Don't look now, but if that Erpen fellow works out we are loaded. It's hard to put together a team with depth in MLS, but all of a sudden, with guys getting healthy and finding form, we've got about a eight attacking players who are a real threat to score. And we've kept a clean sheet in nearly half our matches as well.
Boswell is the rookie of the year. Parkhurst may have had an early lead with NE doing so well, but last night, the equalizer for FC Dallas against NE was totally on Parkhurst. A truly horrible give away that had Ruiz celebrating not five seconds later. Boswell's move in the first half was what a captain would do. He took the game by the short hairs. It was Ryan Nelsen, John Terry, Patrick Viera, Roy Keane, name your favorite captain, that's what a captain does [a future captain in Boswell's case]. Nick has made a league low in saves for starting keepers with a certain number of hours (I forget the number of minutes of play one must have to register on the list) with 64 and has 10 shutouts. His defense in front of him is getting the job done. Matt Ries, by comparison, had made 90 saves going into last night. He's been busy. Nick's been bored.
EZ went out at halftime against the Gals in the LA Colisuem game. He said he was taking himself out during the half time interview. He was playing hurt to start with.
They were sitting around me, waving the finger and saying nasty, catty things about our supporters section in Spanish. Nice bunch, real sportsmen, all class.
Typical clown CSC reaction. There was no security to be seen when some of Chivas' fine supporters were lobbing cups of beer and lemonade into the Barra Brava.
Like as in Merrrrrrrrrrrrrow Pffft pffft?? I gettin a wideass, big whoop,who cares. if that's the best they got, OH WELL
I think the fact that's there's not one obvious stand-out MVP during this run that United is on says a lot about Nowak's system. It's not like one guy got hot and they're riding him... everyone is playing well.
Hey I didn't read the 8 pages in this thread to see if this has already been hashed on, but just in case any of you were wondering, Jamil Walker Sucks
yeah, the goal and 3 assists he has in the last 2 games means that it is definitely time to start lobbing insults at the guy.
I guess you didn't read Propelahed's persuasive argument. If you're going to comment on someone's post - you need to read the post.
I think this indicates that finally, after generations of little league soccer players who went on to play other sports, we are finally getting the fruits of soccer's development in the US. Ranked #6 in the world (for what that's worth), and now a pro league almost entirely made of US citizens (unlike the NASL). The NASL didn't do that much to develop the US Nats side, but now teams like DC United are making the Bobby Boswell's and Tino Quaranta's. Makes me proud.
My non-soccer liking friend Sean's take on the game "Yeah, I saw the first two goals. What was chivas even doing on field? That was like a team of me out there. How many guys are on the field? Yeah. That was like 11 Seans playing United."
Check out the post-game celebration - looks like Albright is having better luck with the women in LA than he did here. He took home a date!
Ran into Momma Adu as I was walking out and she said Freddy is doing much better (she was picking him up to take to airport for the Teen Choice Awards). K
The Goats truly suck, I was never seriously worried that they could score. They can't shoot worth a bean. Dema has been on a tear recently and has kept his temper in check. Several goats were trying to goad him by blatantly fouling him. Dema is still Dema though as he let loose a profanity easily heard in the stands when he ran into the signage surrounding the field trying to capture a ball that he headed out of bounds. His perfectly weighted pass to Jamil that led to his score was a thing of beauty that would of made Carlos Valderama proud. Then Jamil returned the favor by out jumping a goat to head the ball toward goal that Dema ran down and perfectly placed it in the corner netting. The goats collectively hung their heads down and grazed at the grass for the rest of the game. Even Nicols had a nice chance on goal as they effectively gave up. The Boz has also played well. His step up and the way he continued his run into the box and his pass to Tino for the goal was excellent. Novak had to be proud of the kid on that effort. The argentine will have to be exceptional to displace the Boz in the center. The kid has been a great find and deserves ROTY. Even Walker has played well. A goal and three assists in two games is good by any ones standards. Sure he has missed some but the Chicas goalie stoned him of a goal early in the game or he would of had two goals. Bring on the Gals - I want more! -The Far Side
Someone mentioned this earlier, but I agree -- Dema is playing less like a punk since he came back from injury. Early in the second half, it looked like DC was playing a three-man spearhead in the front, with Walker at the point and Tino and Gomez a little deeper behind him. It reminded me of the changes in the way DC has played since Esky got hurt/out of form. Aside from Esky, and -- in a slightly different way -- Walker, we don't have forwards that play directly at the goal without the ball. We have midfield-y forwards that like to get the ball outside the box and work it in. In Moreno's case, he doesn't want to shoot the ball unless he can make at least three guys look completely stupid first. This is probably partly why Guppy didn't work out -- we don't have target players unless Boswell comes forward. As more players become available, setting up a starting lineup will be quite the challenge. I really like how Tino works inside, moving to get the ball and direct the traffic, so I hope he doesn't get pushed outside, but I really don't see how that works unless he's playing one of the forward slots.
I wonder how much of the trade rumors factor into Dema's play? He seems to be on his best behavior. Maybe Esky can work with Dema on his finishing because if he starts finishing even half his changes it would be good for 1-2 goals per game. Is anybody else thinking that either Dema or Jamil could be player of the week? Dema: 2g 1a, Jamil: 1g, 3a. It will probably go to Victorine, though.