Major League IV?

I am as pissed about DC and pretty much MLS as a whole.

 

Best DCU BS thread ever......

 

I'm glad someone started this thread, I really need a place to bitch. What a waste of time and money. I guess this is what KP meant when he said that the team takes international tournaments seriously. What utter B*** S***. Running out the scrubs in a home game that they needed to win to have a chance to advance in the tournament is disrespectful to the few fans who actually showed up.

I know that if it hadn't been part of the season ticket package I probably wouldn't have gone. Or if I did, I would have bought one of those deeply discounted tickets that were available to the general public. Another form of disrespect to the season ticket holders that is going to be repeated for the USOC final. You would think DCU would at least offer a complementary jar of vasaline to its loyal season ticket holders.

I've been pissed in the past and told myself not to buy anymore season tickets, but buying them from day one made it a difficult habit to break. But now with the B***S***ing KP, the inept play and total lack a team concept or tactical awareness of the players, and a coaching staff without a clue or ability to fix the problems, I think it is time to find something else to occupy my time.

 

It's not just DC, Columbus is in on it as well. See, it's actually the Players Union telling all the players to suck in the CCL. These awful performances expose the MLS to incredible embarrassment. That way the contract negotiations go the PU's way for increased salaries and roster spots.

 

Actually, they didn't need to win this game. I think the series against Toluca was a lost cause to begin with. We can advance even losing those two games. if you resign yourself to that, then it makes eminent sense to give the scrubs runout here to save your starter for the league match on the weekend.

 

You've drunk too much alcohol. You may have alcohol poisoning. Please see a medical professional.

 

There's nothing embarrassing about losing to a good Mexican team--soccer is more popular in Mexico, their league is more popular, they have more money to spend on players, etc. To me, saying you need more money to compete with Chivas is kind of like an Austrian or even Dutch team saying they can't compte with Chelsea and AC Milan in the Euro Champions League, so rules need to be changed. It doesn't mean Porto can't win the Euro CL, it just means you have to have the right things in place to make it happen.

What is embarrasing is losing to Honduran and Costa Rican teams because their clubs--from the president to the players to the supporters--actually care about the competition, and take more pride in the games.

From what I saw last week and this week, our A-team would have won in Honduras and they would have won tonight, and that's no disrespect to thiose teams. Toluca played like they could care less about the game, and they still beat our team because right now, our fans, our players and our braintrust would rather chase a draw in a road game in Toronto or Chicago.

A road game in Chicago is more important than a Champions League match against a Mexican club at RFK? Julius James and Eli Allen?

My hat's off to Columbus because they're trying, just like we used to. Once you go down that road of excuse-mongering like Payne did for last year's CL, it's hard to stop. I've never seen our fans and our team leaders make so many excuses, from "we don't have the money to compete with Toluca at RFK" (hint: look in the trophy case) to Payne's "the only reason we're not playing our A-team in the Champions League is because of unprecendented injuries" (that was last year's model). Last year's excuses are this year's modus operandi.

The part of Alec's "Major League IV" thread that I go along with is that there do seem to be owners and teams that would rather have an excuse to explain why they're losing (and not drawing fans) than to have to find a way to actually do what we did in the 90s and what Houston has done over the last few years.

Here's what I mean. I thought we had a really good Champion's Cup run in '07--we beat Olimpia in Honduras when we had a pre-season excuse, we played Chivas to gutty draw here, and then lost out down there by a goal after going ahead 1-0. We also went on to win the Supporter's Shield that year. And when S. Goff was asked to grade United's year, his answer was "a 5 out of 10," because we didn't advance in the MLS playoffs and we "crashed out of the Champion's Cup." Because we lost to a full strength Chivas team.

Now, Goff is saying the regular season is "surely more important" than the regional championship, and somehow our place in the middle of the MLS table--even with a boatload of home games left--is all the excuse Payne/Sohn needed to trot out the B-team.

I also think there's a forest-for-the-trees issue. I see road games in Houston, Toronto and Chicago as being really hard draws, much less wins. This year's team has won a single road game, in New York against one of the worst MLS teams ever, yet somehow we cede the CL so we can chase a point in Chicago that seems more improbable than beating Toluca. I truly believe Sohn and Payne thought we would win in Toronto, and I really think that they think we'll win in Chicago.

