This goes out to all the Esky bashers.... I dont understand everyones anger toward the kid..Yes last night he didnt look like he was playing on the same page as the rest of the team and didnt get any goals...But instead of focusing on that, what about Cerritos missed breakaway or Stewarts missed shot on goal. Esky is a rookie who barely gets any playing time...Cerritos and Stewart are in the whole game and cant finish off their golden chances..You want Esky to come in with 10 min 50 sec left in the game and just win it? If he was getting the starting position every game like Ralph and not producing then that would be another argument but he isnt getting enough chances. When he sucks everyone yells Albright and when he scores he's a hero for a moment...Anyway..everyone calm down.. Esky's Lawyer
I am a little suprised that more people are not upset about the way we played. Except for the MVP of our season the woodwork the score would of been 4-0 (4-1 if Cerritos scored on the breakaway). LA was lacking the finishing touch this game. We deserved to lose, and in a much more dissapointing manner than we did. 1. I do not think it possible to hate a player more than I hate Ruiz. He is just a little bitch. 2. Marco is the biggest waste of space on the field. He did almost nothing positive on the field tonight. He best play was a through ball to an off side Q2 and this was after another flubbed free kick. Is there a team in MLS history worse on set pieces than we are (stewart deserves blame for this tonight as well). 3. The defense played great but the midfield was giving up to much room and created space for LA on top of the box. Marco is to blame for this in part but it goes beyond him. If we are bunkering then we have to bunker and can not give up free ground through the midfield and space in front of the back line. 4. Hudson has made a mess of the Convey situation. The kids dreams were crushed and clearly being benched upon his return was not the way to help him out. Despite all my complaining I can not even really say that Hudson handled this wrong as the team was playing well (although I would of made Convey an important part of this team instead of benching him) but it is clear Hudson has to try something else. Convey is to talented to be wasting away on the bench and subbing in with his current level of performance.
This is completely thawed thinking IMHO.. First of all, no one was a bigger supporter of his move and even more apt a bigger part in allowing him time to get away from things to clear his head (the 4 days off before his return against LA) than Hudson.. Benching is a very bad term here.. At what point was Convey benched? Do you just expect him to walk back into the first team after being away for almost 4 weeks? Granted, Convey hasn't exactly been the Bobby of old just yet but you don't just hand out starting spots especially when Q2, Ben and Dema have been playing so well.. A definite argument could be made for him starting in place of a mostly innefective Marco, but that time may come sooner than you think.. Bobby has to earn his spot in the lineup just like everyone else.. Hudson doesn't always use the same measuring stick when it comes to some players on this team but he's been more than fair with Bobby at this point..
By the way, the whole Bobby benching will be a moot point considering now that Q2 is suspended for the Mutts match on Thursday for his 3rd consecutive yellow in 3 games.. We'll probably see Bobby on the left with Ben switching back over to the right with Dema and Marco (gag) in the middle..
The game in Dallas where he sounded off in the halftime interview then played his butt off the second half (I think he scored a nice goal that evening as well?) immediately comes to mind. I agree that he struggled last night. Maybe Bobby's just one of those players that needs a little while to get settled into a match, and therefore isn't effective as a sub. I hope to see him bounce back. He's a class player, and we'll need him down the stretch.
that was a painful game to watch. we didn't deserve to win. but LA did not deserve the three points either. ruiz bites.
i thought it not such a bad game from united. i thought we played very hard and managed to put ourselves in a position to come away with a point, maybe even three. i thought the galaxy came out with their ears pinned back and really socked it to us. i thought we did a nice job absorbing that pressure and keeping somewhat composed. no doubt our friend the woodwork helped us again here but i still think teams make their own luck. i think someone should have handled cheyo better during the match. he was obviously in some sort of thing with hall and some of their guys that was just escalating, someone should have taken him aside and calmed him down better. you would have liked to have seen either stewart or cerritos finish those. hell, you'd realy like to see 'em both do it. i like this team. they aren't the best but they are scrappy and they stay in games. i'd like to see them play better football but i like their spirit and their effort. i think this team is becoming tough, the played a tough match against a hard-nosed rival they just played. this is what the season is all about, hard fought games against your biggest rivals. fun to hang out with everyone at summer's last night. as always we were well taken care of by the staff and their was a good group of folks out--though i would have liked to have seen more. my head hurts a bit today.
