting choice by Soehn to put Clyde Simms in as a central defender. At least he was the better of our two central defenders this night. I remember the team trying Simms as an outside back in 2007, but has he ever started as a CB before? Still not sure why McTavish hasn't played as a defender all year.


1. Joining Janicki and Habarugira in the list of defenders who have had a terrible match in the past month, please welcome Julius James. He was responsible for both goals, gave up another shot to Cunningham which went off the post, and could have been called for a penalty kick.

2. So what did you guys think of Tom Soehn's 4-6-0 formation? My back line would have been Namoff-James-Burch-John, but having Simms in there instead was fine defensively. The problem then though is that you lose Simms' ball winning skills in the midfield. This lineup was essentially 3 true defenders, 4 defensive midfielders, and 3 attacking midfielders. Not a winning combination, and not what in line with my recommendation. I mean it's fine to have a global strategy of going for 3 points at home and 1 point on the road, but did we really have to make it this obvious?

Well that's all I got from the five minutes of highlights. Anyone who watched the game care to elaborate more?

Next week brings two home league matches for us, first against the Wizards on Wednesday (college discount night) and then a rematch against the Sounders on Saturday (social sports night). Anything less than 4 points next week would be extremely disappointing, and 6 points is very possible as well.

How to develop a lineup

So I'm watching the Redskins get killed in yet another preseason game and I'm thinking about the strategy that they've used over the years in developing their rosters, and how that compares with DC United.

The Redskins have a tendency to sign players that they think are good, and then try to make them fit within the system of whatever coach they have at the time. We've seen this repeatedly with Jason Campbell. The team drafted him because they liked his arm, with no consideration for how he would fit within the offense of Joe Gibbs or Al Saunders. And then when the team was looking for a new offensive coach, did they select one who would work well with Cambell? Nope, they picked a coach in Jim Zorn whose offense requires a certain skill set from a quarterback that Campbell does not possess. Oh and let's not forget how the team took an all-pro right defensive end in Jason Taylor and moved him to the left. And now they're trying to do the same thing with Brian Orakpo.

Compare that with DC United and you get the exact opposite. It's like they overthink their lineup instead. Tom Soehn's strategy over the past few years has been to try to tailor his starting lineup to the number of quality starters he has at each position. So when the team has a lot of attacking midfielders, but not very many defenders, Soehn's idea is to start as many attacking midfielders as possible, and as few defenders as possible.

I went back and found this quote in the Soccer Insider on 3/17/09:

Said Bryan Namoff: "Just because there are so many new faces, our ability to stay more compact defensively is better right now in that 3-5-2. During the long run, we might compare to other teams a little bit better with a 4-4-2, but at this point in time, the 3-5-2 position allows us defensively to be a little stronger."

Sounds to me like the main reason we used a three-man backline early in the year was because... We had new faces? Now that we've had essentially the same roster for almost a whole season, isn't it time to move away from that?

So which strategy is better? Neither. More a balance between the two. I would much rather see United pick a formation that fits our style of play and stick to it. Then put the best players on the field in the right place within that formation. But equally importantly, if we don't have good enough defenders and if we don't have the two-way wingers to play with a 3-5-2, don't use it.

After our results in Chicago, I think we'll start to see the 4-4-2 formation more often at this point. In fact, I think we probably would have seen it last night if Julius James was available. But wait... Should we let the absence of one player determine our formation? Or should we select a formation first based on matchup and then select the players? Any of the following backlines would have worked better last night: Namoff-Janicki-Jakovic-Burch or Namoff-McTavish-Jakovic-Burch or Namoff-Jakovic-Burch-John. By the way, why hasn't McTavish played defense at all this season?

DC United lose to Seattle Sounders, 2-1

We win trophies. But not all the time.

Great atmosphere at the stadium. My section was in between the Barra Brava and the Seattle supporters, and it was cool listening to the fans trying to out-sing each other. The fans in the sections who don't normally stand and sing were all standing and singing a lot more than usual.

I hate to say it but I guess the Sounders deserved to win. Which is disappointing after all the trash we talked. But Seattle won a trophy in their first chance just like DC United did. Now if they can just win 13 more, maybe they'll have an argument at being the greatest club in MLS.

1. Clyde Simms was in the right place at the right time to score DC's only goal.

1. Josh Wicks was the reason we were still in this match through 70 minutes, but then he was also the reason why we didn't have a good chance to get back into it after we went behind. Wicks looked like a superhero in the first half with all those great saves, but it was absolutely inexcusable for him to stomp on Montero afte giving up the goal. We learned from the Blanco incident last year that MLS will not suspend players for their actions in the Open Cup, but I wonder if United benches him temporarily as punishment.