I don't get it, but I know I've been in minority on this since the Firpo game, which is why I'm posting in the loon thread instead of the post-game thread.

It must feel different watching a loss like this from the executive box, on TV, or following it on the computer, because if you were in the stadium when you saw that no-account performance in the first half, heard the Mexican fans sing when they scored their goals, and got taunted on the way out of your own stadium, I just can't imagine you could give two fvkks about the Chicago game this Saturday when our "proper" team will play.

 

Very good post.

Ultimately I think this is what management (and the players) want, no Champions Cup. Well DC United will not be in the Champions Cup for the foreseeable future. Next year is a rebuilding year, so this team is going to be reassembled and it will take them a few years to get them back to being a decent team.

 

If the club decides to respond by stipping a picture of Will Chang after every win, I'll help them pack for St. Louis.

 

Or not enough alcohol. I forget how it works with you robots...

 

I have all the same questions you do. I was just saying that just losing to Toluca and Marathon doesn't mean that we're out of the competition.

And that's still true.

 

I didn't say we WOULD advance. I said it was still possible. How can you argue that?

 

Ah, yes it is possible. No arguments. My outrage was clouding my view of anything that could be considered remotely positive for this team.

 

Great post. I agree also.


I think as i said before, Tommy isnt trying to win most of these games, he is just so scared of losing his job, he rather put all his power into the league games, no matter how important or how little he rather put these other games to a side, because when it comes down to it, american fans all really care personally about how their team does in their respected leagues. That mentality is what tommy and players like Q' and others think like.

That is the problem.

Do other fans love the international tournments more so than league play? I rather our players just say F' it sometimes to our league play to a certain point and put importance in say the champ. league, like club america did before with the copa libertadores.

Its ballsy, and maybe somewhat disrespectful, but i would love to try that once.

 

I love international tournamants too, but the club's direction and priorities come from management. Players who decide to have their own priorities will quickly find themselves at a different club. And I think that's how it should be.

 

I understand. I try to keep the bubbling cauldron of outrage under control...

 

Much as I would like to view the daily defenestration of coaching staff and FO personnel at RFK -- we all know it won't happen, at the earliest, until after the season ends. I just can't get worked up about it now. However, if this clown circus continues into the off-season, I will be thinking long and hard about a renewal of my two full season tickets.

 

Good point. It probably isnt tommy pulling the strings, but who is it?

They gotta go! LOL

I really wish this country was more of a soccer nation, there is nothing more prestigious than to play in the copa libertadores/champ. league in europe. Teams know this, and i hope one day MLS takes the competition seriously. Other teams beyond the ones from mexico and MLS are going balls to the wall.

I hope we can too again one day.

 

This is why the performances in CCL are so frustrating to me. This club always took CCL (or Cup when it was), Copa Sud, very serious. I'm pretty sure the wewintrophies campaign is in part based upon this club's history at the international level.

I just don't understand why they are sandbagging the tournament. Last year I understood, there were too many injuries to too many key players. That isn't the case this year. I really don't buy the let the Toluca matches go and win the other two home matches and win on the road as a viable option for what the coaching/FO's is doing.

 

I don't know if that's the truth either. I just said that it's a possible explanation.

 

Yes, i am frustrated also, as we are the best team MLS has ever had do the best internationally, we friggin beat teh copa libertadores winners at one point!

I dont understand the sandbagging either, i think tommy or whoever, is thinking our reserves can pull off a close win or a tie vs. these lower teams, but pulling that vs. toluca??? Tommy must not do his research..... Toluca is a incredible squad, i at this point would have put starting 11 vs. toluca and mixed bag vs. chicago.

 

No, I think you misunderstand what people are saying. Everyone knows Toluca is class. The thought is that BECAUSE they're so good, we would probably lose both matches against them even with our best players. If you accept that as the truth, then why not play mostly reserves for those two matches and save our better players for the ones we think we can win?

 

With reservations, I agree. Apparently Toluca rested several of its starters, yet handled our lineup with ease. Would our "A" team have made that much of a difference? Possibly, but there was good reason to think that we still would have lost and then fielded a tired team against the Fire in a race for the MLS playoffs. I like to think that had we had better results in our earlier CCL matches we could have trotted out our B team last night and even the angriest posters would have understood.