Open letter to Garber: Dear Don, In your ongoing effort to stretch DCU's anus with the MLS FO's barbed member via intentionally bad officiating, please don't blame this officiating crew-- they got your memo and earned their money. They did their part. Perhaps the Disco can fine Techera for not doing his. Blow me, [signed] Adler
Both penalties were non existent, both symbol of the mediocrity of MLS referees. That said, I'll take the win, but we continue to express this "anti-soccer" made in Olsen. Perhaps we are not the worst team in the league, but sure we are the least appealing to watch
Just watched the highlights. Wow. This team can barely win a gift game. And both PKs were horrible calls.
I DVR'ed the game and just finished watching. I have no idea WTF i just watched. Time for a new slogan: "DC United - We Get Post-al" "St. Hamid Saves Us" Ortiz gets the Oscar for that PK act. Acosta gets the Best Supporting Oscar for the that "I got touched on the face now I must fall and act like I was shot in the ass with a Barrett .50 Cal" Seriously, that malignant dwarf needs his ass beaten. I HATE that sort of pathetic acting shit. Makes me wonder what he would do if someone at a Meet-the-Team event went up and bitch slapped him. Would he fall and grab his face with both hands? Piss his panties? Squeal like a pig? ********ing punk. This shit is why I hated when Davies was on the team. Oh yeah. 3 points on the road. I'll take it.
I'd rank poor officiating among the top 5 things slowing growth in MLS. We didn't deserve it, but got a win on the road, so that's good.
Meanwhile, across the pond today, Chelsea's Victor Moses-- already on a yellow card-- does a swan dive in front of the Arsenal goal and the ref has a big enough scrotum to give him a second yellow and a sending-off in the 68th minute of a tight FA Cup final. That wouldn't happen in an MLS Cup final, ever. Oh wait, unless a DCU player did the diving and a man-advantage would be handed to one of Garber's "favored" clubs. Sorry, my mistake.
Bill Hamid and the right post share MOTM. There were some actual flurries of completed passes for DC. I'm amazed
Passing was better than the recent past. Well taken penalty. Defense left it all out there. Hamid is great. Still, being bad at soccer and cheating to win doesn't do it for me.
Name a season where we had satisfactory officiating? MLS has grown although I don't know how. I look at the level skill and talent as about equal for the players and the refs No so good
Those wore two of the worst calls I've seen in a long time. The contact made with Ortiz was not nearly enough to make him go down. Then I have never seen an AR (Some schlep who wishes he were a Center Ref) call a keeper for contact with an attacker on a cross.
Geez - Just please stop the whining about the win - It's not like DC United hasn't gotten screwed at home
I don't care about Vancouver getting screwed at all. I don't like getting dominated week to week and cheating always rubs me the wrong way.
DC makes it's COMPLETELY BOGUS penalty, while Vancouver misses its COMPLETELY BOGUS penalty. Spare me the whining, Carl Robinson.
Au Contraire Pierre. There would be no end to the Bitchin, whining and sniveling if United had missed. A team that can't even score from the spot becomes 100% dependent upon the kindness of defenders scoring in their own nets
On the one hand, I agree with this. On the other hand, Vancouver were clearly the better team start to finish.
It's great to get the unexpected 3 points on the road, but the performance does not inspire confidence. There are many areas that we need to improve. With one of the lowest payrolls in the league, one could argue for upgrades at almost every position other than keeper. However, when I think about what has changed when comparing the team that was scoring goals for fun near the end of last season and this team, I feel that the major weaknesses in this team are on the wings and central midfield with the latter being the greatest deficiency. The Sam and Nyarko of last year looked dangerous and confident. Nyarko in particular was able to take on defenders 1v1 and frequently win those battles. He created scoring chances himself and forced opponents to cover, creating more space for teammates in the middle of the park. I'm not sure if Nyarko was playing hurt from the beginning of the season, but even before he went out injured he was not nearly as effective. Sam has also looks like a shadow of his former self. However, the poor wing play does not occur in a bubble. It is in part due to the weak play in the center midfield. Not to be a dick, but the Jeffrey-Harkes tandem is simply not good enough. It's great that they are getting real game experience and maybe this will pay dividends in the future, but they are not good. They are neither strong in defense or attack. They are not particularly gritty, they aren't hard or aggressive, they don't play with exceptional soccer IQ (not great with instinctive defensive positioning/anticipation), they don't play with exceptional speed of thought or speed of foot, they aren't particularly good at distributing out of the back, and they don't contribute much on set pieces. Jeffrey occasionally takes a decent long range shot, but that is not enough. Weak play in the center has forced our wingers into expending a lot of energy defending for long portions of the game (definitely not the strengths of Sam or Nyarko), and it prevents them from being as effective in the attacking 1/3. For me, Jeffrey and Harkes are the players we need to watch closely. If we don't see dramatic improvement, we need to see upgrades during the transfer window or expect no playoffs.
It's clear Harkes has talent, but it seems like the pace and physicality of an MLS match is a bit too much for him at the moment. And he seems to be losing a bit of confidence when it comes to physical battles each match.