Fan********ingtastic! Well deserved win. Great intensity, great effort, great game. I'm loving the youth movement!
******** YEAH! That was tension. Credit to the team for fighting and getting a win where no mls team has in the league. That result and performance was so much more than I expected given the line-up. I think the "odd" decisions went both ways. Lots of credit to the Portland fans for their "Keep United in DC" banner.
Hell yeah! Literally on the edge of my seat for most of this one. I'm pretty sure I scared the dog. Last year's team would have lain down and taken their beating after the first Portland goal. This team may not always play pretty, but they play hard.
1. I sweated off a couple of pounds I've been meaning to lose. 2. Portland crowds remind me I need to get a haircut and shave.
someone in the Barra had a banner with the OpIvy logo guy and the lyrics "United, as one stand together"
Stressful match. I literally spit on my carpet when the ref called the second re-take of the penalty.
This team is very young and will still make some dumb mistakes throughout the season. Some of them will cost DC points. That being said, if they bring that kind of fire every week, I'm going to be a really happy fan.
I liked the win, of course. I also liked the 'Keep United in DC' banner that was hanging near one of the corners. I assume it was put there by a Timber's fan, since both 'United' and 'DC' were in green.
Small field covered in artificial grass leads to congestion, set plays off throw ins, long Rt 1 goals, and good entertainment value. The setplay throw-in that Kitchen scored on was perfect for Portland but might not work on a wider field. Nice to see practice paying off on occasion! DC's luckiest moment may have been when Cooper managed the numbskull move of getting offside on a freekick before heading in that disallowed 2nd half goal. It looked like he could have gotten to that ball almost as easily if he had waited for the freekick to be taken. I had no problem w Jakovic being called for the PK for grabbing Cooper but I've almost never seen a PK retaken for the keeper being just a step off his line when the kick is taken. Briana Scurry, the Honduran keeper at the 2001 RFK WCQ and countless other goalies routinely get away with significantly more encroachment. I didn't think Portland's home wins were that impressive so far this season. But I thought if DC was to win it would because Najar, Pontius or Wolff were forcing errors by dribbling at their big defenders. That's not what happened but pack those 3 points away and get on that Alaska Airlines direct jet to LA-LA Land!
There was a lot of team defense in this match. Overall, I thought the passing and heading were better, too. Like Freestyle said, there was a lot of fire, and also a never-say-die attitude that we haven't seen in recent years. I was happy with Ngwenya's hold-up play, and ability to bang with the defenders. With just a little more foot speed, he might have scored on a breakaway. I liked Brettschneider a lot, but was surprised that he too, was outrun by the defender near the end, when he might have had a breakaway, too. I'm glad we have the youngster, Wolfe, who has some wheels! Overall the defense played well enough, but it was a team-defense effort, including the forwards and midfielders. Hamid screwed the pooch on Portland's last score, but hopefully he learns from this and does better the next time someone heads a ball down in the box. I wonder who will pair-up with Ethan White in central defense, now that Jakovic will be gone for ~ 1 month? Who has been playing in central defense on the reserve team?
Just because people get away with it doesn't mean it isn't the correct decision. The ref got every single decision correct that i saw today....
Just got back from the match and I have to say that the experience at Jenn-Weld surpasses anything MLS has to offer, including their NorthWest neighbors Seattle (I have been there). Top notch all the way and MLS made a great move bringing both teams into MLS. They are doing it right up there. On to the match... This was not a good win, this was a GREAT win. Regardless of the ridiculousness of the retaken PK's (in all fairness, they were the right calls, we just never see them made), it was a gutty performance with some very nice goals scored by United. United scored two goals today that are atypical United goals (in other words, they didn't walk the ball into the goal). The first one was brilliance and something I've been waiting to see from this team for years. They still haven't scored a goal on a corner since the middle of 2009, but I will take Kitchen's goal 8 days a week. The third goal was Brettschneider doing what we is supposed to do and what we brought Josh Wolff here to do. As for the PK debacle and other calls during this match, I think I'll be in the minority on this issue in that I thought the ref got most, if not all the calls right today, including the retakes and the two offside goals for Portland. it's amazing how unbiased fans can be. Even with clear as day replays on their huge scoreboard, a lot of the Timbers Army (whom I was surrounded by) still tried to argue that both Cooper goals were legit. Anywho, I highly recommend to anyone considering coming to watch at match up here in Portland. A fantastic experience, except for there is little parking around the stadium, you do have to do a fair bit of walking but it's uphill to the stadium and downhill on the way back A great win that should do the team some confidence heading into a Landon/Gonzales-less Galaxy matchup next Friday night (I'm going to that one too! Frequent flier miles are racking up!). And finally, as for the question about what to do next week with Jakovic missing, Olsen will do one of two things. He will definitely move Kitchen into central defense and move either Brasesco or Korb to right back. At least that is what he should do. I know Brasesco has been a disaster for this team, but he is a right-back and was seriously out of his depth in the middle of defense.
Where you wearing a white DC jersey with a red Nationals hat? I saw a DC supporter in the Timbers army when the camera showed them.
I was impressed with your side today, no doubt the best performance by anyone coming to Portland this year. Teams have been playing conservatively against us, allowing our outside backs and mids to get way up the field but DCs high front line was keeping them back and leaving a gap. I was standing next to a delusional fan on the way home on the train who claimed we were the better team, but it was clear that DC was bossing the game, having taken control right back after it went 1-1. We would have been fortunate to get one point in the end. Wolff is a great sub to have. Also, the referees did a pretty damn good job. Maybe took too much dissent from DC. Anyway, I assured my wife we'd be getting three points, but you have a pretty nice young group building there, having gotten the weak links in the back off the field. I don't see any reason why this team can't be a playoff threat by the end of the season. Hope to make the points back later on. Nice show by DC fans at the game as well.