1. I'm not going to make up my mind as to what I think Tom Soehn's fate should be until after the season is over, and neither will ownership, and neither should you. But this loss certainly makes it much more likely that he will not make it into 2010 as our head coach. His only chance at this point is to win the Eastern Conference Championship. Numerous issues with Soehn's starting lineup. If you were following me on Twitter, you'd know that my starting lineup included Wallace and Quaranta ahead of Olsen and Moreno, and I stand by that. This team is best when Quaranta is playing right wing and Pontius is playing forward. When is the coaching staff going to realize that? And at some point, Moreno and Olsen are no longer to be among our best 11 players. I'm not exactly sure if that point has come yet, but I'm also not certain if the coaching staff is going to be willing to start either of these guys on the bench when necessary. The other issue was the formation. It became clear to me about 15 minutes in that the 3-man backline was not working. But the team made zero adjustments. And I didn't feel like having a fifth midfielder was doing us much good either. Makes you wonder what the lineup would have looked like if Julius James was available.

2. FREDSUX

3. I wonder if the game would have gone into overtime at 1-1 if Wicks was still in instead of Milos Kocic on the second goal. He's much less decisive and doesn't distribute effectively either.

4. The free kicks of Christian Gomez were a constant disappointment. For as many chances as he had, I would have expected at least a couple shots on goal.

That's all. Time to concentrate on the league. As with any professional sports team, DC United has a tendency to let us down immediately following an emotionally draining match like this one. It will be up to Soehn to make sure that doesn't happen on Saturday. And then we actually have a full week off (!) before we get a chance for revenge against the Sounders.

DC United lose to Toluca, 3-1

I had my doubts about this lineup going in because it just seemed way too defensive. I'm in favor of continuing with the 4-4-2 formation for the duration of this tournament, but my vision of a 4-4-2 involves attacking wingers, and maybe a creative attacking central midfielder. McTavish and Allen aren't really what you think of in terms of attacking wingers, and Andrew Jacobson isn't really the most creative CAM either.

This would have been the perfect match for Danny Szetela. I understand he's in the doghouse, and obviously Coach Soehn knows more about why than any of us so I give him the benefit of the doubt, but it really would have been nice to see his creative skills on the field in place of any one of the previously mentioned midfielders. And if not Szetela, either Gomez, Fred, or Quaranta should have started this match. Oh yeah, and I guess Ely Allen is ahead of John DiRaimondo on the depth chart for now? I guess that might have changed after this match.

As for the back line, I'm fine with Namoff-Jakovic-Burch as our top lineup and Habarugira-James-John as our B squad. I'm also perfectly fine with Marc Burch as a CB in a four-man back. But if we have to add one of the A squad members to the B line each match, do we really want it to be Burch? Why is Burch more capable than Jakovic or Namoff at playing two matches per week?

As I stated, I liked the four-man back line. But from the 28th minute on, I was calling for Gomez to come in for Habarugira. Dude as AWFUL.


1. I've said before that some of DC United's best moments in 2009 have come from the combination of Santino Quaranta and Chris Pontius. These two immediately connected for a goal as soon as the Phoenix entered the match. I wonder if Soehn has been misusing these two in the regular season when he often puts Quaranta up top and Pontius on the right wing. It really should be the other way around.


1. Goal-saving play by Julius James in the 80th minute, and pretty consistently good defense throughout the match. It looked like he might have been the competent backup CB we've been looking for, that is until the deflection that led to the third goal.

2. There have been some mentions on this blog and others about the seemingly increasing number of giveaways from Clyde Simms this year. Well if you watch him closely, you'll see that he wins more balls than he loses. And winning balls is what the man is paid to do.


1. I've been a little bit of a Greg Janicki apologist over the past week, because I have tendency to believe that his terrible match against Marathon was more of an aberation than the norm. Because we've seen better from him before. Thefore I believe that the mistake by David Habarugira that resulted in an early goal for Toluca was much worse than the mistake by Janicki that resulted in an early goal for Marathon. Janicki's error seemed like more of a fluke mistake. I just don't get the impression that Habarugira knows any better! Maybe Wicks should have done better to call him off, but there's no way that goal would have happened with Namoff or Jakovic in that position instead. Habarugira also made several bad passes, left a man unmarked at the back post that led to a free header on goal in the 33rd minute, and earned a really bad yellow card early in the second half. I wonder which defender will have an awful match in our next Champions League appearance? My money is on Avery John.

2. Josh Wicks is usually pretty vocal, but I didn't see or hear him yelling "KEEPER!" to Habarugira on the first goal. He also misplayed the ball in the 80th minute, forcing a great goal-saving tackle by James. And the third goal was a bit unlucky, but if I'm going to blame any player for it, I might put some blame on Wicks.

