Official DC United vs Los Angeles Galaxy PRE Match Thread

Chicago knocked down the gates. Now it's up to us for the rape and pillaging.

Keep last week's lineup based on the theory of not fixing something if it isn't broken.


We just took care of the best overall and road team in the league, we can take these clowns.


DC-2
LA-1

 

I think that most folks here would have picked Namoff over Ivanov before the LA home game (the first time Namoff sat in favor of Ivanov) but now aftere two wins and the lack of any real big Ivanov gaffes, it's not a major point of contention here. Eventually we'll see Namoff on the field...

 

I really don't have a problem with Ivanov starting over Namoff, but it's partly because of how well our entire back line has worked together lately.

One thing that I've noticed about Galin is that he might make a tackle, but won't necessarily come up with the ball. The catch is that Petke has been right there to swing in and clear the ball our of the back. There always seem to be two defenders on an attacker. Galin isn't getting "burned" because our defense isn't getting burned. They're one unit right now. My guess, is that if needed, Bryan could fill in without any sort of frustration.

 

here here i diskike the way ruiz plays more than any other player i hope he gets red carded

 

DC-2
LA-1

 

What it boils down to Tom is that this is MLS and nothing goes according to script..

If one were to look at this logically, you have one team (United) that has won two key matches in a row, at home mind you, and seemingly is on their way to bigger and better things.. Then you have another team (Galaxatives) that has lost two in a row including a pathetic effort at home last Saturday and one would conclude that they would not show up to play..

Again, this is MLS and nothing goes according to plan..

Until United wins again on the road, I don't think anyone should be predicting a win.. We played like crap our last two road matches and haven't won on the road since July 27th, and we had to score 4 in ten minutes to win that one..


I don't think we should sleep on how difficult it is for this team to win on the road, good play recently not withstanding..

Besides, we all know Ray, for some unGodly reason, plays ultra-defensively on the road and you can bet your last dollar that is how we will play on Saturday as well..

I sincerely hope I am wrong, but I just don't see a W in the cards.. A draw perhaps, but not a W..

 

Re: Re: Official DC United vs Los Angeles Galaxy PRE Match Thread

Isn't it nice to be complaining about not winning a road game since only July 27? It's all about perspective.

ECM

 

Re: Re: Official DC United vs Los Angeles Galaxy PRE Match Thread

I did see the Chicago-LA game last week and I did not think that LA gave a pathetic effort.

The game was fairly even till Chicago scored and the game was not decided till Chicago scored again late in the game.

What this does say about MLS is that there is parity. Every team has to show up to play and play hard for 90 minutes.

 

I hear what you are saying (NE vs Chicago or NJ anyone?) do know that both teams will show up to play, unlike some of the more ludicrous San Jose trolls last week. I am looking at player matchups and their form. Our midfield will control their midfield. Our defense will cope with their defense. Our forwards should be able to get behind their defense, unless they play real conservative Sigiball. Now whether our forwards will finish their chances is what I think the match boils down to. I think LA is good for a junk goal like the one they got from the corner kick scrum here at RFK.

I remember very well how our 2000 season felt. I'm glad the laxatives are feeling it now. I can't wait until the own goals and ridiculous breaks start to go against them.

I see nothing wrong with playing defensively on the road, especially now that we seem to have developed a counter attack. I think you are also not remembering or are discounting too much all of the injuries we had during the last road games -- we could barely field a squad at San Jose and yet lost one - nil.

Hey, I am not predicting that we are going to slaughter les gals, but I feel more confident in a win for DC. I just don't think lalagals will find the answer to their midfield woes (because the answer isn't Sigiball, it's play all of the quick midfielders like Chivas and Memo and sit Elliott to inspire him kinda like Ray did with Convey last year).

I find the gloom and doom talk too much of a stretch based on how the players are playing.

No prisoners, guys.

GM

 

Exactly.

Word.

