Notes and Quotes 02-10-08 The team managed to get in a short practice on Sunday morning. After a series of fitness, speed, and quickness drills the team split into for a full field intra-squad scrimmage of two 25-minute halves. Namoff, Olsen, Kpene, and Dyachenko were all out due to injury. Furthermore, Gallardo was representing the team for a TV show, Jeff Carroll and Stratford have both gone back to school. Red – G – Wells D – McTavish, Petralta, Martinez, Mediate M - Niell, Simms, Attar, Burch F – Moreno, Monteiro Black – G – Carvallo D – Owens, Pat Carroll, Soehn, Renfrow M – Fred, Schmitz, Moose, Cordeiro F – Emilio, Walker It was clear from the start of the game that the offenses would rule the day. Within the first minute Moreno combined with Niell with a through ball beating the back line of the Black squad. A couple of minutes later Niell broke through on a well timed run. It looked as though Niell would end up with a 1 v. 1 opportunity, except for the outstanding recovery speed of Renfrow forcing Niell to pull up before he could get a shot off. Seconds later Emilio scooped up a lucky deflection directly to his feet. With a couple of yards head start, Martinez nonetheless managed to race back and body Emilio off the ball thus shutting down an obvious scoring opportunity. The first mark of the wide open game comes around the 13th minute. Effective use of the flanks and short game passing allows Black to push deep into Red’s box. A shot rattles off of a defender, but continues to be a threat, a mistake that veteran Moreno pounces on and slams home the goal. Around the 15th minute, sharp combination play by Moose and Fred forced the ball deep into Red’s half. Petralta managed to get his head on a cross, but the ball sailed straight in the air, opportunistically landing at the feet of Walker alone in the box. Wells charged out, but Walker managed to toe-poke the ball through for a goal. Just two minutes later slalomed his way through Red’s defense deep into the corner. Apparently trapped by Mediate and Burch, Fred manages play his way out through fancy footwork and the able assistance of Moose. A frustrated and unstable Red defense cracks again as Emilio slips into the middle, receiving a final pass from Fred, and slotting the ball past Wells. At the 20th minute mark, Simms stands strong in the middle and intercepts a pass. He quickly changes the flow of play to the opposite direction by flipping the ball to Moreno. Moreno then slices the ball on a rushing, unmarked Niell. With a 1 v. 1 against Carvallo it looks as if draw closer, but the Niell’s shot flies wide of the mark. For the last several minute of the half Black controls the flow of play. Walker slams a shot from outside directly on Wells, but Wells dives and punches it away. Unfortunately for the keeper it is directly back to Walker now charging into the box. Wells likewise follows the bouncing ball, clattering with Walker, and obvious penalty! And the penalty is called. Walker converts the penalty at the stroke of half time. The score of 3-1 in favor of the Black, it would seem that they would be the dominating team. Except for the last couple of minutes in the half, the game raged back and forth. Black managed to tip the scales in midfield with Fred assuming a very active free-role throughout. On the other side, Niell’s similar attempt at a free-role led to some confusion. The experiment was ended at about the midpoint of the half with Niell switching with Monteiro. The second half starts off with the play more in balance again. Back and forth the play flowed with neither side seeming to break their opponent’s final third. Niell shows some serious hustle as he pounces and pursues a weak back pass, forcing Carvallo to thump the ball widely into a turn-over. At the 11th minute Black nearly extends its lead. Off a goal kick, Fred controls the ball and dribbles it into the center. With some nice short-game combination play with Walker it looks as if the Red’s is becoming unraveled. Moose sprints forward and fires, but the shot is lacking as it sails wide. On the ensuing goal kick by Wells, Walker springs and traps the ball away. Pressured by Mediate and Martinez, Walker is unable to get off a clean shot and the threat is averted. At the midpoint of the half Attar steps in and manages to corral the ball at the midfield stripe. He sees Moreno and slides the through ball splitting Carroll and Soehn. Moreno goes in 1 v. 1 and slides the ball past and outstretched Carvallo for the goal. In the final moments of the game Mediate and Attar use quick passing combinations to open space in Black’s defensive third. Attar snaps a shot off, but it is blocked down. The rebound, as it seems all rebounds do this day, come right back at him. This time he converts for a goal. Overall the game was obviously a see-saw affair. Not too much can, or should be taken from the affair due to the composite nature of the team. In essence it was a simple