3. Marc Burch got beat on the winning goal, plain and simple.

4. Removing Ely Allen at the 33 minute mark was more than just a tactical substitution in my mind, as the commentator suggested. I just can't think of one positive contribution that he made. At least it was good to see that it only took Soehn one third of the match to realize how poor his starting lineup was.

5. The more I think about it, the more I'm against the starting lineup used by Tom Soehn in this match. I've been definitively and consistently against the "Fire Soehn" crowd for all of 2009. This is the first match when I've began to consider how much longer I want him coaching this team. I just don't see how this lineup really had any chance of winning.

The next week and a half might be the most important of the season for us. Our road match against Chicago on Saturday is winnable. If they can lose 2-0 to the Beckham-less and Lewis-less Galaxy last week, I think we have a good chance of earning at least a point. And then Wednesday is of course the Open Cup Final (now offering $10 student tickets!), which has suddenly become the most important match we'll play in 2009 based on our nascent rivalry with the Sounders. The week ends with another winnable road match against FC Dallas. Earlier this week I wrote about how a long line of poor officiating has kept us from earning points this year. Now would be a really nice time for kharma to pay us back and shoot some luck in our direction for once.

DC United lose at Marathon, 3-1

A loss is pretty much what we expected on the road in Honduras, but it's disappointing all the same because it could have been so much more. And we're once again reminded of 2008. If you're unfortunate enough to recall the 2008 Champions' Cup and Superliga, you'll remember that DC United looked to be of fairly equal caliber to most of their opponents, but ultimately flunked out of the tournaments due to several individual mistakes and unlucky breaks.

Well the same thing happened tonight, only this time there was one lone target of blame: Greg Janicki. Which is really too bad because he showed a lot of potential towards the end of last year. And once again we're left wondering, as we do in all international tournaments, what could have been if our league allowed larger rosters and a bigger salary cap. Sure would have been nice if we had another reserve forward on our roster to bring in for Emilio late in the match. Marathon on the other hand substituted in multiple additional forwards, and we could only counter by bringing on extra defensive midfields. Not exactly the best tactics for a win.


1. Luciano Emilio looked like a freakin' warrior! Scoring and bloodying his face all in the same motion. Even at the 93 minute mark, Emilio was still going at goal. This performance just might earn Luci a Grosy nomination.

2. Maybe it took him a little while to settle in, but Andrew Jacobson has looked much better the past couple weeks. Surprisingly, he took on more of an attacking midfield role than Moreno for a lot of this match.


1. I had my doubts, but the starting lineup used by Tom Soehn turned out to be pretty darn effective. Other than one massive mistake by Janicki, we escaped the first half scoreless, and held our own until the final 10 minutes. The four-man back line worked exactly how it should in limiting chances, and our midfield won most of its battles. I do question the tactics towards the end though. Mainly, I didn't understand taking out Habarugira in favor of Simms. This move forced Simms to play in the backline, where he has not played in over two years. If we needed to insert another defender, why not Burch? Or why not move McTavish back instead, who at least played defense in 2008.

2. In our first glance at David Habarugira (Spanglish translation: "Habarooga") and Julius James, we saw some things to be happy about, and some things that made us nervous. The Habarugira dude has got speed, and likes getting forward. And when he does get forward, he doesn't leave huge gaps behind him like Avery John does. But he also committed a lot of fouls, including a yellow card that could have been a red with some other referees that we've faced. James was decent, and definitely had his highs and lows. He almost gave up an own goal in the first 10 minutes, but also started the sequence with a header that led to Emilio's goal.

3. The organization of Jaime Moreno and Ben Olsen was precisely what was missing from this team on Saturday.


1. It's not often that a single player is responsible for all three goals allowed, but that was the case tonight with Greg Janicki. He made a terrible mistake in misplaying the first goal, and his poor slide tackle in the box set up the penalty kick for the third goal. Marathon's second goal was a bit more deserved, but it was still against the run of play, and I still feel like Jakovic would have stopped it if he were playing instead.

2. Did you happen to notice that every good chance Marathon had in the first half came from their right flank? That would be the territory of Ely Allen and Avery John. Allen had a couple decent touches early, but was ultimately beaten too often, and John had just too many giveaways, although he did alright defensively for most of the match.

So hopefully the team can keep their heads held high going into Saturday's home match against the Galaxy. Hopefully we won't be starstruck and make the same stupid mistakes against Beckham and Donovan. And let's keep in mind that this could have easily been a 1-1 result if not for those mistakes. This team still has a lot left to fight for in the CCL. I'm very interested to see how we do against Marathon in the home leg on 9/24.

DC United lose at Toronto FC, 2-0

Thomas Rongen said early in the match that since both teams were playing with a 3-5-2 formation, it was likely that the team with the most individual talent would win. If you add up all the talent on United's roster and all the talent on Toronto's roster, United might prevail. But unfortunately games aren't actually won and lost that way. There are other elements that come into play. Like teamwork. Motivation. Desire.

