Andrea Canales Column...Huh?

http://www.soccer365.com/_365_Features/page_121_130620.shtml

So according to Andrea Canales, D.C. United's fans should take some of the blame for the fact that they were knocked out of the playoffs. Acording to her: "A few boos might have removed the blinders."

Now, I'm an admirer of D.C: but certainly not a fan, and since I don't live in the US I haven't been to a game in a while, but WTF is she talking about? MLS fans should start booing their team? With all the talk about increasing fans at games, she wants the tried and true who DO show up to boo whenever their team plays poorly?

She also goes on to mention how she grew up listening to Argentine soccer on the radio, and that "The whistles and boos that would result after sloppy or poor play from the home team could always be heard in the Argentine broadcasts." Now I don't know if she has ever BEEN to Argentina, but I can asure her that fans NEVER boo their own teams. They literally follow the line they sing in so many of their songs, "en las buenas y en las malas." If there are whistles heard after a sloppy play, it's always from the opposing fans who want to stick it to the home crowd. Sure fans are passionate and they demand the best, but never on the pitch (pitch invasions and player threats happen, I know, but for the most part no).

Case in point: This past Sundays River Plate San Lorenzo game. Now we laid into el ciclon pretty hard, slipping 5 goals past them, but to the credit of their fans, they continued to sing, and we River fans had to at points sing over them to be heard. Granted, a lot of SL fans want a new head coach now, but in a stadium it's always sing, jump, 90 minutes.

Some of the best things MLS has going for it are it's fans. Section 8 in Chicago and the Timbers Army are great in person, and I've been surprised by the support from Houston. Chivas draws well, and like it or not, LA and DC head the list. But why place blame on the fans? Are they not supposed to sing and dance, bang on drums, blow whistles, and jump for a whole game? She actually wants booing from a home crowd?

I'm curious to hear about what fans have to say about this. IMO, Andrea Canales has written some truly dumb articles of late and this has to take the cake.

Andrea Canales is an idiot. Blame the fans? I hope she passes the pipe this way!

I am a DC United supporter and Andrea Canales fan. She is not an idiot but one of the better writers on MLS.

On this however she may have got it wrong. I think if you look at this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0kXxFyqo6w

It's hard to see what she'd want us to boo.

I booed Nowak subbing Freddy Adu for Donnet (an Argentine if it matters). Mainly because it was bizzare.

Regardless..

You will see that it was a miracle that we didn't pull level or win. Some days are just unlucky.

I wonder if she really watched the match?
I am disappointed in Andrea but she is still a great writer and I give props to any woman who is knowlegeable about MLS and writes such good work.

Exactly, there was nothing in this match to boo the players, maybe booing Nowak when he pulled Adu, but that wouldn't have solved anything, not like this is the NCAA and he could re-insert him. United played awesome, they just didn't catch a break. A few inches here or there and it's a 3-1 or 4-1 United Win. This b.i.t.c.h. didn't watch the match, or she's for some reason imagined her opinion matters... It doesn't. Who the hell is she to say anything about soccer in DC? I've never liked a single article I've seen written by her.

I would love to hear why she says the western conference is the "arguably stronger conference." Head to head, East vs. West, the records are 26-24-22. As in, EC teams have two more wins than WC teams in head to head play.

You forgot putting Clyde Simms in for the guy who had scored the only goals for DC in the past 500 years. DC needs some serious help up front. Jaime is looking more like a CAM and Esky seems to be bitten by injuries too much. Figo! Figo! (jk)

The worst thing about the game were the players Nowak had on the bench... not offensive threat among them (Donnet is too new to really be considered a threat, same goes for Dyachenko). So after the terribly misguided Donnet for Adu sub (which should have been Donnet for Gros), when Esky went down they brought in Dyachenko, makes sense since he's the only striker on the bench (where the hell were Nickell, Walker, S2J2?). Then when Gomez cramped up, the only real option was Simms... the game was over right then and there, though Olsen almost single-handedly saved the night. As much as I hate to say it, it might be time for a 3-4-3 with a diamond midfield (i.e. Olsen as a lone CDM, Adu on the right, and Donnet on the left, with Gomez up top. Swap Gros for Adu or Donnet when Adu plays as CAM and Gomito is resting. Jaime as a CF, with Esky and Walker/Metcalf/Nickell/S2J2 etc up top)
But yeah, taking Adu out doomed DC.

Figo is NOT the answer, I don't see DC making a "beckham exception" type deal. I see United picking up 2 or 3 talented younger south americans and beginning next season like they did this season.

Gomez was cramping up, he would've been more of a liability than an asset if he'd stayed out there.

I generally like her columns, but she missed the boat on this one.

Who in their right mind would blame the fans? In fact, I was thinking just the opposite of what she wrote - I thought the fan support was outstanding, especially in that last game. Late in the game, when it was clear that DC was not going to be able to score, the fans were singing and chanting away, supporting their team, trying to inspire them. I thought that was great - in contrast to a lot of football/basketball games I've seen where the crowd goes silent when their team needs them the most.

I say well done to the DC United fans.

I disagree with Andrea here aswell. That's no suprise as I think shes a bit of a light weight, but anyway...

DC played well and dominated the match. The goal just didnt come from them, but they pressured NE most of the game. They didn't play poorly by any stretch.

Red Bull has this happen the week before. They dominated, but the goals didn't come. It happens.

I am all for letting a team know when they are playing poorly. Just blindly cheer leading isn't my style. It's just in this case, jeering, hissing and boo'ing wasn't really appropriate or warranted. DC played too well for that.

La Barra Brava exists to support DC United, period. All the other stuff we do is on the side. The team knows when they are playing poorly, they're not stupid. To boo the team is to boo ourselves.


We didn't boo when we were down 4-0 to Chicago, we didn't boo when we were down 5-2 to LA, and we sure as shit aren't going to start booing when we're down 1-0 to the Revolution.

That's laughable. As a non- DC fan I have no problem admitting that DC fan support and home field advantage is the best in the league. DC didn't play well down the stretch, nor against RBNY in the playoffs, nor against NE(They had possession but didn't look like the DC I know). It is what it is.

Perhaps if Red Bull could have mustered a little more than the 5-6K that showed up (Announced attendance was 8K), perhaps we would have had the advantage to beat a slumping team.

Then where were you guys for most of the match on Sunday

To be fair, reasons 1-4 were spot on.

Andrea wrote:

Such tough love is an effective tool. It is simply instant reinforcement to every action on the field. Good touch or good play = wild cheers and fervent admiration. Bad play or poor tackle = merciful pause for stunned silence, then derisive whistles.

Andrea I love you. So I think I have to tell you that your article was the biggest piece of crap that I have ever read. My advice is have an editor to read your copy before you publish it. That goes double for you "Soccer 365".

Trying to see what it was like to watch a game from the ESC fan's point of view.