run-out. Both sides had to contend with players they usually are not paired up with in an effort to enhance the teamwork and communications throughout the side. As stated, using Niell on the wing simply is not an option. It is clear that he does not at this time understand the two-way concepts. Likewise, it was disappointing to see so many rebounds from both keepers. Although all the GKs are having excellent pre-seasons, today the ball simply would not stand still for them. The key offensive players on both sides, Emilio, Fred, and Moreno, clearly controlled most of the game with their play. The opportunities for each side were created when one or more of the other players managed to include themselves in the attack, or combined with one of the key players for a strike on goal. Quotes (translated through Franscisco Tobar) Fred - How is your pre-season going? “I feel that things are going pretty well. We’re doing everything that Coach Soehn is asking us to do. It is important that we come out each and every training session and do the right things, things to build up for the future matches, which have us playing in international as well as MLS games.” - With all the changes in the team, what do you think of the current squad’s makeup? “Each and every year changes are going to come about based on the needs for the team from the coaches’ perspective. Now, more than ever, it is important that we come together on the field. It’s going to take time to train on the field and to get to know each other to get it to a point where it is absolutely successful in games.” - What are your personal goals for the season? “Not so much personal goals, but team goals of winning the championship and doing well in international competitions to make the fans proud. We want to do the right things to be champions again.” Emilio How is your pre-season going? “Pre-season is going well so far. We’re raising the level of fitness and the mental aspect of it all each and everyday. We’re working hard and putting a lot of effort into the training sessions with the idea to get better each and everyday.” - With all the changes in the team, what do you think of the current squad’s makeup? “We’ve had some quality players with a lot of experience join us. They are going to make positive differences to the team when we play in those international matches. We are working together to get to the point where we know each other on the field, but also off the field as well. Everything we do here in pre-season counts. All of that together will help us prepare to take on those teams in the international competitions.” - What are your goals for this season, particularly because your outstanding 2007? “From a personal perspective it would be to match what I did last year, or even surpass that mark. All that effort and work and mentality goes into the fact that we need to win as a team. We want to win championships as a team. Ultimately, it is the team winning that is important.”
Awsome. Great write up, yet again! WIth that said, it seems that moreno is doing pretty well in these sessions although he is getting up there in age, do you see any difference in his play compared to last season? Is he stepping his game up, and trying to earn his position as he has niell who very likely could take him out of the starting 11?
Diceson, any insight on Peralta leaving camp for 'personal reasons' as reported by Goff? Do we even know where he went? Has he looked satisfied in practice? Trying to settle family in DC?
I'm sure I'm the umpteenth person to notice this, but I can't help but be struck by how consistantly international competitions come up in all these quotes, not just todays. It seems that the whole squad is infected with a desire to really make an impact outside of MLS, which impresses me to no end. I am getting really pumped up.
My observation has always been that DC United were a club that wanted to be taken seriously. They want to be a real football club that matters in this world. And I believe Kevin Payne understands that in order to acheive that goal they will have to earn it in International competition. And he is exactly right. You don't stand alongside the likes of Boca Juniors, River Plate, Sau Paulo, Colo Colo, America, or Chivas Guadalajara by winning MLS Cup 4 times. You get there by winning CONCACAF and qualifying for the Club World Cup. That does not mean that MLS Cup and the Supporter's Shield are not important. They are important. But for the big clubs around the world domestic Championships are really the means to the end. The ultimate goal is International glory. This current team appears to have been assembled to pursue that goal.
Or it could be that they're talking a lot about CONCACAF because that's the first competition they'll be playing in. It's just a professional attitude to be focused on the current game/competition/trophy. I bet seven weeks from now there'll be a lot of talk about defending the supporters' shield.