What Rongen also missed is that although United might be the more talented team overall, the most talented individual soccer player on the field was clearly Dwayne De Rosario, and this game was in the books from the moment he ran around Jakovic to score the first goal. DC never looked like they had enough hustle to get back in it.


None


1. I had my eye on John DiRaimondo for part of the first half because I wanted to see what the coaching staff saw in him to grant him his first league start. What I saw was a lot of good movement off the ball, and what seemed like pretty good vision. I would have liked to see him do better on stopping the cross that led to the first goal, but it's good to see that he's at least serviceable as a replacement winger.

2. We've seen some pretty good things out of Andrew Jacobson this season when he has a chance to get forward. I think he's at his best when Simms is also on the field so he doesn't have as much responsibility defensively.


1. Maybe this is just a minor gripe about Josh Wicks, but when the goalkeeper gets beat, wouldn't you at least like for him to look like he's trying to make a save? He may not have been able to stop DeRo's header, but at least make a dive for it! Don't just stand there and watch it go into the net. He did the same thing earlier in the match too on a Jim Brennan header that hit the post.

2. Very disappointing match from Dejan Jakovic, who might actually be regressing over the course of the season? Fullback hits on all the right points with him. Jakovic is usually pretty good at breaking up plays and escaping out of the back, but I would sure feel more comfortable if he had another central defender next to him.

3. Apparently Christian Gomez shaved off his passing ability in addition to his hair. No creativity from him in this one. It seemed like most of our decent scoring opportunities (and they were rare) came from Quaranta, not Gomez.

4. Good ol' brickfoot Luciano Emilio drew a couple fouls, but that was about his only positive offensive contribution. Fullback hits on all the right points with him.

5. I've been saying for weeks that this match would be an appropriate time for Tom Soehn to start with a 4-4-2 formation. I believe that formation will suit us best when used on the road against teams with multiple skilled attackers. Sadly, our back three were much worse than the back three of Toronto in this match, and that was ultimately our downfall. How about giving the 4-4-2 a try on the road next week against the speedy Marathon?

I posted before that this was a "must-not-lose" game. Apparently the players and coaching staff don't read as much DCUMD as they should, because they didn't seem to understand the importance of this match. With Toronto just 1 point behind us in the standings prior to today, I would argue that this was our most important league match since 6/13.

Not a good start to the most hectic portion of our 2009 schedule. If the team looked slow today, how are they going to look after an 8 hour flight to Honduras in just three short days? Then it's back home for a tough match against the resurgent LA Galaxy (Fellas, it's Ladies Night!)

Oh yeah and one more thing... Did that really look like anything close to a crowd of over 20,000 people? Or was my hearing off when Dave Johnson announced that as the attendance?

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 tie at Seattle Sounders, 3-3

"What an advertisement this has been for Major League Soccer here tonight". I heard Glenn Davis speak that line twice during the broadcast, once in the 68th minute on ESPN2, and once before the game was being shown on television (thanks atdhe.net). At first I was thinking that that was a terribly hypocritical thing to say. That if ESPN really wanted to advertise MLS, they might think about broadcasting the entire game. But then I realized that ESPN was just thinking of that literally. They treated this match as if it were nothing but "an advertisement". It was 11:55pm ET when ESPN2 joined this game in progress. That's when cable stations are usually showing Paid Programming right? But then later from Allen Hopkins I heard "This is exactly what MLS was hoping for." Really? MLS was hoping ESPN2 would only show 30 minutes of this match?

And that's really a shame. A high scoring match between the two most exciting teams in MLS, playing in undoubtedly the stadium with the best atmosphere in MLS, is the type of match that should be shown in HD in primetime on national television. It's a shame that ESPN doesn't agree. With hockey and basketball done for the year, and the NFL still a couple months away, sports fans are dying for something exciting to watch. The College World Series doesn't qualify. It would really be in ESPN's best interest to treat soccer as if it were a major sport, but I don't see this country's perception of soccer changing until the media's coverage of soccer changes.

OK let's actually talk about the match some. I'll be honest, I actually went into this one expecting a loss. After an emotional victory over the supposed best team in the league Chicago last week, I figured it would be hard to keep up that momentum. And I was right for most of this match. But then... In the match that concludes the first half of United's 2009 campaign, as we've seen so many times already this season, we stormed back. Thanks to some continuous pressure up top, Sigi's decision to take his foot off the pedal, and a little bit of luck.


1. Right now Christian Gomez is playing the best he's played in two years. Here's hoping that he is healthy enough to start on Saturday. He sure looked like he will be.