Re: Re: Re: Giving credit where it is due... well they've got this fancy restaraunt on the south end, classy (expensive) dining. it's one of the reasons that even sell out games don't always look sold out. a lot of the club seaters go and eat dinner there. great views of the pitch and loads of televisions for replays.
I enjoyed the hell out of this game, I thought it was a great match, the sort of game that could make a fan out of a first-time observer. Seriously. It was a great night for soccer in general, having just watched the A-League final before. I don't really have much else to say about the match. I think games like this really can't be analyzed too much. We played hard, so did LA, our finishing wasn't world-class, and we were a little unlucky at the end. Oh, I hate overtime.
I understand Hudson not handing Bobby his starting role back as the team was playing well. Clearly this strategy has not worked. All I am suggesting is that a different approach should be used now. Personally, I would move etch to the subs bench where he belongs, but no matter how it happens Convey of old needs to be back on the field.
I think the only reason that he has been doing that is because Cheyo feels a lot more comfortable on the right... and Olsen is versatile enough to be able to play either side. Assuming it's Convey and Olsen on the flanks, I think it will be Convey on the left and Olsen on the right. Who knows though, maybe Convey gets Etch's spot and Namoff gets a start on the wing... though I doubt it.
Finally got my internet service back!! Damn you Isabel. Got together with all the usual suspects at Summers last night. Thanks Jose, it was great sharing a couple of pitchers with you. I thought our guys showed a lot of pride and toughness. The defense held and played well. Prideaux is a stud. Hope The Bruce gives him some looks. We commented as the game went on that the counter was working but not efficiently. Cerritos could have put it away and Cheyo too from that feed from Marco. I Find it funny that Marco continues to catch hell, but when someone mentions that Convey played like crap, 100 people jump up and scream foul. Face it, Convey had a crap game. No excuses. And I like and root for Bobby to do well. I thought Marco had a decent game though Ray played him out of position. If Ray would have played him in the second 50 instead of the first, with Cerritos and Earnie playing off each other, I think we would have had a better result. Now it's time time get real. Our boys need to show some cojones and take two from the scum. PERIOD.
Ray signs the A-league's leading scorer then brings a rookie who has shown very little this year and Chino. While I love Chino's effort, he doesn't bring much that Convey and Namoff don't. I wonder if Martins really has shown that poorly in practice, because I'd like to think that a veteran A-league leading scorer could bring more to the table than Esky (at least at this point in Esky's career)...
I'd love to have Convey at A-mid. But the reality I think is: (a) Bobby Convey has been an absentee for most of the season for this team. Even his "games played" is deceptive b/c many of those came at the start of the season. I'm not blaming him for anything. This isn't an engine we're talking about and we just switch a sparkplug or two. Right now, it's almost (I said almost) as if Convey was brand new to this team. And that's an important issue b/c even when he played regularly, many of us (especially D-tron) have talked about how the rest of the team is off not in-sync with him--he makes runs that don't get rewarded, plays balls that others don't expect at times. (b) He basically had a couple of weeks where he didn't play, didn't practice. From the time he got his red card (before what was supposed to be his "final match") and a game ago. At least he doesn't have any nagging injuries. But otherwise, he wasn't match fit. (c) mentally is probably a huge issue. We can say that Hudson needs to try a different tactic. Probably the different tactic (and I don't think this would be advisable) is to yell at Convey and lambast him publicly. B/c he's given him some time off, tried to push it to Bobby as "show them wrong, make the rest of the season your EPL and you'll be back there." Other than a comment to Dyson about "MacDonalds" and 'yep, the standards apply to Bobby too' he hasn't been particularily rough on Bobby. Donovan was flat after the WC last year. Look at what happened to Mathis (who went from rumored deals with Bayern or elsewhere in Europe and impressing in pre-WC matches despite not fully recovered from his knee) to a second-half funk, a coach questioning his mental state, stupid cards. My point is that the falling through of this Spurs deal may prove to be a disaster for DCU. We didn't just lose Bobby for 3 weeks. We may have lost a star contributor for the rest of the year. I truly hope we get some contribution from Bobby the rest of the year. I hope he regains his focus and motivation. But he doesn't appear to be close to that yet. Arguing that he needs to start at A-mid, that's like arguing that the reason Stewart hasn't impressed more is that he hasn't been given more responsibility--that he should be at A-mid.
