Disagree. Higuain set up both goals. Every time he didn't have a player on his hip he was dangerous with the ball. His movement off the ball was something to behold. You'd see a DC player meander over to his space and as soon as the DC player got there Higuain was off on a sprint to free himself of the defender. It was maddening how often he created space for himself. Knowing that he's basically been the engineer of the Crew's resurgence I'm shocked we didn't mark him tighter. Thx, Jay!
It was a little late, I meant to say in the second half he did nothing. Also, if he has to run out to the wing to receive the ball, the defenders have done their job.
Gotcha. He was less effective in the 2nd. But his overall movement wasn't being dictated by our defense. And he's less a player who goes back to get the ball on his side of pitch, so when he receives the ball he's usually in a better place to start the attack. It just felt to me our defenders were marking space more than the man. A dangerous proposition with Higuian. He'll boss the league next season, I'll wager. Thx, Jay!
Kudo's to most of the posters here. Usually there are multiple pages of postings in the PBP threads. Last night there were very few postings, yet I read here 'post-match,' most posters went to the match. Way to support the team! I understand the euphoria; but RFK the best MLS stadium? Anyhow, watching the match on MLS Live you could SEE the support and even douche bag Harkes referred multiple times about the energy. The game was frantic for 90+, and I would give a shout out to the fans who matched energy on the pitch. 1st place here we come ...
I spent the first half cuss at Eddie@#$!! Gaven when he was on our side of the pitch. He's half the reason I'm starting to lose my voice today. The Bosko-Neal goal is the other half. Speaking of Bosko, he's married right? 'Cause I'm seriously in love with him. Why oh why doesn't Ben play him more? He's like, amazing. No one currently on the team who isn't injured could have made that cross to Neal. Perfect set-up and a perfect pass. Neal was right there with him too and I'm glad it was Neal because Pontius probably would have booted it too hard over the goal like he'd been doing it all night. I loves me some Party Boy too but jeepers dude, the goal is about 30 feet under where you shoot.
I clearly don't get Olsen unorthodox coaching / substitution / use of the salary cap, but some how in the most ridiculous ways its been working. What I'm afraid of is that the luck will run out and we will get absolutely blown out in the playoffs first game.
For the first time in a very long time, this was the United crowd of years past. Engaged, loud, urging the team on. It was fun even on the "quiet side"....... The only bummer of the night was the ridiculous parking exit that dc thrust on the team a week or so back for those of us going back to NoVa from Lot 8.
Absolutely. Last nights game has now set up the biggest game dc has had in 5 years at Chicago. The difference between finishing 2nd or 4th in this playoff system is massive.
Sadly that is not the case by a mile within MLS either from a fan or stadium perspective. You have to put in perspective that that sellout by United is only a median attendance in MLS these days and that United is at the bottom of attendance in the league with San Jose (because they are playing in a temp stadium until they build their new stadium, which ironically enough they are putting shovels in the ground today, gets built and that total mess that is Chivas). Still, our fans are great and did our dump proud.
Tutti a Chicago means Everybody to Chicago!!! I can't wait for that game. It's only the 2nd time this year I get to see DC play live. This might be the defining soccer experience of my life ... finally getting to see Lewis Neal play in person!
I'm in the same camp with you. However, I'm absolutely befuddled as to how this team is wining from what I'm seeing. But, as you know you can do all the "right things" and still lose. It seems United is the opposite, we do all the "wrong things" and win. As the old Raiders of the NFL used to say, "Just win baby".....
Awesome to see RFK back to its old self last night. The OG of American soccer stadiums. The only stadium in the U.S. that can rival atmospheres throughout the Americas (see Gold Cup quarterfinals, June 2011). The angle that shows Neal's goal with beer showers all over the stands in the background is awesome. As for the game, I can only hope that Olsen is ready to unleash 90 minutes of Boskovic/Salihi in the playoffs. Boskovic is pretty clearly our best player IMO. He's the only guy on the team that would have been able to get that ball to Neal.
The mood in lot 8 post-game seemed to be "pleasantly surprised." Props to the optimist who brought the fireworks - reminded a lot of us of Chico!
To say Ben is doing all the wrong things is exaggerated. He's really only doing 1 thing wrong and that is picking the wrong striker combinations ... that's pretty obvious from how incapable we are of scoring from the striker position. But he's doing lots of other things right. He's picking the right CB combo. Jakovic has been lights out for several months now. McDonald is still prone to the odd brain fart and errant long ball, but he's physicality and work rate have been huge. Olsen has figured out the best fullback combination we've had in DC for years in Najar and Korb. Olsen has also stabilized central midfield by playing Saragosa with Kitchen. We are no longer exposed in the middle ... between the two of them there's never any space for the opposing team to knock the ball around in the center. The center is where games are often won or lost and before Saragosa came in, Kitchen was always there by himself sometimes outnumbered 3 to 1.
I kept hearing this "biggest in five years" mantra and thought...did I not attend two cup finals (2008 and 2009) at RFK in that span of time? Making the playoffs is big, but for me winning silverware ranks above that. I guess I am in minority, but I can agree thrilled to see us competitive in the league again after long years suffering in it. Great to be excited in October again!
While getting run out of the playoffs is certainly still possible, people just need to understand what Olsen is doing with what he has available. Olsen is maximizing the ability of what he has available. Yes, I realize people on this board think both Salihi and Boskovic were they to get the starts that Pajoy and Saragosa get now, they would produce goal after goal after goal (sarcasm). The fact of the matter is that when those two (Salihi and Bosko) have been given starting opportunities, their production is just as "poor" as Pajoy and Saragosa's. What Olsen is doing is letting those two players run and harass the opposition for 60-70 minutes (a strategy that normally I do not endorse and certainly most of the posters here do not endorse) and then bringing in Salihi and Boskovic to finish off the matches, which incidentally they are doing with applomb. Let's turn it around. Let's say we had started Salihi and Boskovic over this past 6 game stretch. Exactly how confident would you be in turning to Pajoy or Long Tan to come off the bench to rescue points? Not very I would think. Given what has been working with the second half subs lately, why on Earth would you do something else? I understand that people feel that perhaps starting the Balkan Brothers would undoubtedly give United a multiple goal lead in every game (again, sarcasm..), but the bottom line here is that what Olsen is employing at the moment is arguably this team's best chance to get results (according to the guy who trains them and sees them on a daily basis - not the internet nuts who chime in from their keyboards (of which I am a proud member). Maybe, just maybe Olsen knows what he's doing.
This is a myth used to support Olsen. There is no statistical evidence that suggest that DC has been crap when Salihi and Bosko have started together. I don't remember the exact numbers, but I have looked into it before and the team is generally very competitive when those 2 see the field together.