2. Chris Pontius was our only attacker who looked dangerous for all 90 minutes.

3. What a perfect cross by Santino Quaranta to set up Pontius's goal. That would be his 6th assist of the season, putting him in second place in the league, and just 1 behind Brad Davis.


1. I think it might be time to start counting the number of points that we owe to Josh Wicks. I count 1 in the tie against RSL, 2 in the win against Chicago, and now 1 tonight. Wicks could have done better on the second goal, but didn't have much of a chance on the other two. He had several great saves to keep us in it.


1. Dejan Jakovic and Marc Burch seemed to feed off each other's mistakes. This was the worst performance by the DC defense this season, by far. These two need to wash their memories of this match quickly, because I'm expecting much better this weekend.

2. The link between the defense and midfield was missing tonight. That would be Clyde Simms and Andrew Jacobson. After this match, I'm officially moving Devon McTavish up above Jacobson on my depth chart.

3. I didn't like Tom Soehn's lineup from the start. I figured that if Ben Olsen is healthy enough to play only one out of the two games this week, it should be this one. And we definitely missed his leadership out there tonight. But my bigger issue with Soehn was bringing in N'Silu when Fred had to come off, instead of just making a straight swap with Gomez. I understand occassionally resting Gomez, but if the plan was to bring him on at some point in the second half, why not just move that up instead of wasting a sub?

4. And speaking of that wasted sub, Ange N'Silu was rarely involved in this match, and when he was, he was usually giving the ball away. United has a recent history of cutting its reserve forwards after each season (Addlery, Kpene, Doe), and I doubt 2009 will be any different with N'Silu.

So that's twice as many Rail as Top Shelf players in a road draw? Seems sort of odd, but then again, this point was a bit of a gift. And this is an important stretch of the season where we've got 3 matches in 8 days, and Chicago has none. With the chance to increase our lead in the East, what was the most points we could expect from this two game road trip? 4? 3? Well we're on our way towards that.

DC United win vs Chicago Fire, 2-1

This was my first journey to RFK this season, and boy did I pick a good one. It sure did feel right for this to be a battle for first place, because United and the Fire did look like two of the best teams in MLS tonight. Great atmosphere in the stadium.

Just a shame for a really well-played competitive match between two good teams to be influenced so heavily by the officials. In the end though, the two soft penalty calls balanced each other out. D makes a good point about the symmetry in the officiating. I'll wait until the video highlights are posted online, but in person, I didn't see a foul worthy of a penalty in either case. The difference tonight though, was in the goalkeeping.


1. Ladies and gentlemen we have a goalkeeper! Josh Wicks earned us 2 extra points in this match, not only with his penalty kick save on McBride, but also on a couple other point blank saves, and total control of the box on corner kicks.

2. It wasn't just Wicks though that held Chicago to one goal. The strong defense of Marc Burch and Dejan Jakovic also helped preserve the victory. Brian McBride is the best aerial attacker in US Soccer history, and Burch was marked up against him on every corner and free kick. Great job. Jakovic singlehandedly shut down numerous scoring opportunities, including quite a few from the speedy Nyarko.

3. Christian Gomez isn't going to let the starting central attacking midfield job get away from him that easily. Dude was awesome tonight. It's been far too long since we've seen United score directly off a free kick like that.

4. All of the loud side was buzzing in response to the play of Boyzzz Khumalo after he entered as a second half sub. He put in some hard work during the final minutes to keep Chicago honest.

5. Despite missing Emilio, Tom Soehn did well to put together a great starting XI. Wallace had another strong match in central defensive midfield. And the subs did well to close it out (finally we saw the reapperance of the 4-4-2!) Soehn was also smart to switch Fred and Quaranta after Rolfe and Pappa had already switched, and Pappa was clearly abusing Fred.


1. While putting in a good effort whether on the wing in the first half or up front in the second, Santino Quaranta should have made the final score 3-1 if he was able to finish off Khumalo's perfect cross late in the match.


1. I had a good view of Fred's multiple giveaways in the first half. It wasn't pretty. I think the only passes he completed were backwards to Burch.

Ah, first place. It feels good. This team is really starting to come together. We all were counting on United to score plenty of goals in 2009, but now that they have an above average starting goalkeeper, along with maybe the best center back in the league, this team could be in for a very good year.

DC United win vs Red Bulls, 2-0

Ah, the elusive 90 minute performance. Now I remember what a true victory feels like! It was easy to expect United to let up a late goal after clearly being the better team for the entire game, but instead they added another, thanks to our two veteran super subs.

All that glitters might not be gold here. This wasn't necessarily a domination, because New York had some chances. Luckily for us, they only have one player who knows how to finish those chances, and he was thwarted by Wicks on his only good opportunity. If we give the same chances to Chicago next week though, we might be looking at something closer to a 2-2 scoreline. Brian McBride is no John Wolyniec, and Chris Rolfe is no Danleigh Borman.

