Official DC United @ Fanta FC Post Game Thread [R]

[Daniel le Rouge]

Well, that's that.

1-0 to the Fascists.

You guys know the drill, no trolls.

[Cweedchop]

As per usual, you know da rules.

1-0 Houston


Put quite simply, the better team won tonight.

United had no answers offensively and the few chances they got either were unlucky (Gomez' free kick bouncing and hitting the crossbar) and Emilio's sitter. You simply have to put that away. Could have been a different game at that point, but it might just have pissed of Houston had that goal scored for us.

Meh, move on to RFK and FC Dallas this weekend.

[jason1551]

No Moreno and no Kpene killed our offense tonight. Addlery just doesn't cut it as a starter, while Olsen didn't have the same sort of drive he had before he left for the Copa.

At least the defense held up well.

[Cweedchop]

Houston is the best team in the league right now and simply didn't allow United to play the way they wanted to. Gotta give it up to a good team. This is why losing games to Real Salt Lake really burns my butt. That team is pathetic. Houston is damn good and proved it tonight. A clinical victory.

[Mattgs84]

We simply got outhustled and lost that game in the midfield. I think Olsen might have needed the night off, he didn't seem to have much energy. Gomez just looked uninterested/lazy in the first half though he effort was better in the second half. We clearly missed Moreno, we needed someone else to break down an organized defense. On the plus side our defense looked decent given all of houston's possession. Not nearly as many breakdowns as they had against KC. I would have liked to have seen Moose instead of Burch. Moose can beat his man one on one and could have provided a spark. However this was always going to be tough and we jsut didn't get it done.

[JoeW]

Here's the deal--Houston defends better than any other team in MLS--PERIOD!

So, you either need to shut them down completely on offense or figure you're not likely to get more than 1 goal against them.

I thought Houston did a superb job pressuring the ball. Anytime one of our guys (especially in the center of the field) got the ball, at least 2 orange shirts rotated that way. The only ways to punish that kind of defense are:
--great movement off the ball. We weren't great and sometimes we were bad at this.
--great one-touch ball movement. 2 years ago that was us. Not this year.
--good thru-balls which dissect the defense. Hard to do on a smaller field.

I'm fine with Burch going on. I thought he was there partially to get him minutes but also 2 other reasons:
--shots from distance
--a decent throw-in

[sitruc]

Hall was inconsistent and let a lot go both ways, but I didn't think he was bad for the match. I don't think Gomez should have received a yellow though. The offense struggled to even get in the final third. When Houston brings it on offense, they bring it hard for quite a stretch. The San Jose goal was a bad bounce that Troy couldn't get to. Other than that, the game wasn't pretty or exciting. Some of the players looked completely gassed out there. I was surprised to see Olsen start and then play as long as he did. Simms did not appear to be a positive to me. I'm a little concerned about the frustrations of some of our offensive players. Addlery wasn't in the match at all. The defense was much improved after that match in Kansas City. They had lapses, but they either recovered or allowed them to miss the shots. I didn't expect a win and was hoping for a tie. I felt like we were capable of earning a point, but I'm not distraught. Maybe that KC game has made me numb.

[Publius]

Nobody puts up numbers like they do in the foreign leagues here in MLS. You can't expect to go through a 30 game season with just 2 losses. There's no shame in losing 1-0 off a deflected shot on the road to the defending league champions who happen to have been the hottest team in the league since losing to DC two months ago.

The better team won on the night but DC played far better than they did at KC. We come out of this road trip with 3 points when we arguably deserved 1.

[vivzig]

Nobody puts up numbers like they do in the foreign leagues here in MLS. You can't expect to go through a 30 game season with just 2 losses. There's no shame in losing 1-0 off a deflected shot on the road to the defending league champions who happen to have been the hottest team in the league since losing to DC two months ago.

The better team won on the night but DC played far better than they did at KC. We come out of this road trip with 3 points when we arguably deserved 1.
And that's about the facts, jack.

Can't hope for miracle goals twice in a row. Our defense was a marked improvement.

[superdave]

One thing I noted was that their wings, especially Holden, were HUGE defensively. DC's ball movement was too slow in the second half to have a realistic chance of scoring against Houston's "set" defense.

