As a ref, I don't know. Sutton made an effort not to completely run over Rimando, but that doesn't negate the fact that Sutton took three steps towards Rimando after Nick had collected the ball, as well as continuing to run straight toward Rimando when it was clear that Rimando would get the ball well ahead of Sutton.
mebbe sutton thought rimando would immediately dodge him and throw/punt the ball back, and maybe rimando thought that sutton would have enough sense to dodge out of the way.
As for Filomeno, his limited minutes showed that he has some skills on the ball, could be a frequent target for fouls, and will never be confused with Walker in terms of speed. As for the playoffs, I would imagine that Quaranta rejoins Moreno as a starter - Walker or Adu will likely the first options off the bench. I would be surprised if Filomeno makes the travel roster - we are only allowed 5 subs - one of them will be Perkins, a defender (Boswell is the likely choice over Wilson), a pure midfielder (Simms), a midfielder/forward (Adu), and a forward (Walker).
Rimando doesn't have to think anything, he's got the ball and he's going to play it. If someone runs into him while he has it in his hands, it ain't his fault. Unless Rimando picked it up and looked at Sutton and ran straight at him, it's not Rimando's fault.
Sutton was trying to get to the side of Rimando and Nick moved the same way. He didn't appear to be trying very hard to miss Nick but there was some effort to get to the side so that is why he got yellow. Other than that I think we need to try a little harder in the playoffs.
My thoughts on the game...though a little late... First...why is Boswell on the bench?!?! Erpen doesn't appear to be an upgrade over Bos...sure he has better ball skills and can do those fancy bikes, but without Boswell on the field we have absolutely no height on set peices. Also Erpen seems to ball watch a bit and completely lose his mark at dangerous times. Brian Carrol had a great first half. I tried to pay special attention to his passing as that has been one of his largest weaknesses and not only did he not have any stupid give aways, he also played a couple of great through balls. The Adu for Carrol substitution mistake became evident very quickly in the 2nd half. After taking Brian out we had no one to do the dirty work in the midfield which then resulted in Nowak wasting another sub by bringing in Simms. Filomeno had a decent game in his debut for United. I liked how active he was on the front line, constantly make runs across Colombus's backline waiting for through ball to be played to him so he could turn towared goal. It is apparent that he is no Jamil Walker in terms of speed and it also appears that he is lacking in fitness, but he could potentially become a good option off the bench. Kovalenko is one of the most frustrating players to watch...at times he shows great skill (for example is nicely placed goal at the end of the first half) and then other times he makes bad first touches or plays bad balls into the box. For next season I would like to see United attempt to acquire an actual left sided player to play that left mid position. The ref definitely had some interesting calls tonight. There was one particular call in the first half that really frustrated me. There was a Colombus player with the ball on the right side of the field near their offensive corner flag. There was contact between him and a DC defender and the Colombus player fell, the AR was right there about 2 feet away and waved it off as if saying "there was no foul there, get up" and what happens? The man in the middle, who was I'd guess at least 20 feet away, maybe farther, calls the foul on United. If he had been consistent he should have given the Colombus player a yellow for diving just like how Kovalenko got one. Hopefully United comes out to play in Chicago. If they play like they did the last couple of regular season games we could be in trouble, but I have a feeling that the United we know will show up.
Re: Official Columbus Crew @ DC United POST Match Thread Don't get me wrong, I am not denying he has obvious talent. He was very active, but not fast by any means. That is what I thought you meant by "wheels." He does seem to make nice slashing runs and that is something we have been missing since Esky.
Agreed. A la the Guppy acquisition. Except this time it works. Anyone else happen to think that in an ideal world Carroll, Olsen, Simms, and Kovalenko should all be fighting for the same 2 spots on the field? I think Dema would be so much more useful in the middle. At the very least he'll have more goal to shoot at, and the angled shots that are missing by a foot or so might actually go IN the goal. Also then when your right or left winger can't go, you slide out olsen or dema in a pinch if you need to-- or, even better, they switch up mid-game to cause confusion and provide more fluidity. Why do I feel like I"m talking over Nowak's head here?