1. The best player on the field on this night was Fred. His set up to Santino Quaranta on the first goal was great. And he had at least two good tackles to help on the defensive side when moved out to the wing in the second half.

2. Some credit goes to Tom Soehn for rolling out maybe the best lineup of the year. The 3-5-2 worked well last night, and I liked him mixing things up with Wallace in the middle and Pontius playing, um, wherever. Also, Soehn proved that he's a better coach than Luciano Emilio, because even though the striker clearly disagreed with the move, inserting Gomez preserved the victory.

3. And how about those veteran super subs Jaime Moreno and Christian Gomez? Within five minutes of entering the match, Gomez is wreaking havoc and hitting crossbars. These two combined to earn the final goal with Moreno's pass to Gomez in space, then Gomez initiating contact to draw the penalty, which Moreno of course had no problem putting away.

4. Santino Quaranta continues to have a quietly fantastic season. He probably deserves consideration for the All Star game. His finish on the goal didn't seem like much, but he made that run from just across midfield to get in the perfect position on the near side of the box to get on the end of Fred's pass.

5. That would be the second clean sheet in three matches for Josh Wicks. He was up to the task to stop everything thrown his way, including one great save on JP Angel late in the match. What would have happened had Louis Crayton been in net? He might have made that save, but there's also a good chance it would have gotten by him. However, none of us would have blamed him, because the shot from Angel was tough, and we'd instead be pointing fingers at one of the defenders. None of that has to happen now though. Wicks is a game changer.

1. Another solid defensive performance from our outside backs Bryan Namoff and Marc Burch, but not their best outings when it came to crossing the ball. With the 3-5-2 formation, when Namoff and/or Burch join the attack but miss on a cross, they leave the team susceptible to a quick counterattack from the opponents.

1. His play on the field was adequate, but I'm disappointed in Luciano Emilio for the water bottle incident. Was that really necessary? Emilio needs to understand that he's not going to play 90 minutes of every match this year. Our offense is just too deep for that right now. Some of the best players in the world sit on the bench because their teams have so much depth. Didier Drogba doesn't throw water bottles, so why should Emilio? It will be a real shame for him to miss the 1 versus 2 match against the Fire next week.

DC United loss at New England, 2-1

This one hurts. Hurts more than any other match this year. Losing 1 point here because of a faux penalty call hurts worse than losing 2 points to LA Galaxy earlier in the year because of a faux penalty call. Maybe that's because it was to one of our fierce rivals who look to be making a push up the table now that Twellman is back, or maybe it's because we deserved much better here.

I don't agree with the conspiracy theorists that this match, along with the Chivas-Chicago match on Thursday, is a result of the league encouraging fewer ties. I just think that MLS referees suck in general. But I can tell you for sure that I had no idea I was writing a premonition about United in Fullback's blog earlier today when I wrote "It was a shame to see such a great match between probably the two best teams decided by a terrible penalty call." That was written about Chivas-Chicago, but the same applies here. This was a really exciting and entertaining match. But matches like that need to be settled on the field. Not from the penalty spot after a little bump.


1. I felt like I'd just stepped into a time machine and traveled back to 2008 watching the chemistry between Fred and Luciano Emilio. They set each other up multiple times throughout the night, including Emilio's assist on Fred's goal. And if the crossbar was set just two inches higher, we would have won 3-2 because each of these guys hit the post in the first half.

2. That was probably Rodney Wallace's best match as a pro. He had one diving header just barely kept out by Matt Reis, and turned in easily his best performance defensively. Hopefully Wallace has hit the turning point and will actually emerge as DC's "best two-way player" as he was referred to by Rongen.


1. Josh Wicks had another productive start, making some key saves, despite giving up two goals. This was another positive step towards earning a permanent spot in the starting lineup.


1. I didn't see much of the usual sizzle from Chris Pontius in this one, despite consistently good service from Burch. And where was he on Shalrie Joseph's goal? Was he sprinting to keep up with Kenny Mansally so he wouldn't be able to get a quality cross off? No. He was jogging, and then stopped once he got to Ralston (who was already marked well by Jakovic) instead of running with Mansally.

2. Andrew Jacobson had a pretty good first half, but I would expect that from a defensive midfielder with the lineup that Nicol put out. He made it way too easy for Shalrie Joseph to score though on the first goal. Not only did Jacobson fail to mark up when Joseph should have been his man, but he actually knocked Wicks out of the way in the process.

