I watched the game off the internet feed so it was hard to tell who was actually making a play. The only time I was able to identify Gomez was in an isolation shot where he seemed to be very out of breath.
I believe that Gomez (it was either Moreno or him - I watched the game on the internet and those guys look somewhat alike) made two very good through balls in the offensive third of the field that sliced through several defenders - both passes were somewhat long and on the ground. Adu was the receiver of both passes getting past the defense and going through to goal - Busch made some nice plays to negate the chances. Other that those plays, I do not recall Gomez seeing much of the ball. If those passes are typical of what we can expect from Gomez, he needs to start.
It was Moreno that had that first pass to Put Adu in on goal. In the 74th minute Gomez recieves the ball off a defensive clearance(from the Moreno to Adu play prior), takes on a man, makes a move to the right and passes a perfectly weighted ball to spring Adu in on goal. Only a diving defensive play saves the go ahead goal. He did look less than match fit but he did play a little defense. Also he didn't see much of the ball but that will change with familiarity acheived in practice. When he is match fit and in the groove I think that a midfield of Gros, Adu, Gomez, Olsen, and Stewart(by default) will look very dynamic!
From Goff in today's Post... I didnt get to see the game but reading Nowak and Dema's comments makes me feel good. This team needs some flair and some real skill on the offensive end. Hopefully Gomez is just the man to do it.
Nowak and Kovalenko's comments seem a little over the top. I thought he had a rather uneventful game. But - and here's the thing - that's actually a pretty good thing to say about a guy who just joined the team. I wasn't disappointed by what I saw.
Fair point and splitting the difference I am inclined to agree with you Knave ( ) But hopefully they are also seeing something we didnt. I would be shocked if Goff was totally out in left field on this one as well.
Can someone explain to me why this guy isn't match fit? Excuse me, but if your job is as a pro athlete and it's in season for your sport (which it is in Argentina) then why isn't he fit? I do not like this at all. To me it speaks volumes about this guy - and about DC United management that seem to think he's worth it. I hope he proves me wrong.
Ditto bro, Goff was sitting in the press box and we're hundreds of miles away watching a crappy webcast. I'll go with Goff and his journalistic integrity.
He had a few touches, most of them very good. From what little I could see given the limited time and the coverage that seemed spotty for some reason, he makes clever passes that eliminate defenders. Right after Jaime's wonderful pass to put Freddy through alone, Gomez made a lovely pass to Adu past three defenders. Perfect weight and perfect line. Yes, he seems out of shape, but he was moving mostly to the right spots, both with and without the ball. He also jumped in to defend a few times, which was nice to see. We have developed into a team that, at its best, is hard-working, energetic, and swarms all over the field; one that wins by workrate more than guile. It's been a while since we had that surgeon who can cut open a defense with a pass. My overall impression after the first match was that Gomez is the closest thing to that we have. I wondered after the match if I wasn't being too optimistic, but in reading the Post coverage this morning, I was pleased to see that some of the impressions within the team are similar. We'll see if that pans out over time. As a side note, it confuses me when more than one player wears white shoes.
I'm guessing it's one of those "the level of play in MLS requires much more running than South American leagues" things. Which then makes me think, if that's the case, I understand why so few S.A. players succeed in England. The MLS games seemed extremely slow to me yesterday after watching the morning Premiership matches.
Jaime and Gaucho look very much alike from a distance. They have a similar "I'm going to fall over from exhaustion now" walk away from a tackle, I kept looking for the tape on Jaime's wrist to distinguish him from Gaucho. I'm not ready to hand the keys of the offense over to him, but he showed some good potential, and integrated surprisingly well given his one week of practice with the team. Freddy looked much more dangerous not being constrained to be the creator -- and that is a good thing. Now, if Jaime would start shooting the ball with pace more regularly, we might start scoring more goals. GM
Just grasping at straws here, but could it be Gomez's lack of fitness might be attributed to the difference between Northern and Southern Hemisphere's seasons? If Argentina's club season is in swing now, isn't it winter there, as opposed to our summer? Just remember Olsen being quoted along the lines of "he'll have to accomadate his level of fitness, he's not used to the heat" or something similar to that.
It's starting to get warmer in the Southern Hemisphere. One theory is that he has been well aware of this possible transfer, and may not have been training with his old club due to this state of limbo. Maybe he was preparing his family and possessions for the trip north and didn't train at full-speed for awhile.
One of the toughest things to get used to is the climate. Soccer in Argentina (as it has traditionally been throughout the world) is a winter sport. You can't expect the guy to go from a cold weather environment to the mid-summer humidity in DC without a transition period in between. They don't wear the long sleeve jerseys just for looks, you know...
I THINK IT WAS MORENO THAT MADE THE PASSES, BUT YOU'R RIGHT THOSE GUYS DO LOOK ALIKE ON THE FIELD. IT WAS A GREAT THROUGH BALL FROM MORENO TO FREDDY, IT WAS UNFORTUNATE THAT FREDDY KICKED IT AT THE KEEPER AND COULDN'T PUT IT IN THE BACK OF THE NET. I THOUGHT GOMEZ STARTED STONG BUT NEEDS TO WORK ON HIS FITNESS. OVERALL THE TEAM FOUGHT HARD AND IT WAS A FAIR RESULT. I HOPE WE CAN WIN NEXT SATURDAY AGAINST NEW ENGLAND.
Jaime made the first long pass to Freddy, and his shot was blocked by the keeper. Gomez made the pass to Freddy shortly after that, and Marshall had to make a sliding tackle to send it out for a corner.
I was at the game on Saturday and Gomez certainly played well in his limited action. Nothing remarkable, but he had a calming presence about him. He made a few off the ball runs, which I doubt were shown on TV/internet, a few nice passes and some good footwork.
Not meaning to judge one way or the other, but I never noticed him from watching TV. I looked a few times to see if I could pick him out, and the times I could he was standing back a bit. They did show him toward the end, gasping for air after his 15 minutes of playing. Other than him coming in and then at the end, they never mentioned his name. I probably confused him with other players when he was shown, the camera angles we get are sometimes less than optimal.
I put Stewart in because it seems his experience and stature with the USMNT makes him automatic. Next year I'd like to see Dema with Nana coming on to add a frenetic spark on the hour mark, as I'm sure Stewart will move back to Europe if rumors are true.