Greatest American Zero

The biggest bummer is the Greatest American Zero scored two goals. Those who are laughing are old, like me. Those not laughing, Google it.  I wish I could take credit for that but I robbed it from someone on twitter. If your out there, show yourself!

The back line was a mess. Benny made a mistake putting Kitchen at center back. Although it was gutsy to put Najar in as an outside back. If Russell, Bmac, Dudar and Najar were the back line, they could attack as a 3-5-2, and defend as a 4-4-2. Easier said then done I know, but I can dream right?

The attack was desperate. Too quick, too forced. Cruz and Dero were sprinting straight into defenders, then falling on their faces and losing the ball.

Despite mistakes and goals and mayhem… United had moments, created changes. A tough night and a tough loss, but not the end of the world.

• Dudar… heal up… quick, do you have any Argentinean or Swedish center back buddies?
• Perry get back to center mid where someone can protect you. Go get the ball! Just do it with someone behind you.
• Danny, yes we all appreciate your enthusiasm, but now it’s time to take a deep breath and stop falling down all the time.
• Andy, you can have your job back if you promise to be enjoyable to watch and get your swagger back, chin up kid.
• Nick, play nice with Andy and thanks for bagging the corn-rows.
• Daniel, thank you sir, you deserve a raise.
• Bmac, keep talking and don’t get ejected. I get the feeling your a fun guy to have around the dressing room.
• Robbie, find the center back in your soul and embrace it. Be the center back.
• Korb, pull your socks up.
• Pontius, did you do neck thickening exercises while you were out with the busted leg? I swear you look way more stout then you did last year.
• Maicon, listen to Benny because I know he’s telling you that you ARE this good… Keep taking those shots, it’s OK if some of them are wayward. The job is yours to keep if you do the work and keep hold of the temper.
• Salihi, the monkey is off your back. Now how do you break the starting line up?
• Dero, two games, two attempted bicycles. Go three for three, one of them is bound to go in.
• Branko, I hate to say it but, $500,000 goes a long way toward shoring up the back line in the summer transfer window.

Toronto is desperate… heads up.

VAMOS BOYEZ!

Confident.

What an absolute pleasure of was it watch D.C United get there first back to back win against Houston Dynamo Saturday night.

Maicon Santos early goal was the one and only of the first half. United struggled to regroup after center back Emiliano Dudar went off with what appeared to be a pulled hamstring. Robbie Russell moved to center back , Perry Kitchen move to right back and Marcelo Saragosa stepped in to the defensive midfielder role.

While the Black and Red struggled to find their feet, Houston found the back off the net in the 50th minute. United stayed composed and Dwayne De Rosario broke his scoring drought with a goal in the 54th. Was it a shot or was it a cross? Who knows, who cares.

Houston also stayed composed and came back to make it 2-2 in the 59th. Last years United would have packed it in at this point, found some way to squander the single point that was left, but that was last year. In the 70 minute Daniel Woolard, Dero And Santos combine to find the 3rd and final goal of the night.

Confident.

Confident they could make something happen to regain the lead. So confident they continued to attack for most of the last 25 minutes. I’ve never understood attempts to hunker down for 25 minutes with a one goal lead. Attack and force the ball away from your own goal.

United won back to back games for the first time since 2009. They fought for this one and deserved it. When asked about it after the game, Olsen said it was a huge relief.

Ben Olsen has convinced Santos to continue to work hard, at least for now. I won’t pretend that I wasn’t part of the peanut gallery calling for his head after his poor performance early in the season. I’m hopeful that his attitude won’t wilt after a bad performance or two this summer.
Andy Najar, just because you came on as a sub doesn’t mean you can’t hold on to the ball. We know what you can do, have a shot! Believe me, everyone wants to worry about weather it should be you or Danny Cruz in there. Don’t lose the swagger.

Dudar is a heavy loss, He has been a rock, winning everything in the air, calmly passing out of the back while MacDonald runs around causing trouble. They are like an Abbot and Costello routine, in a good way. I hope Olsen can find a solution that doesn’t involve Kitchen at right back. How about Najar at right back with a defensive minded right midfielder, Lewis Neal maybe?

The pink elephant on the bench is the million dollar Eastern European duo. For Hamdi Salihi to score, he needs games, in order to get games he needs to score. Branko Boskovic needs games to prove himself. He’s not going to find games when the starting 11 on the field is playing with the confidence they have right now. Branko’s contract is up this summer, and I just don’t see how United can keep him around. His 500,000 salary goes a long way toward depth in MLS. Give Salihi reserve games and hope when the Santos’ well drys up, in the summer the Salihi spring will flow.