3. I actually liked the starting lineup from Tom Soehn. It was nice for him to give Fred a chance at CAM again for the first time in around a year. But he was probably too late to make adjustments once New England brought in Kenny Mansally. We were getting beat nonstop by Mansally and Nyassi. I was thinking it would be good timing to switch to a 4-4-2 and bring in Janicki or McTavish as another central defender. Or how about Khumalo for Pontius to add a bit more speed on the wing? Soehn was right to make a change when he did, but a straight swap of McTavish for Jacobson and N'Silu for Emilio wasn't enough.

We can blame the referees all we want, but we need to look in the mirror a little bit as well here. A recurring theme this season seems to be a failure to punish our opponents by scoring more than just one goal when we're clearly the better team. It happened against Chicago, and now it's happened twice against New England.

Late breaking news! I just saw a replay again of the penalty call on FSC and Bretos seemed to think it was called a handball, not a foul. Rewinding and sure enough, the ball may have hit Jakovic's arm. I still feel like it's a crap call to hand the game to New England on a silver platter with a PK in the 90th minute on an unintentional handling, but it doesn't hurt quite as bad anymore.

DC United tie at Chivas USA, 2-2

Before this match, Bretos and Sullivan were discussing that this might be a potential MLS Cup matchup. And this game didn't really disappoint. You just hate to see such a good match decided by some poor officiating. How come we don't ever see poor officiating in our favor anyway?

DC United showed some heart once again here to be able to come back in the final minutes. Chivas looked like the better team for much of the match, but they really only deserved one of their goals, so 2-2 is a fair result. No one should be surprised that DC United scored more goals on Chivas than any other team has this season. But how come DC continues to allow so many goals to less than stellar offensive opponents?


1. After a really poor first half with a lot of giveaways, it was great to see Santino Quaranta take over in the second, including an assist to Emilio, a goal from 25 yards out, and a salute to his new baby boy.

2. Ah the return of the predator Luciano Emilio. Both of my top shelf guys here were penciled in my rail category after the first half, but scoring goals against the best defensive team in the league is a good way to get yourself out of the cellar.


1. Not a good starting lineup by Tom Soehn, but he redeemed himself because the Fred and Gomez substitutes both paid off. I was not a fan of the 3-2-2-2-1 formation, and the decision to start Olsen when he must have clearly been injured left us short a sub.

2. The more I watch Dejan Jakovic, the more he looks like a top level MLS center back. Yet we give up two or more goals in virtually every match. It sure feels like our back line is better than what we had last year, but that isn't showing in our goal's against column.


1. The rookie of the year candidate Chris Pontius looked terrible in the first half, and was rightfully replaced by Fred at the break.

2. Our biggest problem in the first half was a lack of linkage between the backline and the attacking midfielders. For that, I partially blame our holding midfielders Clyde Simms and Andrew Jacobson. This changed in the second half once Fred and Gomez entered the match.

But the bigger problem overall is our defense. As my comments on Jakovic above indicate, something needs to change on our backline. Even though so many goals given up seem to be from a lucky bounce or poor officiating, we can't keep making excuses, and someone needs to step up.

I'm still not sold on the 3-5-2 being our best formation. It makes sense for this team if only because we have so many good offensive players that you don't want to take another one off the field to make room for a defender. But at the same time, Janicki and McTavish don't deserve to sit on the bench the whole season. Either one of them would match up real well next to Jakovic in a back four. Soehn's excuse to implement the back three before the season was that we'd had a lot of changes, so less players actually improves communication. At this point in the season, communication and chemistry should no longer be an issue. I think it's time to give a traditional 4-4-2 lineup a try, even if only for just a week.

DC United win at NY Red Bulls, 3-2

This certainly felt like another one of those games where we outplay our opponent, but settle for a tie, or worse. Yet somehow, for the second week in a row, DC scores in stoppage time to secure the victory. That's four points that we've earned now in the final five minutes.


1. Great to see Santino Quaranta back to form. Each of his two assists in this match were among the best I've seen from a DC player.

2. For the second time this year, Bryan Namoff single-handedly saved a goal by clearing a ball off the line, and was solid throughout the match.

3. Chris Pontius looked good in the central attacking midfield role, but he was most productive when switching over to right midfield after Barklage entered the match. Pontius made up for all his misses the previous few weeks by burying the game winner.


1. Pardon the cliche, but it was a tale of two halves for Marc Burch and Dejan Jakovic. Burch handled Richards and Oduro very well in the first half without giving up any opportunities, but struggled at times against Kandji in the second. Jakovic kept Angel from having any effect on the match in the first half, but was outmuscled by JPA for a goal in the second.

2. I would have started Pontius at forward and Quaranta at CAM, Tom Soehn did the opposite, and it seemed to work out perfectly. Two of his substitutes Barklage and Khumalo made a big impact. But we gave up two goals during the fifteen minutes that Soehn switched the team from a 3-5-2 to a 4-4-2. In that formation, with Burch at LCB and Wallace at LB, and without Olsen on the field anymore, DC was at its weakest.

