DC United says that Chicago scored to tie the game 3-3. ESPN FC says the final score is 3-2 DC. WTF is going on? What's the true score?
I saw a replay of the Schweinsteiger assist to Calvo to tie the score. It really did end 3-3. And Calvo was unmarked. Where the ******** is the defense on this team in the closing minutes of a game? Losing the 2 points here really feels like a loss now! To make matters (potentially) worse, it looked to me like Hamid beheaded Calvo after he scored the goal. If the referee didn't red-card Bill, I bet the DISCO boys do.
Any “broadcast” troubles? DirecTV never went off the logo screen. No blackout alert, but didn’t come off the “nothing to see here” screen. Thx, Jay!
I usually have a reliable internet stream, but Norton AV kept telling me it wasn't safe tonight, so I was limited to United's Twitter feed, y'alls pbp, and the ESPN FC match tracker - which gave the final score as 3-2 in favor of DC.
I almost left at halftime, it was so bad. The 2-1 scoreline really favored DCU, as Chicago could have scored 4 and no one would have thought that unusual. Some observations: 1. If you play like ass for 45 minutes to start a match, you really don't deserve to win. The tie actually flatters DCU who was played off the pitch for large stretches of the match. 2. The "David Stokes Defensive Excellence Award" is hereby conferred on Jalen Robinson who stepped back to keep Calvo onside on the tieing goal. I cannot believe that guy makes the 18, let alone makes the pitch. I can't believe there isn't a bipedal defender at Loudoun who isn't more useful than Robinson. 3. Once again a Ben Olsen team is outcoached at the beginning of a match and it takes Ben and the Hamburglar almost a half to figure it out. The Fire coach, who many consider a dipshit through his constant tinkering with formations, realized that when Olsen comes out with 4 defenders, the two outside backs will push up. Accordingly, that can force Brillant to defend in space -- where he couldn't outrun a one-legged tree sloth. Jara kept pressing high, neither Moreno nor Canouse slid over and Chicago constantly played long balls up its left side and started jail breaks up that side for the first half. This wasn't rocket science, but it took DCU's brain trust one half to sort it out. 4. After watching tonight's game I can see why Beerholder doesn't favor Canouse. Canouse is a pure destroyer who will only play the killer through ball by accident. He just doesn't have the skill set to fit into Beerholder's system. Time and time again tonight I saw him with his head down when a pass that could have opened up Chicago went a glimmering. 5. Things got so bad in the first half that Rooney was picking up the ball on his own 35 yard line. Kasper's failure to get a real striker has crippled this team. BTW, Rooney looked gassed from about minute 70 on. 6. I know the Olsen apologists will keep saying that missing Arriola really stunts the offense. Well, his replacement got a brace tonight and was making Arriola like runs all night. If Arriola really is the key, then Kasper should be offering him, not Lucho, the Lucho deal. 7. What is the deal with the defense constantly collapsing into the cellar dwelling block? Not only did they give Chicago most of the field at the end of the game, except for Jara and Stieber, no DCU players were challenging the Chicago player in possession. Is this player laziness? Are they coached to do this? It happens all the time so it can't be an accident. You play like that and things like the Calvo goal which came off of Schweinsteiger's "of ********, I just pop the ball up and see what happens" pass. 8. This team will never win MLS Cup in my lifetime with Ben Olsen as the coach.
There is a defender in Loudoun who can effectively replace Brillant, unfortunately he is injured - Donovan Pines. I agree with you that this is the worst coached team, with the exception of the Onalfo tenure.
Canouse's mid range passing has gone to the dogs. Often, he just leaves it short... He averaged close to 90 pct. last year, what happened?
This game was a mirror of the LAFC match but for the fact that the DaFuhr can’t finish. It should’ve been 5-2. At a minimum. They carved through our lines as if we haven’t ever practiced spacing (j/k we haven’t). If Pedroso was available then the Robinson sub was an abomination. That lost the game. James
It sucks to waste a win almost done at the last second, but it would have not been a deserved win and Chicago went so close to score so many times, that I honestly feel this was a lucky point rather than a deserved one.
Add to that while Robinson kept him on Brilliant was five yards away and I doubt it was because he was trying to trap him. It was lazy.............
Pedroso was on the bench, he was sitting in the "I pissed in Ben's cornflakes seat." Agree, I was stunned to see Robinson come in at left back when Pedroso was on the bench. Robinson is, at best, a very mediocre central defender. Play him out wide an he looks lost, and we won't even begin to discuss his inability to go forward.
Actually the line was moving forward the second the ball went out towards Schweinsteiger. Robinson, instead, moved back to cover no one and kept Calvo onside. Sort of like Connor Lade in 2012 when NDL scored that game winner against RBNY. What was lazy about the last 5 minutes was sitting in a low block and except for Jara and Stieber, failing to put any pressure on the Fire player with the ball. Instead DCU sat back and let the player pick out his passes. Compare that to Jara and Stieber who stifled play on their side of the field. Call it lazy players or bad coaching -- whatever it occurs far too often for it to be an accident.
Worked like a charm! Two goals celebrated in our corner. The view from 122 is exhilarating when we were on the attack. My son loved going to the game and was asking when we are going to go back before we even left. Disappointing to give up that late goal but it was a super exciting game to be at. Hamid really bailed us out of this one. As my son said "the blue goalie is really good!"
On a personal note, it was great to see Odoi-Atsem out there. And on a professional note, he looked pretty good out there. Agree there is no excuse for the coaches to not figure out that Brillant could not keep up with Katai.
Pedroso lost his marker against New England and I believe against Real Betis where that mark put the ball in the back of the net. So his trip to the dog house is not unwarranted
1) We really missed Arriola all game. 2) We really missed Odoi-Atsem after he had to be subbed out. 3) We really missed the option of using Durkin (now playing in Poland with USM U20 team). 4) We don't have great depth. On #4), NOBODY in MLS has great depth.
I would disagree with #1. Segura had a brace and was making forward runs all night long. His second goal was very Arriolaesque, he took off running, Jara hit him with a great through ball and Segura calmly picked out the far corner and banged it in off the post -- can't do any better than that. Agree with #2, COA played great -- not the offensive threat that Mora is, but maybe with time. Also agree with #3, Durkin probably would have made some of the passes that Canouse missed. On #4, agreed that everyone doesn't have perfect depth, problem is that DCU has no depth in the center forward position, probably because DCU lacks a starting center forward. After seeing Nikolic and Stieber talking a midfield before the game, I thought a great swindling trade would be a Hungarian - Hungarian trade with Chicago.
The tying goal was a dagger, but Chicago clearly outplayed us so I can't feel too bad about one point. When Chicago had the ball they had a plan. We generally had none except "find Lucho and/or Rooney." Late in the match, perhaps out of frusration, Rooney and others started playing old EPL football - kick it long and hope your guy can run onto it. It worked at least once, but it's no substitute for a coordinated attack involving more than just a handful of players. And let's not even talk about our defense, which allowed Chicago to move the ball with ease in the final third. Yes, we had some heroic stops and clearances, but they were often desperation moves. I love Benny. Promote him to something or other, let Ashton try his luck elsewhere, and hire a skilled soccer manager with vision and a plan.