Houston is a well coached team, and the Ngwenya pickup is big. He's a great complement to DeRo and Ching. If I had to bet, we just saw an MLS Cup preview.

[Hedbal]

Gotta agree with Danny the Red that the better team won tonight. I was apprehensive after watching Houston dismantle the Red Heifers mid-week. They didn't seem to miss Brad Davis at all, and they only used Ricardo Clark for a few minutes, yet they still stifled our attack, won virtually every 50/50 ball, and rarely made an errant pass. It was a wonderful display of clever, aggressive soccer, even though it was at our expense.

When Namoff returns, I would still like to find a place for McTavish on the back line.

If Fred could play more centrally he would take some of the pressure off Gomez. Having Jaime on the pitch would help also.

[Daniel le Rouge]

Given the brutal conditions, I thought we did reasonably well. The uncharacteristically hard touches made it tough to get anything built through midfield, and that's how we operate.

One thing I did like is that we did not give Houston very much at all. They finished with nine shots on the night, and only four on goal. Those kinds of numbers are going to win you a lot of games from a defensive standpoint. We settled down significantly from the KC game, and Vanney made some nice passes out of the back--that's what I was hoping for in the first game. I'm glad he came back with a more cohesive effort, because Houston's a team that can rip you to shreds if you give them chances.

The major problem was that we basically created nothing. Gomez gets an odd bounce off a free, and Emilio blows a golden chance on a half-break. That was IT for the first 75 minutes. Even the stuff towards the end was pretty half-hearted.

Still, it was competitive. That's positive. Go home, get some rest, play the scrubs on Wednesday, and get ready for Dallas next Saturday.

[soccerkitty]

That was a very very lucky goal by Houston. Hard to believe that one made it in. Really good game by the defense. I really liked McTavish and Dyachenko and Addlery did pretty well in the first half. Houston dominated by using triangles in the first half and made it difficult for DC to get possesion of the ball. Burch did not look so bad either in the time he was out there. Absolutely ridiculuos yellow card to Gomez. I don't know that I would have pulled out Carroll when he was all fired up. The crap thrown around the goal should have been cleaned up. Way to go Perkins... you are the man!!! My thoughts are all over the place on this one. Can you tell. :p

[Publius]

There was a lot of bitching from Dave and Garth about the heat and humidity in Houston. What, like DC is a temperate zone in the summer? Unless Houston is significantly worse than DC at this time of the year (and God have mercy on them if it is) I don't see what all the complaining was about.

[Daniel le Rouge]

There was a lot of bitching from Dave and Garth about the heat and humidity in Houston. What, like DC is a temperate zone in the summer? Unless Houston is significantly worse than DC at this time of the year (and God have mercy on them if it is) I don't see what all the complaining was about.

It was worse. Game time temperature was high eighties with humidity above 60% and growing as the game went on. It was 90+ here today, but the humidity never got above 40%. Slogging through all that extra water in the air is incredibly draining.

[DoctorD]

Very disappointed in Simms. He was supposed to be a spark, but made so many giveaways and other mistakes, he was the one who looked like he had been playing 75 minutes.

[rugman]

Not unhappy with the result. We actually came to play and gave it our all and couldn't get a break. Summer is a tough time to play in this league, just need to make sure we don't go downhill like last year. I don't remotely believe that will happen. Looks like our young Brazilian trialist will be here late this week. Looking forward to seeing him. Bring on Dallas.

[Publius]

It was worse. Game time temperature was high eighties with humidity above 60% and growing as the game went on. It was 90+ here today, but the humidity never got above 40%. Slogging through all that extra water in the air is incredibly draining.

My weatherbug is telling me that it's 80 degrees at the moment with humidity of 55%. Maybe it was worse in Houston tonight than in DC, but what they had to play in tonight doesn't sound out of the realm of normal for here on any given summer night.

[vivzig]

What do you say? We played as well as we could I think, and they played slightly better. Not an overmatch at all. Their only goal was a fluke. We had a few nice moments, but otherwise, that game was a well played 0-0 tie.

[vivzig]

My weatherbug is telling me that it's 80 degrees at the moment with humidity of 55%. Maybe it was worse in Houston tonight than in DC, but what they had to play in tonight doesn't sound out of the realm of normal for here on any given summer night.
Wyoming needs to get a team. No humidity, and it's 60 degrees right now. :D