3. Rodney Wallace scored his first MLS goal, was an Emilio miss away from adding an assist, and was a goal line clearance by his former Terp teammate Jeremy Hall away from a second goal. But Wallace continues to be a bit of a liability on defense.


1. I would have liked to see more out of Fred, who had little impact on this match.

Now for some quick housekeeping from the 2-0 Open Cup win over FC Dallas:
Top Shelf: Barklage, Fred, Kocic, Burch
Call: Quaranta, Janicki
Rail: None

Summing up, a 2-2 tie felt like it would have been the right result. But fortunately, DC grabbed a couple extra points thanks to more oustanding play from their rookies. Between Chris Pontius and Rodney Wallace starting every match this season, Brandon Barklage emerging as a fan favorite, and Milos Kocic potentially being the starting keeper in waiting, is it possible that the 2009 draft class is our greatest ever?

DC United tie vs NE Revolution, 1-1

I'm having a real hard time figuring out how to feel about this tie. The ending kind of makes it feel like a win. I can tell you with certainty that that was the loudest I've yelled at my tv this year with Benny scoring a goal in extra time. But apparently the recurring theme of the season to date is earning ties against teams that we are better than.

In the first 45 minutes, we had an absurd amount of possession in New England's half of the field. And unless you're Kenny Cooper, it's pretty hard to score when you can't even get the ball across the halfway line. United was better than the Revolution in every aspect of the field. Except for coaching, and except for goalkeeping. We'll get into each of those more in the player ratings.


1. Our domination in the first half was due mostly to our midfield, led by Clyde Simms and Ben Olsen. It's no coincidence that we ceased to dominate midfield in the second half when Simms came out. Olsen's fire and heart earned us a point in this match. I would pay good money to have heard exactly what Olsen said to Thompson after the goal. Whatever it was, it better have ended with either "boy" or "son".

2. This looked like Jaime Moreno's best match of the season. Even when playing the final 20 minutes with an injury, Moreno became the first player in league history to score 100 goals and 100 assists, and will probably be the only player to do that in the next 20 years.


1. Chris Pontius continues to find himself in excellent scoring position multiple times per match. But he needs to spend all of the next week practicing his finishing. Harkes is right - low to the far post.

2. I'm still unsure on where I stand on Christian Gomez. The team did a much better job at getting him the ball in this match, but his passes were just a step behind too often. Despite this, he created many good opportunities. Christian is good, but he could be better.

3. Contrasting with the first game of the season, Rodney Wallace had a good first half, and a poor second half. And there was a good reason for that. Wallace played on the left wing in the first, and at left back in the second. Even though he played left back in college at Maryland, he seems better in the midfield where his attacking skills can be utilized without exposing his inexperience in defense.


1. Kenny Mansally was Wallace's man, and Shalrie Joseph was Andrew Jacobson's man on New England's goal. Both were open. Jacobson didn't do much after entering for Simms in the second half.

2. I wrote the same thing about Zach Wells last season. Louis Crayton isn't usually at fault specifically on the goals that are scored on him, but that doesn't mean that he shouldn't occassionally save some of them. The Revs only had one good scoring opportunity all game, and they converted on it. Meanwhile, the other side had a keeper who's only started 2 games previously in the MLS, went undrafted two years go, and he came up with several difficult stops.

3. I'm not anywhere close to jumping on the "Fire Soehn" bandwagon yet this season, but I think Tom Soehn cost us two points tonight. The substitution of Jacobson for Simms was unfortunate, but may have been necessary due to Clyde's illness. But subbing out Marc Burch for Santino Quaranta at half time is inexcusable for a lot of reasons. First, it forced Wallace to play a position (left back) that he has never played as a pro. The 3-5-2 can only be effective when the back 3 act as a cohesive unit. That doesn't typically happen when one of them is playing out of position. Secondly, it left us with only one substitute remaining for the final 45 minutes with Gomez, Moreno, and Olsen all still in the match. And thirdly, after dominating the midfield in the second half, why change 40% of your midfield? Hindsight is 20/20, but I would also argue that Devon McTavish would have been a better addition than Jacobson. Lastly, Francis Doe singlehandedly won our last match against the Revs, and he wasn't even on the bench. When the team is struggling to score, Doe would make for a great second half sub.

While writing this post, I almost wrote "win" twice by mistake. So I guess it felt like a win. And after their first five games, DC United is sitting in the middle of the Eastern Conference, on the outskirts of playoff position. Not a terrible place to be, and pretty much just what we expected, but I can't help but think we could do so much better. Next week, we'll take a look back and introduce a new feature to the blog to put the season to date in a different perspective.