Did anyone notice that Quincy Amerikwa was marking Zlatan on every set piece? It’s a strange tactical move to put such a short player on such a tall player. It seemed to work and I’d love to understand why.
Crazy game. No Lucharoo, no problem. This XI had fight, verve, and pace, crisp passing (albeit including some to the Gals) and kick-em-in-the-ankles scrappy defense. Felipe (wearing Zoltan's old #18) makes a great stop and fist-pumps the air in joy. I'm warming up to him. Hamid's snap-reaction save against Ibra's flick should be Save of the Week/Month/ Season. Unbelieveable. At the final whistle, the XI were overjoyed. And the Screagles section was LOUD, legit loud. Amazing what happens when everyone decides to show up and give a shite about winning. Where the hell was any of this last week?
Back from AF, good game well fought, also if LAG had the most ball possession throughout the game. All in all probably an undeserved win but I will take it as we really needed it. It was also interesting to see Ibra live for the first time, he didn't have a good game but those few times he had the chance he was really dangerous. Our defense was terrific, then on the other side of the field, Amarikwa may not be the perfect answer to Lucho but at least we saw somebody who was fighting and giving it all in, instead than just huffing and puffing in the middle of the field. Arriola is the NUMERO UNO, the number one, he deserves so much better than this. He could be a perfect fit for a team like for example LAFC, but I am sure in Europe too he could do very well.
Twitter is wild tonight. One person tweeted at Goff to say that Rooney was wasted drunk in Bethesda a couple nights ago, which is why he didn't play (couldn't provide proof). Meanwhile, someone associated with the "protest" at the game (the lack of drums in the first half) commented that they made 20,000 people uncomfortable tonight. To be honest, if I hadn't found out about the protest later, I would never have noticed, so the extent of their impact on noise in the stadium is nowhere near as great as they think it is.
That's your opinion. I was sitting in section 124 tonight, and I noticed very well the silence / no songs, no drums, no flags, coming from the supporters section. It seemed like to be at a theater rather than at a stadium. It definitively did not feel good, although I thought for sure there were reasons behind it.
Mine was the same as the other poster. I didn't know about the "protest" until I got home. What pay off the game was it during?
Agree...from 104 in the first half it was absolutely quiet at times. same weird vibe as opening day had last year. Also, Boateng is possibly the shortest player I have ever seen. Franco Niel still holds that record.
It was hilarious to look at. It looked like they just wanted him to be on him and hope that if Ibra tried to make a move, he would leverage himself on Amerikwa and that would be a foul. The protest was definitely noticeable in stadium. It may not have been as noticeable on television simply because it was a sellout (20,006).
Well, my prediction regarding the officiating was spot on. Robinson did play too soft, and ceded space too early, in the second half, but he knows his limitations better than I do, I'd wager...Perhaps he was afraid of over-committing and getting burned. Arriola, tho', and Amerikwa, they really seemed to have some connection that I wouldn't mind at all seeing further develop. Only once do I recall them running into the same space. I really want Zach Thornton to help Bill practice distribution...Bill knows when he flubs them, but it's more frequent than not that the opposing team collects them.
Very pleasant surprise at Audi field last night, makes those supporting days worth it from time to time. My voice is absolutely gone, and we were pilled in on top of each other in the supporters sections... Made for one memorable night! I would love to see Rooney on the field replacing Amerikwa in that situation. Can you imagine? Could be straight up fire. Sending Acosta to hit the bench was a good message. It's up to him now how he handles it. It's either going to smarten him up or that will be the end of it. Acosta's biggest problem I've always felt has been between his ears. He lets things get to him, and he needs discipline and work on his maturity as a player. Has incredible ability but needs to be molded. That part isn't happening so much either. There is much work to be done.