Except maybe Glenn Hoddle. Convey really didn't make much of an impact in the game, other than a botched break and a couple of giveaways. Not what you want from a sub, but about par for everyone else yesterday. Thx, Jay!
Eating retard sandwiches again Dave? Dissonent and Victory got it right, unless of course your buying kegs for away matches? (IF you are I want an invite )
Well, I've considered it and I really have no desire to write anything about this game but I'm also pissed so here goes. It sucked to lose like that in person and it sucked when I watched it on tape. Suffice it to say we played without any gumption whatsoever. Hudson has talked quite a bit about the character of this team but the only character I saw on Saturday night was cowardice. The idea that we can trot about on the road and bunker from the get go and get a result is ridiculous. So we had a few chances in the first half and Ray comments on TV about how we should have been ahead! Absurd! The Galaxy hit the crossbar twice! We were getting our asses handed to us and we were barely ever near the Galaxy goal. I should know because virtually the entire first half was played directly in front of our section. Let me tell you I'm not the only one that's hoarse today because of that half. As for the second half, well that took place way the hell down at the other end of the field. You figure out the implications. It was a wretched performance. Oh, sure our defense was good - maybe even great. But offensively we barely even tried. That wasn't for being overmatched. No, that was a tactical decision, a poor misguided and ultimately inept tactical decision. But the solid defense does not excuse the idiotic tactics. Why? Because of this: That it took them till the last two minutes of overtime to get a goal is the Galaxy's disgrace because lord knows we gave them plenty of chances to get a goal. Without any pressure in the midfield they played nearly the entire game in shooting distance of our goal. And they got some damned good shots - some, as I said, that hit the crossbar. So don't kid yourself with the "great defensive effort" accolades. It was inept and if the Galaxy weren't so mediocre they would have won it in regulation. But that one Rimando let in - yet another soft goal. That's his disgrace and he should be called on it. Still, I had a great time right up until the last second of the match. What the west coast supporters lacked in numbers was made up for with alcohol and obnoxious behavior. Festivities got going out in the parking lot where DCU, Freestyle2000, morrissey and I surreptitiously downed the beer and Bushmills I'd stashed in my car. (We're not tailgating officer. We're drinking inside the car. Tailgates are outside the car.) Drinking accomplished we entered the stadium about 45 minutes before the match, walked around a bit and retrieved our Cobi Jones bobbleheads. DCU immediately took his out of the box and started bashing and scraping its head against anything that might do it damage. It was in pretty poor condition by the time we got to our seats. Shortly thereafter Bobble Cobi was decapitated. During the half Convey was warming up near our seats and DCU made a great effort to show him the tattered remains. Bobby smiled in reply. Eventually Bobble Cobi's head ended up in a urinal where undoubtedly it was given the respect it truly deserves. The fate of the other bobble heads? Most were stolen during the half while we weren't looking. So much for my planned "How should I torture Bobble Cobi?" thread. Once in our seats we met a couple Screaming Eagles who were sitting two sections over. K had put me in contact with them and I'd told them where we were sitting. They're heading back to DC soon and so will be leaving the ranks of the DC United supporters "abroad". It's almost too bad because they were really nice folks and it would have been fun to meet up with them out here in the future. (By the way, we were the guys Dave Johnson mentioned in 127 but the DC United supporters they showed weren't us.) As I said, the first half was played right in front of us and again Cobi was singled out for abuse. To a tune somewhat like a drunken version of The Wheels on The Bus we sang "Cobi's penis is muy pequeno, muy pequeno, muy pequeno, Cobi's penis is muy pequeno ..." And "Cobi is a Wanker" got a lot of play too along with much of the standard fare. We didn't have the numbers we had in San Jose last year (where we out cheered the home supporters) and we were certainly drowned out in the HDC din but we gave a good effort and even if we weren't heard throughout the stadium you can be sure that everyone around us damned well heard us. At the half (while our bobbleheads were being stolen) we met another DC United supporter who's now living out here. She was there with her