1-0 for the very fortunate guys in black. We were outshot a zillion to two (Emilio's roller and Jacobson's liner. Were there more?) but prevailed. Cronin, after a shaky first few minutes, proved to be up to the job and more so - he had some huge saves. Kocic has a battle ahead of him for playing time, IMO. Jacovic came up huge when needed. Burch actually played pretty good defense. BUT: we had no attack to speak of, and Emilio's first touch was everywhere from acceptable to horrid. The Crew were all over us and almost every ball in the attacking third was a threat. Robbie Rogers was the best player on the pitch. I used to think he was pretty one-footed (left) but he proved me wrong tonight. Left or right, whichever foot he used delivered quality crosses. The halftime tribute was great. It was interesting to see how people change over 10 years. BTW, Benny looked absolutely frozen out there. He looked like a member of the cast of A Christmas Carol. And the ref let the players play. I thought he did well.
DCU - Crew Postmatch (R) 1-0 to the good guys. Emilio with an assist from Boyzz. For the first time in about a month, the boys played with some heart. Not pretty by any stretch, but a result nonetheless. Cronin looked OK for his first match. Made some "interesting" decisions, but looked composed which might be a first for a DCU 'keeper this year. If Roberto Duran had "hands of stone", then Emilio has "feet of stone". Jaime overtakes the leg-humper as the player with the most starts for an MLS team. Before the game, my neighbor, who has half season tickets in the row in front of me asked if Soehn would be gone at the end of the season. I said, "I hope so." Talked about this and that and I focused on the Szetela fiasco, putting it on both Kasper and Soehn. At the end of the game, my neighbor says, "that number 12 is pretty good -- oh, he's the guy you were talking about before the game." A DCU playoff appearance off this regular season would be bizarre, but if I have my tiebreakers right, DCU is #8 at the moment.
Re: DCU - Crew Postmatch (R) We're actually still not in the playoffs. Still in 10th behind Toronto and NE on head-to-head, which is the first tiebreaker. We are ahead of Dallas; we have the head-to-head on them.
Re: DCU - Crew Postmatch (R) I don't think we played with any heart. We looked awful. We just got very very lucky.
Re: DCU - Crew Postmatch (R) Crappy field. Crappy weather. Crappy opponent. Awesome game!! Not exciting by a long-shot but it was nice to see the boys not sit back on their asses after they scored and continue to fight for the win. And I loves me some Steve Cronin. Can we keep him? Please?
Re: DCU - Crew Postmatch (R) Were you at the stadium? Just curious. If you weren't, maybe it looked different on TV. I'm not trying to be snarky, but from where I was it looked like we competed hard. I was impressed with the effort. In fact I asked a couple of folks rhetorically "Where was THAT all year long?" Cronin looked very good to me after some early settling-in jitters. He seemed quite composed and came out strongly for balls. I know it's only one game, but that's the best goalkeeping we've had since Troy left.
Re: DCU - Crew Postmatch (R) Besides Cronin's solid performance, I thought Jakovic and Jacobson did well clearing out and cutting off lots of dangerous balls. Am I correct in thinking we're currently in 4-way tie for 8th place and final playoff spot? MLSnet's standings do not, for some reason, yet include the results for our win over Columbus or take into account the fact that Dallas beat Colorado tonight. http://web.mlsnet.com/standings/index.jsp?standings=playoff I think teams 8,9,10, and 11 are all on 39 points with game left to play. Do we still have to figure out individual head-to-head tiebreakers vs New England, Toronto and Dallas or is some other criteria used in a 3 or 4-way tie?
Re: DCU - Crew Postmatch (R) I said this elsewhere, but we won because Columbus proved totally incapable of changing or adapting their game for the conditions. So when we happened to get the goal, the game was over: Mud 1 - 0 Columbus.
Re: DCU - Crew Postmatch (R) Exciting 2nd half. Not at all.... Take the children away from the computer. Total shots in the second half - 0 for DC United, 1 for Columbus. Not shots on goal, but shots.... Yikes......... At times it seemed United weren't even interested in going forward and getting a second goal. The team walked the ball up the field and people slowly made their way forward and then they came to their senses and went back to making square and back passes. I realize tonight set up perfectly for United in getting an early goal and hanging on and putting numbers behind the ball. But is there some sort of rule that says United can't go for more goals?
Re: DCU - Crew Postmatch (R) Just for shits and giggles, United is out of the playoffs as it stands right now in their 4-way tie at 39 points. However, with this unlikely combination, they could actually finish as the #2 seed (no, I'm not kidding...) Chicago loses at home to Chivas USA (who still has a good shot at winning Supporters Shield) Toronto FC loses or draws at New York (not so likely, but who knows?) New England loses or draws at Columbus (pretty much likely as NE has been circling the drain in recent weeks) United winning at KC. If those events happen, United will be playing at Chicago in the first round in two weeks. Just sayin'...............