Robinson played probably his best game of the season (if not career) for DC United last night. His biggest mistakes were crowding up field to much when the Gals had the ball on his side, and then leaving space behind him wide open down the side. Not sure if that was his role (to offer support in midfield) and then rely on Brilliant to cover. As far as pinching into the center too much, I didn't see it. The whole back four would shift from one side to the other. When you watch games live or the camera is back far enough, you see that most teams play this way. Ibran can a force. No doubt about it. Put he also has his petulant moments and he's pretty inconsistent. In a way, I'm glad he plays for somebody else. He can wreck other teams (like LAFC), and still be too inconsistent to keep his own team from dominating the league. I saw that the Gals had a lot of possession, but not that much of it was really threatening. I wish we had been able to hold onto the ball a bit more, but we did snap up the opportunities we did have.
Man oh man am I glad I didn't pay the aftermarket price to see Zlatan lay an egg, but I think we also had career (or at lease DCU career) nights from Jalen and Freddy shutting down Zlatan who still had 2-3 touches that prolly go in on a different keeper, like say Bingham who should have done more on the 2nd goal with the original shot from 25 yds. It was a laser, but if you leave a ball sitting 5-8 yds in front of the goal, its going to get stuffed back down your throat pretty often. The defending was poor on that shot too, but he needed to hold or get rid of that ball. Pretty sure he was called into a recent camp when Hamid was left home, not sure how or why. I've never been impressed with him and he did nothing last night to change that impression. Titi looked ok with the ball in the midfield, but I think its tough to show much when your team is giving up nearly 70% of the possession. Ameriwka was playing like a man possessed. I have to wonder what he ate pre-game, because dude was on fire, even before he trolled Alvarez and JDS which was the most epic moment on Twitter last night. I've watched that clip dozens of times. It might be up there with the Deuce face against Costa Rica in the snow. I like his fearlessness. Question is, who is he on a regular basis, because you saw something last night that was unexpected. And you have to wonder if he makes the 18 with Rooney healthy along with Kamara and Boateng getting into the mix. Arriola is probably still our most dangerous player after this season. His retention is essential. I am trying to think of the price at which you could sell him and feel good about it and its not intersecting with a realistic number. I don't know why its so hard to convince guys to run at defenders with the ball. You're gonna get stuffed a bunch, but the measure of a striker and even a creator in the offensive half is if what they create that ends up on the scoreline and to make impact there, 1-3 successes against a dozen failures is a good night. If you go 1 for 3 in baseball for your career, your a hall of famer. Go 1 for 5 in those 1v1 situations on a soccer field and you're a prolific scorer or creator.
And that's what makes Lucho such a frustration. Arriola doesn't give up on a play after a 1v1 is stuffed and/or the ball is turned over. If he ditched the pouting, (and got rid of the ball faster when the 1v1 turns into a 1v2, 1v3, or 1v4) he'd hit the next level....ARRI DON'T QUIT.
I see a disturbing number of posts that suggest that Zlatan was poor, overrated, etc. Far from it. Many of his 14 shots were goal bound but were touched wide by the defense or saved, often sensationally, by Hamid. He is the epitome of a striker.We should be so lucky.
A good 75% of them, including the one on goal, were prefaced by a hard push on a defender to free up space - which I am sure our forwards would have been carded for. But he missed them all, so I am not bitter Good game, even if we tried to give it away in the first 20-some minutes of the first half. I will definitely have to go back and look at the goal they called back. Link?
@fatbastard: Quincy Amarikwa just straight trolled Favio Álvarez with the classic “wah wah”, then looked at Jonathan Dos Santos (who was trying to defuse the situation) and said “I’m in your head.”10/10. pic.twitter.com/IcApjUbLu8— MLS Buzz (@MLS_Buzz) August 12, 2019
Ownership - act like your a major sports team, instead of nickeling and diming your way into obscurity. From Goff's article: Four of United’s next five matches — and five of the next seven — are away, starting Saturday at Vancouver, the last-place team in the Western Conference. As D.C. defender Steve Birnbaum went out of his way after the L.A. match to point out, the Galaxy flew in and out of Washington on a charter while United will fly commercial to Seattle on Thursday and connect to British Columbia.