Wednesday United embarked on a three game road trip starting at the west conference leader, San Jose Earthquakes. Last year Steven Lenhart served up a Hat-trick at RFK last year. After his recent antics with Marc Burch in Seattle, and Jamison Olave in Salt Lake followed by two goals this past weekend against the Philadelphia Union. United needs to be smart about marking him and not getting sucked into his nonsense, and there’s that other guy, the goal scoring machine know as Chris Wondolowski. Next up, the lack luster Toronto FC, who are dangerous because they have to win sometime right? The Black and Red finish the road trip in a sea of Orange at the opening of a Houston Dynamo’s new stadium. With the taste of this past weekend defeat still fresh, the Dynamo will not want to lose this one.

United sits just under Sporting Kansas City in the standings in second place. United is building some momentum… some confidence. With it comes what might appear to be luck. But is it luck? It’s rare that a team in poor form is lucky. United us making it’s own luck.

MLS Soap Box #1

In a shocking act of kindness Toronto FC gave Chicago Fire a goal Saturday afternoon. Toronto coach Aron Winter said “We decided just before kick off that we had a chance of not losing this game, we felt we better nip this in the bud.” 26 seconds into the game the Toronto keeper rolled the ball out to Chicago forward Dominic Oduro who put the ball in the back of the net. Oduro said “Without that first goal they gave us, this game could have been a draw, and no one wanted that.”

It turns out Jason Kreis doesn’t like the way Sporting Kansas City play. I think he meant to say he doesn’t like losing. If only they would give his players the time they need to be fancy. I wonder if MLS is considering fining Kreis for dogging another team’s style. A couple years back, Kevin Payne was fined for comments about New England’s “10 behind the ball tactics.” Kreis said that their style wasn’t attractive. I beg to differ. Last year after Sporting Kansas City beat D.C. United (not that beating D.C. was any great feat last year) I was really impressed with their speed and desire to go straight for the goal. The tactic is simple, when they don’t have the ball, they go get it. Once they have it, head straight to goal. They remind me of Tottenham Hot Spur…except they are winning.

Speaking of winning, Portland Timbers won a game. Only they didn’t score, which means Kansas City beat themselves, and gave the points to Portland. I bet Peter Vermes doesn’t like John Spencer’s style this week.

Steven Lenhart, you are a tricky bastard. When you retire people will not say “he was one of the good guys.” I hope the disciplinary committee rescinds Jámison Olave’s red card and gives it to Lenhart. He didn’t foul him so much as try to keep him on his feet as Lenhart tried to pull his shorts down.  Which if he stayed on his feet, he might score some goals. I know he is capable of it.

Chris Rolfe recently returned to the Chicago Fire after a two year stint in Denmark with Aalborg. In an interview on Extra Time Radio Simon Borg pressed Rolfe for answers as to why he did not resign to Aalborg. Do we really need to ask why he came home? He was living in a city of just over 100,000 in a country where he didn’t speak the language. I’m sure Rolfe didn’t go the Denmark to settle down and have a long career. He had hoped it to be a stepping stone to a better league in Europe. That didn’t happen, so what. Welcome home Rolfe. I’m sure Chicago is thrilled to have you back.

And finally Rafa Márquez deserves at least 5 games for INTENTIONALLY KICKING ANOTHER PLAYER AND BREAKING HIS CLAVICLE. The guy is a dirt bag and needs to go.

D.C United-4 New York Red Bulls-1

My 7 year old daughter asked if the Statue of Liberty was sad because NY Red Bulls were losing. We told her maybe, but Lady Freedom, a top of the Capital building in Washington D.C, was singing in the rain. She also asked why I talk to the T.V.  “They can’t hear you dad.” she said.

I’ve heard discussions about Chris Pontius being a forward, not a winger, and never understood. I’ve never thought of him as a forward. I see him cutting in to the top corner of the 18 yard box or taking it to the endline and crossing, and right before he got hurt he was doing his part on defense.

I was wrong about him not being a forward and being a one trick pony. While it was a good trick , still just the one I thought. Top corner of the 18 yard box fake left and go right to gain a few feet of space and unleash… It worked for his first of the four he scored recently.

I didn’t except the other three classic striker’s goals he scored Sunday night. One, stripping the ball from none other then Thiery Henry, and ripping one from the top of the box. The second, a poachers goal, right place at the right time, and most importantly the finish! How many of the these did Allsopp, Cristman and Ngwenya miss over the past few years? DCU hasn’t had the guy who puts those away consistently since Luciano Emilio stopped scoring.

Ben Olsen said this after the game  “He (Pontius) still doesn’t know how to play forward though. And that’s a scary thing. He’s still new at the position, and some of his movements can get a lot better.”

