We obviously lead a charmed life, as that was not the first game we deserved to lose and yet came out with a point. Hamid's play since he got back in the lineup has been stellar, and I hope Klinsmann has seen the tapes. At the same time, that may have been the worst game I've seen from Captain Boswell. He's going to cost us a game or more, either by simply being beaten or by fouling to keep from being beaten.
Well I did doze off in the second half as predicted, but I woke up in time to see the goal at the end. I must admit that JJ has turned out to be a pretty good player, but that really was a long term project, wasn't it? I certainly agree with the consensus that BB is slow. Probably what is keeping him in the stating lineup is that Olsen does not trust Binrbaum or Opare to keep the defense organized. But eventually something has got to give.
So I was driving home from a week at the beach on Friday night. National broadcast games aren't on MLS LIVE so I couldn't use that app. My Fios TV app doesn't stream Univision so I couldn't use that app. And Univision has an app but they want you to pay a monthly fee to stream live tv and I wasn't interested in that. However, RSL actually has a radio deal and I was able to find their feed online and stream it so that is how I listened to the game. It's been a long time since I've listened to an MLS game via a radio stream (I'm not sure I ever have now that I think about it) and to have it be the opposing teams homer radio announcers also made it interesting. It was definitely interesting to listen to the game via radio - where you aren't watching and letting your eyes get in the way... Some observations: 1. The number of times I heard the announcers say a variation of "Franklin gives the ball away with a terrible pass" was mind-boggling. I bet it was at least 10 times... I've never been a big Franklin fan and listening to this radio broadcast made me like him even less. 2. They also made a comment at some point - maybe after his shot that just missed - that Kemp had gotten forward a bunch but hadn't been able to do anything with his crosses. 3. The guy who scored for them, Burrito Martinez I think, they made a comment after he apparently abused our entire defense (breaking ankles they called it) that they thought Martinez was the most talented player skill wise that RSL had ever brought in. In the same breath they mentioned he's got a long way to go to live up to Javier Morales but they couldn't say enough about the new guy... 4. They thought Acosta was subbed off because he was tired. They said he had made several runs forward and then failed to track back, standing still, like he was tired. No idea if that is accurate but it's something I could see Olsen seeing and saying it was time to get him out... 5. I managed to find the feed of the game in about the 20th minute and the first thing I heard was DC has had been much stronger offensively than Seattle last Tuesday. They have had several chances. I got all excited because I had seen the line-up and knew we had thrown the 4-1-4-1 out there again but, alas, from the time I started listening it seems like we were under siege the rest of the way... 6. I haven't seen the game, but from what I listened to it seemed like we starting having a lot more possession once Jeffrey came in for Acosta. I'm a fan of Acosta in midfield but at least from the radio feed I thought Jeffrey's presence seemed to change the game if only a little bit. I wonder if in this 4-1-4-1 he would be a better starter than Marcelo... 7. They felt they had been robbed on the (non) penalty call earlier in the game. Said it was a clear penalty... 8. They were impressed by Hamid. I guess the Seattle goalie did the same thing to them in the US Open Cup game last Tuesday so they were lamenting having two goalies stand on their head two games in a row but they also talked about how they needed to be more clinical in the final third... 9. In the post-game show (yes there was a post-game show where they took calls and answered questions posed via twitter) the analyst was killing their team for not managing the end of the game better. Said they had plenty of opportunities to kill the game off by going to the corner and that they were careless with the ball and didn't play for possession in the final minutes and that's what gave us the chance we capitalized on. Interestingly, that was the same thing their coach brought up in his comments. Basically, their argument was that they had been tactically stupid in the final minutes and we should never had even had the chance that we scored on. I wonder how many of our last minute losses or ties over the last couple of years would fall into this category... 10. Interestingly too they broke down the play we scored on and said Wingert, who had just subbed in, had recognized the problem and was holding up 2 fingers and saying I've got 2 players to guard. They said it was DeLeon and Jeffrey and that when the kick was taken they went in opposite directions (ok, that's smart) and that Wingert wisely went with DeLeon, "the more offensive player" (which made me chuckle) and that's why Jeffrey was so open. They were all over the RSL team for not having enough players back to match the numbers we had forward and for not having the marking sorted out... 11. They were appreciative of Sabo when he was subbed off and it sounded like he got a nice (well-deserved) round of applause from the RSL fans. There was a point in the game when a ball was played a little ahead of him and they were like Sabo had never been fast and at 34, he's never going to get to that ball. It will be interesting once Kamara is inserted into the starting lineup to see how his speed stretches things for the team. 12. <soapbox> Listening to the game and post-game show on the radio got me thinking. Why the hell isn't DC United doing this? Ok. you can't get a radio partner who will pay you. Do the whole thing yourself with the personnel that you've got. That's the kind of guerilla marketing you've got to do when you're not willing to spend any money. Or give the guys you just booted from the podcast the opportunity to run a post-game show from the stadium. Just stream it. It would cost next to nothing and I know I would listen on my drive home. This is one of the things that really frustrates me about this club these days. Yes, it's frustrating that they won't spend any money. But at least be creative and aggressive with the opportunities you can create that don't cost anything... </soapbox>
Keith Tabatznik would do this in a heartbeat, although he's angling for a TV spot. He's a very knowledgeable analyst and worth listening to , post game.
@QuietSide I was on the road as well during the game, was able to stream with the univision deportes app free with my fios log-in
Good to know. Thanks. My fault I guess for reading the app description instead of just downloading and trying... Of course, if I had done that I wouldn't have listened via the radio and been able to post all of my keen observations haha
Perhaps the Deportes app is different than a full Univision app. With Deportes you may have to do a cable login, but I've never seen anything about a monthly service. The Fan whine they lose money on United broadcasts. CBS Radio is a disaster. I obviously need to refresh more often.
I think it varies based on who we're playing. If we're dealing with fast attackers, then yes. I wouldn't say our possession was better with Acosta off, but that RSL wasn't challenging for it as aggressively after they got the goal. They weren't having too much trouble keeping it from us, for the most part.