Pre-match: Orlando City SC v. D.C. United

I agree. Silva's free kick wasn't high enough. The wall should have blocked it.

 

I do think the second half was much more even than the first. I really like Farfan, he's very clean on the ball and makes good decisions. Not as fast or athletic as NDL, but a much higher soccer IQ. Opare again impressed. Remember, we got him last year for nothing -- a spot in the allocation order that LA couldn't/didn't use. I think we are safely 3 deep there now, and remember Halsti still is out and he can play CB in a pinch as well. Now, to find a midfielder that can link defense and offense.

 

No, Franklin did. In in goal and skyed the ball. Again.

 

This is not an impressive win. Call it opportunistic, lucky, efficient. The fact is we a great performance by Hamid, some awful finishing by Orlando and one sweet strike by Silva. Given that many chances, Orlando should have had several goals and the game would have been over in the first half. If Orlando get themselves a serious forward in the summer transfer window, they can be a very good team.

 

Credit @Orlando Rays for posting these on MLSN&A.

Adrian Heath said Ben Olsen apologized to him after the game for taking all 3 points. #ORLvDC

— Orlando Soccer Daily (@OrlSoccerDaily) April 4, 2015

DC coach Ben Olsen told Amobi Okugo, "You guys killed us. I don't know how we won." #OCSC

— The Mane Land (@TheManeLand) April 4, 2015

Credit Olsen with a great deal of honesty.

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Two ways to think about this one. Either:

A. We're getting points we don't deserve.

B. We're getting points we don't deserve.

It's all how you emphasize things.

 

Amazing. Until when Red Bulls play Wed. ... United will be 1st place in the East.
Team is hard working & has potential.
I will savor this season, because I know we won't have Hamid forever.
This team can outwork other teams. Be nice to win by 2 goal margins.
But if the can play solid defenisive play, 1-0 wins will get us by.

The purple people eaters are a good team. They just need someone who can finish.
If they get on a roll... they might accomplish a lot.

 

I thought Kaka was supposed to be their serious player.

 

Whoever the PBP guy was on the English SAP feed may be the worst announcer I've ever heard. He was terrible on almost every level and it didn't thrill me that in one sequence he actively cheered for Kaka to take a shot. He also wanted two penalty decisions against United that even the Orlando players seemed oblivious about.

 

I think we played a good game, of course Orlando was attacking a lot and creating chances and Hamid was great but hey - he's our goalkeeper right? That's what he's supposed to do... We defended pretty well and created a few chances here and there - I would have loved to that Rolfe's volley go in, that would have been MLS goal of the year; eventually maybe a tie would have been more fair, but how many time have we found ourselves in the reverse situation? I'll take the 3 points. Orlando attacked a lot, head down, but they're also very naif, they made plenty of mistakes in the midfield. Soon or later the wheel will spin for them too, but they need to wake up from MLS in Wonderland or it's going to be a very long season.

 

Last year Shammypants came up with a convincing historical analysis suggesting that if you don't get 14 points in the first ten games, you are almost guaranteed to not make the playoffs.

We are now at 9 points in 4 games. Two wins or one win and three draws in the next six games gets us above what I am going to call The Shammy Line (which doesn't assure us of playoffs, of course, but means that we shouldn't write off playoffs).

 

Has any team ever gotten more points than goals over the course of a season?

 

Ramses Sandoval makes me yearn for the days when Gus Johnson called soccer. Absolutely nothing professional about the UniMas English language team. What did he say? Benny Boswell like five times? Flat-out cheering for Orlando, too. Although last time he begged Kaka to take a shot, it did go in. You can tell he's not as native English speaker as well. His turns-of-phrase oddly mispronounce, leave words out or use the wrong ones.

Two more times. I hope I'm home for the games and can sync up some 106.7 the fan instead. Or I learn Spanish magically overnight.

Thx,

Jay!

 

I was actually surprised at how good Caligiuri was as an analyst. And he's the only announcer I know who pronounces the word 'Hamid' correctly.

 

Not Benny -- Brian. I figured he still remembers the Bos.

He also pronounced Arnaud's name as "Arr-knot." And any time anyone ever did anything with the ball at their feet that demonstrated some skill, he called "cheeky" -- he used that term at least seven times in the match.

Caligiuri was horrendous as a broadcaster; but the PBP guy was even worse. I'm with @Publius : the worst broadcasting team I've ever heard.

 

A tie would have been a fitting result here. Orlando obviously controlled the possession but if your finishing is like that, you don't deserve to win period. Having said that, I don't think we did enough to deserve to win either. MLS is one of those leagues where very little can decide the result going one way or the other. Generally the good teams win the closer games. I sure hope the goal scoring picks up a bit when Silva, Espindola, and Halsti get fully integrated. We're going to need to score more as the season goes on.

 

Kaka can score frequently given time and space. Unfortunately for him, he gets double teamed a lot and nobody else really has a finishers touch on Orlando to help him out. Until their finishing improves, I expect to see this alot.

 

I'd bet it's happened a few times, but it happened in 2013. Redbulls 59 points on 58 goals.

 

Outplayed again, but I saw some glimpses for the first time today. Kitchen needs to look upfield, he needs to turn his body in a forward direction, please and thank you. I saw some of this at the end of the game. I don't know if it's the coach's plan to be uber conservative (it probably is), but it's killing the soccer out there.
Pontius has to score that bunny. That was just sad.
Silva is going to add so much more than just a scorer's touch. His ability on the ball is way above Arrieta's and Pontius', he will help with possession in a big way. He can't do it all, the midfield has to do the heavy lifting, but he will absolutely help.
Farfan is a nice linking player, I'd like to see him get in that midfield. Unfortunately, Arnaud and Kitchen will never be dropped for him, so it's off to the wing for now.
For a team that plays with two DM's, they sure get gutted right up the middle a lot.

Of course the win is fantastic, deserved or not I don't care. I think Orlando will have a winning record at home so we'll look back at this one as a strong 3 points. But...

FIX THAT MIDFIELD!!!

 

On second glance, all five playoff teams in the East in 2013 had more points than goals.

 

What I saw in the last 10-15 minutes of the game was domination by DC United. Every loose ball was won by players in White. DC United ran after every ballll, while Orlando players just stood around waiting for it. oh yeah - a and a lot of desperation fouls by them in mid-field. If you're dominating, you don't do those kinds of fouls.

 

That was Paul Caliguri. I really can't follow Spanish, but preferred listening to that broadcast rather than subject myself to the mangling of a language I can comprehend.

 

IIRC, Farfan's success in Philly came with him playing outside. Hackworth "decided" he would be better in the middle and his output dropped substantially. As I said before, I like his soccer IQ -- much higher than NDL's. I also would like to see more of Aguilar outside as well. However, if Farfan is the first choice sub for wide midfield, I would prefer to see Aguilar loaned out to Richmond so he can get regular minutes and remain match fit and continue to develop his professional game.

 

bump

 

I listened in "Spanish". My high school-level Spanish was just good enough to listen to Grant Wahl struggle through his college-level Spanish.

 

Welcome back, Silva.

Never leave us, Bill!