I also thought Dwayne De Rosario could not be effective in the attacking midfield role but that is working too.  The goals are being scored without the weight falling on Dero’s shoulders. Don’t worry, your time will come this season I assure you.

DCU was in the right place at the right time over and over against the Red Bulls Sunday night.  Overlapping runs from Pontius and Deleon. Kitchen was there for the outlet pass when some one needed it. The stragglers that popped lose from tackles were collected quickly. DC was able to play their game.

We could go into the problems with Branko Boskovic and Hamdi Salihi, blame the win on the soap opera known as NY Red Bulls, and the lack of quality they had on the field Sunday. We could dwell on the fact that this is only one win in a long season, but I’d rather sit back and enjoy sending the Red Bulls packing back to New York because it just feels good…

And I leave you with this:

http://youtu.be/6IeyleM8diM

Back to Back!

Although it was a little easier to hate The Sounders back when Freddie “Skid-mark” Ilungberg was pissing and moaning about every single call he didn’t get, and Fredy Montero had the Back Street Boys hair-do going, I still don’t like them.

I think it started when the management headed up by Sigi “we don’t like to play in the rain” Schimd, and the front of office of the Seattle Chicken Hawks started whining about losing the bid to host the Open Cup final. They actually had the audacity to rip on the United fans saying there wouldn’t be enough of a crowd. Indecently they lost the bid because the only time they could have the game was a Wednesday afternoon. The 17,000 strong had RFK rocking that Wednesday night at the Open Cup final. Damn you Josh Wicks and your caveman temper! Did you really think you would get away with stomping on him? That game was the beginning of the end of DCU. My gut says it hit the bottom a couple weeks ago in LA, and we are on the way back.

What is a Sounder anyway? One who lives on the sound maybe? Apparently they don’t even know. Who names their Supporters group after a city from the Wizard of OZ? Maybe Dorthy can ask the wizard to stop the rain in Seattle to better suit your game Sigi. It looks like an ad for a rave or a Misfits show or a Grateful Dead show or maybe all three. I’d rather risk being hit by falling concrete in DC’s raccoon and lead paint infested caldron, then suffer through a sea of glow worm green at the Century Quest plastic factory any day.

36,000 and growing… Yeah, yeah, yeah good for you and for the league. Call me in twenty years after all the pudgy little hipster kids have grown up, shaved their beards off, and had a few kids. It’s great that all these folks show up to the games out there. I would love it if R.F.K was packed every week… but nobody likes a show off, nobody. You’ve been in the league for 3 years and already Casey Keller is saying on the Capital Soccer Show, that Seattle is ” the Big Boy, the Yankees of MLS, (they) have set a standard in MLS.” He went on to compare the Sounders to Real Madrid and Barcelona. Come on really? 3 Open Cup titles, and your already comparing yourself to Barcelona? He says if it weren’t for the salary cap, they would be the “big fish in the pond.” I know it’s been a while but … (click here). Don’t get to big for your britches.

It would be a beautiful thing for DC United to end it’s drought of back to back wins against Flounder FC this coming Saturday.

So… VAMOS UNITED!

Did you do your best?

DC scored in the 28th minute… then the gaff by Dudar… of course they found a way to foul it up…

And the blog writes itself.

“Once again DC found a way to squander a lead, blah, blah, blah”

And then they scored.. and another… no, it couldn’t be another… Yes it is. 4 goals and 3 Points!

The air smelled a little sweeter this morning. My coffee tasted better and my kids were a bit better looking. DC United took 3 points at R.F.K for the first time since late September. Hell of a way to start a week end…

I’m a father and soccer coach. There is a line I use on my kids and my pops used it on me. “Did you do your best?” My daughter rolled her eyes today when I asked after her soccer game. I hated the question as a kid, but how could I answer yes if I hadn’t? Dad was at the game, he knew, and I knew.

Ben Olsen knows. His line up speaks volumes. If you work your tail off you will play, if you don’t you’ll go play for New England or Seattle or the Indian premier league.

What may someday prove to be Ben Olsen’s strength is his “heart” and realistic knowledge of the parity in MLS. Even LA can not rest it’s hopes on 3 or 4 high paid players. More than other leagues around the world, any team can win any game in MLS. If Olsen can get a few wins under his belt and convince this squad to buy in, the points will start to rack up. With the depth beginning to show itself, convincing the squad will be easier.

It takes a group of guys willing to play hard for 90 minutes to win games. Neither MLS nor DC United is stocked with natural, god given talent. Guys like Danny Cruz and Daniel Woolard make their luck with sheer tenacity, energy and hard work. It’s inspiring to watch players like Cruz win a ball in the mid field, fumble through a challenge or two, carrying the ball toward goal, and make a quick pass to Dwayne De Rosario for a perfectly placed cross to the head of Maicon Santos.