roommate who - alas - supports Chicago. Hopefully she'll add to our numbers next time DC plays in California. But damned if it wasn't horrible when that goal was scored. I've already said DC deserved to lose but WE deserved that draw. We'd spent the whole game cheering for DC United in a hostile venue. We'd done a good, loud and obnoxious job. Then to have it ripped away ... A few Galaxy fans were classy enough to come by afterwards and shake our hands. DCU spoke to one guy from El Salvador who spoke highly of Q2 - calling him their great hope. It felt like a long drive home. I'll tell you one thing I took out of the night. For the last two years we’ve been able to assemble DC United fans at all the west coast games. I think everyone who attended had a good time. It really is better when you’re able to sit with other like-minded supporters. But it’s tough to organize these gatherings. So I'm seriously thinking about starting a west coast/DC ex-pat supporters club to see if we can’t establish something of an infrastructure for these matches. I already know there's a core of some 8 to 10 people. And we saw some others walking around the stadium too and talked to that one I mentioned earlier. There have to be others. Lots of people move to California and there's got to be some DC United supporters among them. Why not try to gather them together for games? We don't get to support the team in person very often out here. I'd like to see us make sure we make every single one of those chances count. Having some level of ongoing organization might help us assemble everyone a bit more easily. We talked some about it on the drive home. Maybe I'll start a thread on it later this week ... ... Well, this post is getting long and so enough's enough ...
a bit off the subject of the game - but how good a venue is this place for holding the FIFA Women's World Cup Championship Game? - what's the capacity? - shouldn't it be in a larger stadium? - if either the US or China are playing in the Final, they could fill the LA Coliseum or even the Rose Bowl? - why was this place chosen? - it doesn't make sense to have the Final in a venue that's been designed and built to hold MLS's modest crowds
My Two Cents Hudson is using the whole transfer situation as yet another excuse to keep Convey on the bench. He stated pre-season that Marco was going to carry the team, and you have to give him credit for being a man of his word. I give him no credit for being a good coach. DCU has had the last 3 years to see if Convey has what it takes to run the side. Honestly, nobody knows if he can do the job, but he hasn't even gotten the chance. Whatever your position on Marco, he's gone after this year (maybe?) and then what is the plan? Either it's toss Convey into a sink or swim situation or pick up another midfielder and continue to play Convey out of position. After so many years out of the playoffs, the transition to a post-Marco world should be smoother than that. Hudson is the best color commentator in MLS history. He has no business coaching.
Re: Sometimes you just lose Well said. It was fun hanging around with the crowd at Summers (thanks for the shot Chico). I am glad DC United got a bad game out of their systems. I think this will help the team concentrate for the games against the Metro. I went out in the morning (8:30am ) to play soccer and get the loss out of my system, and guess what, I played for two hours and then subbed as goalie at the very end and the other team scored the winning goal. BRING ON THE METRO!
You saw it in person and on tape, and you really think it was soft? Textbook header, with pace inside the 6, right at Rimando's feet. I thought he did damn well to get his hands on it at all. Of course whoever was suppose to be marking him is much more to blame than Nick. Don't get me wrong, I agree that he has let in more than his share of weakass goals this season, but don't think this is one at all. . PS - great job on the Sideshow Cobi small penis chant - would have loved to hear that one in person.
Fire Hudson I haven't posted for a while because, well, when we're winning, I don't post. But it seems that we're winning in SPITE of the coaching. It's almost like the team goes out and plays well and scores goals, then Hudson chastises them. "Stop shooting, lads. We're going to bunker!" There was absolutely no play in the middle of the field. It was ALL in our third of the field; we'd maybe get posession and fire down towards their goal, then they'd bring it back. I was SHOCKED, SHOCKED that we had the counters we did. And what the h*ll was Etch doing as a forward? We lost. We're not going to win all the games, but you know, you could at least TRY to win all the games. It was almost like we were playing to stop the inevitable only goal of the match. Oh yeah, we were.