Re: DCU - Crew Postmatch (R) just to add....if there is a 5 way tie between dcu, tfc, chi, ne, and fcd at 42 points TFC would take the 2 seed and play guess who.....DC....in the playoffs
Re: DCU - Crew Postmatch (R) Congrats on the win guys. Good showing by your fans in awful conditions. Go get 'em in the CCL and hope for some breaks. Almost all the 37-40 pt gang play on the road (except for RSL hosting COL), and your roadie is the easiest except for TFC @NY. I'd say you have a decent chance: NE @CREW and FCD @SEA are tough ones for the visitors, and RSL have to be favored over COL.
Re: DCU - Crew Postmatch (R) Good game and win but way too much suffering in the second half; I thought Crew was going to tie at a certain point... To TrueCrew: really good group of fans over in DC tonight from your side, some 120++ for a game that for you really meant nothing or almost. Impressive.
Re: DCU - Crew Postmatch (R) If we win in KC, we have some ~50% possibilities to make it; I still can't believe it after all those latest desgraceful games we played...
Re: DCU - Crew Postmatch (R) [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2B9jneACWM"]YouTube - Chicago Fire 4 DC United 0[/ame] I think I will take Columbus.
Re: DCU - Crew Postmatch (R) After ragging on Tommy mercilessly lately, I have to nod in his direction. In the second half, right in front of the Barra, multiple times Khumalo and Vaughn would challenge the Crew in possession along our right/their left, Rogers would run and Khumalo would release him to go to the ball holder, who Vaughn already had covered. A quick kick up the line and Rogers is in alone. This happened three times, and on the third I remember yelling "goddammit, Tommy, he doesn't know how to play defense, you have to get him out of there." Thirty seconds later, Szetela came in for Khumalo.
Re: DCU - Crew Postmatch (R) You do realize that Guillermo Barretto Schelotto was taken out in the 56 minute? (last year's MVP and perhaps this year's MVP) If DC United gets in, I hope we play Chicago and get that monkey off our backs. Columbus is going to be awfully strong in the playoffs, they completely dominated the game. In the second half it looked like they were going to score when our defense looked like the Keystone Corps, good thing we had Cronin as he was very composed out there and distributed the ball fairly quickly at times in a pressure filled game (the other goalies on the squad have lost their chance at the number 1 spot).
Re: DCU - Crew Postmatch (R) That is exactly the enigma that is Boyzz. At forward he makes a nifty run and subtle pass that Emilio puts away. Shift him outside where he actually must play defense and OMIGOD! When Boyzz is on the outside, DCU is defending with 10 players -- he actually is a worse defender than Fred. I like Boyzz, but last night's game is a perfect example of why he is, at best, a reserve forward, and why he was playing in USL-2 last year.
First things first....Cronin is a Keeper! Next, I've heard/seen on other boards that the Crew played their "B" team and that's why we won. I call BS! We had 5 starters missing and still managed a win! Great tribute at halftime, to bad there weren't more fans. As we were leaving I mentioned to a friend that Cowlumbus outplayed us.....then I corrected myself...we played the game we had to, to get the win. Get an early goal, then shore up the bunkers. Let the feild and weather take care of the rest. If we don't make the play-offs, it was the pitiful effort against San Jose that was the difference....or the horrific call in the first game of the season! That point may be the difference. A quote regarding that call from the DCU @ LAG Season opener "In the 80th minute, referee Jair Marrufo awarded a penalty to the Galaxy after he judged D.C. United's Rodney Wallace to have played a cross from Chris Klein in the box with his hands. The problem being that - as replays clearly showed - Klein's pass came nowhere near hitting Wallace's hand, instead being blocked down with his thigh before rolling over the touch line. To say it was a horrendous call is being too kind - it was a painful reminder that the quality of referees in the CONCACAF region might be among the worst in the world."
"How is he, doctor? Is he improving?" "I just don't know. People in this condition rarely last this long. The disease is insidious and the signs have been there for many months. I fully expected him to be dead by now." "Is there any chance he'll pull through? Can he make it?" "Nothing's impossible. But I won't sugarcoat it for you. This might be a temporary condition. By next week he could be dead. Do you want me to take extraordinary measures to keep him alive?" "No doctor. None of us want that. He either makes it on his own, or we let him go. If it looks like he is just going to continue hanging on and draining the energy from all of us, pull the plug. It's the right thing to do for all concerned. We can always start over."
Well if this was part of the plan not to peak too soon before the playoffs, it may be working. Somehow I don't attribute the strategy to the guy who still looks over both shoulders before pulling into the "reserved for head coach" spot. Nonetheless one more game one more win