I want to wrap my arm around D.C. Untied’s proverbial shoulder, smile and use my second Dad/coach line, ” See, all that hard work is paying off!”

Where to draw the line?

Recently Collin Clark, Houston Dynamo Mid-fielder, call a ball boy a “F#@king f$%got” on national television because the ball boy dropped the ball at his feet, rather then putting it in his hands.

Really Mr. Clark? Classy. Forget the fact that the cameras were on to catch the slur for the moment: You need to scream at a teenage kid on the sidelines? Grow up.

On the latest episode of Extra Time Radio, Simon Borg claim that is was no big deal… Give him a small fine, a slap on the wrist… No suspension. This doesn’t surprise me a bit. Mr. Borg also didn’t think that Luis Suarez’s Racially abusive comments warranted much of a response. Borg claims that people say all kinds of mean and nasty things to each other on the field. He claims it is a commonly used tactic to get your opponent off their game. He asks the question where should we draw the line? How about we draw the line right between F#@king and f$%got? It’s not the f bomb that is the problem, it’s the homophobic slur.

I’m thrilled MLS has decided to give Clark a 3 game suspension. I’m proud to support a league that doesn’t put up with such ridiculousness.

Unacceptable, plain and simple.

Patience Grasshopper…

Here is the quick and obvious.

• Dudar was a good find.
• Someone told Russell not to blast the ball up field every time he touched it.
• Russell is a good listener.
• Daniel Woolard deserves his spot.
• De Ro is more dangerous up top.
• Salihi has not had a chance to prove himself just yet.
• God bless Danny Cruz and his uncontrollable speed, piss and vinegar.
• Ben Olsen’s hair is turning gray…

After four years of losing seasons it’s hard to keep the faith. Last week I wrote, then deleted before it hit the interwebs, that I was losing faith in Ben Olsen. I’m glad I managed to keep at least part of my mouth shut. Ben Olsen told us after the loss to SKC that it will take some time to see these players gel.  I won’t go from no faith to genius this week, but I got a taste of what this team could look like.

I doubt we will hear the “not enough bite” speech from Ben Olsen after Saturday’s 0-0 tie with Vancouver. DC played hard Saturday. They won more first and second balls then I’ve seen them win in a long time.  DC played the ball on the ground successfully, almost. The ball stayed on the ground through the midfield then, in the final third, they typically unleashed a wayward shot or hopeful cross to no one. If United can connect that type of play with the forwards, they can turn that one point into three.

Come on Benny, show us what you can do…

Say something nice…

As a kid I was told If you don’ t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all… so here goes.

Joe Willis is a good back up keeper.

Hamdi Salihi scored lots of goals in Austria.

Robbie Russel’s wife is a lawyer in D.C, maybe she can give him a job at her office.

Emilliano Dudar (6′ 4″)is much taller than Robbie Kean (5′ 9″).

DC only plays LA once this year.

Portland Timbers are fun to watch.

Nick Deleon has the potential to have hair like Carlos Valderrma. MLS need more of this.

   

And he did that classy thing where you score a beautiful, yet pointless goal, quickly grab the ball and bring it to mid field.

There were moments, brief and fleeting as they were, that this attack looked like something…

This is only the second game of the season. I believe it will get better…

D.C Unitdud…

The High-light of D.C. United’s season opener against Sporting K.C at R.F.K was the chicken pot pie I ate in the parking lot on the way in. Huge chunks of well seasoned chicken baked into a nice crusty pie shell. It even came with a salad!

The second most exciting thing I did was warm my frozen toes at half time by taking a trip to the pisser…I sat with my Dad on the opposite side from the Screaming Eagles and Barra Brava thinking, it looks warmer over there… so many moving bodies…

And then was the soccer game right… that… Well lets see, it is enjoyable to watch Andy Najar dribble into people before losing the ball. Apparently his team mates enjoy watching this also. Bill Hamid was full of confidence and made some great saves.

The rest was pretty ugly.

Boskvic was dreadful. He looked scared, out of place, and 3 seconds behind the rest of the team, who all seemed hesitant to pass him the ball. I think Najar gave up on him and and decided to try and play the middle and the outside.

Finally, Robbie Russell, last season we finally got rid of the outside back that huffed the ball 50 yards to no one (Marc Burch) every time he touched the ball. Please give the ball to some one who likes it and doesn’t want to give it away.

And of course, in true DCU style, they managed to blow it in the dying minutes of the game.

I hope Olsen is right in saying the team needs some time to gel. To their credit they did have a pretty cut up preseason with Pontius and Boskovic both coming back from injury and a couple guys being away with the Olympic team. But after four seasons of crap and over blown expectation of new players. I’m not optimistic. Here we go again…