Oh, I don't know about that. Our greatest year (in my opinion, at least) came in a season in which we won two major international competitions, beating powers like Toluca, Leon, and Vasco da Gama, while losing in the MLS Cup to Chicago. And while we can bitch about things like the non-PK call when Etch got destroyed in box early in the game ... or Chicago's clearly offsides second goal that was allowed to stand ... I wouldn't trade winning that 98 MLS Cup for losing the CCC (and, by extension, the Interamerican Cup). And I am pretty certain Bruce Arena, Kevin Payne, Marco Etcheverry, Eddie Pope, Jaime, etc would say the very same thing.
Great stuff Diceson! Thanks! Very good observation. Very well stated! I also feel that management has played a very key role in assembling this team to be succesful on the International scene. They have come to realize that achieving International success will ultimately help sell the "DC United" brand (both in merchandise and attracting good players to the team).
His play is similar to last year, frustrating in that he still won't shoot the ball. However, there is no doubt that he is ready for the season! If the loss of Gomez was a worry, I certainly don't see the difference. Moreno is still starting XI. Niell will be there to spell him and Emilio throughout the season. Niell might get a couple of starts, but those would be the exception not the rule.
He wasn't there this AM. I got the same excuse - "personal reasons". As far as I can tell he's very happy with pre-season to this point.
Superb job once again, Diceson. Thanks for the great work. Emilio's goals are sweet - he wants to match or better his goal out put. Strikers are one selfish breed aren't they? I LOVE IT!!
I agree that was the greatest year ever, because in also winning the CCC we made it to the MLS Cup finals and won the Inter-American Cup all in the same year and had 24W season basically seeing us run away from the rest of the Eastern Conference competition. Shitcago's win was the biggest upset in MLS Cup history. If we win SuperLiga and CCC but finish 5th in the east I will be pissed. If we win SuperLiga and CCC and lose the MLS Cup final I will still be pissed but less so.
The way MLS changes the playoff format every year, it would not be surprising if a 5th place team made it to the playoffs, and perhaps even making it to the MLS Cup. Of course, DC United is much better than that!
Jamil played on the right wing against Odense. Offensively, he did decently. He was consistently open, but frustratingly only sparingly passed the ball. When he had the ball he was able to get around the corner pretty easily, although he did totally shank one attempted cross. Defensively, he wasn't tested much so i can't say much there. His speed is not quite the same as it was, but he's still faster than most. Regarding Jaime... My only frame of reference is the Odense game in which it seemed like the forwards were less alone than last year, meaning the supporting mids were much closer. Seems like the forwards were a little more mobile and less of a target than in the past. Not sure if it was that Jaime and Emelio dropped back further or the mids got up quicker, but regardless the distance was much smaller and it let them lay off passes to the mids. Compared with times last year when Moreno and/or Emelio would get the ball and have to hold off a defender while help arrived, in this particular game they could release a one-touch pass and then move to receive the ball again. If this is the new system they've setup (as opposed to just a fluke that one game) Moreno in particular should receive a lot less physical abuse than last year. He should also be able to faceup his defenders more often.
Good to hear, a hurt moreno is no good to us, and the way that he was constantly getting double coverage, and just not given the room hes used to to work his magic made him look not good last season. Like in comparison when he went to play for bolivia, they gave him more room, the opposing defenses and that opened him up for his 2 goals he had that tournament. Something he didnt do in the MLS for us in a while, and both were GOLAZOs.
Yes, in the last four or five days, including the last scrimmage against Odense Walker has been on the right flank.
Not at all! Bradenton shows that Stratford can add to the team. He might even see some garbage time during the year. Thorpe is an average keeper only because he hasn't faced higher level of competition, but a fantastic find for a #3. Assuming he accepts a development contract he'll get a year with the reserves, of course DCUnited will be bringing in another keeper just to look at. The decision on a #3 will be made at the beginning of the season.
Amen to both...Diceson...just damned great! As to international recognition...damned right. I want the DC United brand to be know outside our borders. I want my English friends to know of us. I want to return to England in five years wearing my DC United gear and have more than the one person from my last visit know the brand. I want South America to know of us and I want players from there to want to be part of us. I want us to have something that no other DC sports team can have...an international reputation of excellence. Yeah, success in our own league is also nice, but it will come naturally when we become the team that competes successfully outside of our own borders (and I don't mean Toronto).