 

Re: Re: Re: Official DC United vs Los Angeles Galaxy PRE Match Thread

I guess saying pathetic is perhaps a bit too harsh.. What I really meant to say was that their play was very boring and they didn't have a quality goal scoring chance that I can honestly remember and that shouldn't happen at home, in that stadium, in front of 23,000 fans..

 

Fair enough Tom, but those games were at home and this team has not shown any kind of consistency on the road.. I understand the team now is more confident and the supporting cast, as well as the starting X1, are miles ahead of what he had going into Chicago and SJ, but again, playing at home and playing on the road in this league are two different and distinct animals..

We play 4 out of our next 5 league matches on the road and I wouldn't be suprised if we only came back with 4 or less points out of those matches..

It's not a doom and gloom mentality, it's just what I am basing it on from past performances..

Again, I sincerely hope this team proves me wrong in a big way, but don't be suprised when Lastort and assorted others come on this board and rip this team ten ways to Sunday if indeed we do lose most if not all of those road matches..

As negative as my posts have been on this game, there have been just as many (my boy Mike Martin) who think we'll waltz into LA and push them aside like there nothing.. I just think that's a dangerous attitude to adopt considering we haven't done that to any team this season..

 

Four points from 4 away games would be a good thing but I think we can do better, barring serious injury.

If you haven't already, try spelunking the gals' forum. They are pretty down about their team.

I agree with you that anything can happen in an MLS game (a Dallas victory this week?). I think the coming games, however will be real grinders and I doubt many surprises will be forthcoming.

Breaks come and breaks go. les gals have had a good run and now its time for somebody else. They really do not, IMO, have a lot of talent on that team in midfield. Jones plays more of a withdrawn striker, Vagenas is a holding or d-mid, Cienfuegos is out of shelf life as an a-mid, Elliott has been having a hard time beginning with the 2002 season, Albright is playing midfield. Chivas is mercurial and Memo is very young, but they have offensive talent.

I'm also not sure how creative Sigi can be. Can he develop a game plan that's any different from what they've been playing for several years? I guess we'll find out, because his current results aren't that great.

I hear what you are saying about away games, and I have a small uncertainty, but I'm pretty confident that our boys can and will play effectively on the road. I find Mike's optimism and daring a bit surprising and amusing.

It'll probably be a pretty ugly game unless les gals change their style of play.

GM

 

I guess I take the middle road on this game between Tom and Mike and Chris.

On the one hand, LA is playing poorly and not just away, as their last game vs the Fire shows.

But on the other hand, DCU is inconsistant even over the course of a game. Witness the second half -at home- vs the Gals where we hung on. In fact our recent MO is to start fast but then fade somewhat. (I think that if Hudson knew how to sub better, we'd be more consistant over the entire game.) I feel less optimistic that we can pull off the same in a hostile environment.

On the other other hand, we haven't been this healthy for a long long time. So looking to recent road games, like the San Jose game or the last Chicago game, as indicators of our road performance now is poor analysis since we have various players healthy that we didn't have then.

On the other other hand, to say that LA in 2003 is like DCU in 2000 is just plain wrong in all sorts of ways. They are still a decent team. No, I don't see them playing for the MLS Cup in the HDC; I see them making a first round playoff exit to either Colorado or San Jose. Still that's way better than DCU in 2000. And that means that they are a team to be wary of. I'm sure Hudson and the team are not thinking they have a walk in the park like some here seem to think.

On the other other other hand, if Etch plays like he did vs San Jose, we got a win. However one game doesn't make a trend....

So I can see a win, though it won't be easy. A tie is very possible. A loss not out of the realm of possibility and nothing to freak out about.

 

I'll be happy to come out of this one with a tie. We've done well lately, but the Gals don't loss often in their new crib (last week is an exception).

Gals: Ruiz is offside 3 times, flops 8 times, and gets 1 goal for all of this efforts. Serna also picks up a goal. Mr. Prideaux teaches Cobi how to play the game. Cobi doesn't like the lesson and gets a red.

Good guys: Cerritos-Stewart score 2.

 

From now on, any Dallas point or points is huge for us. They can only help us.

 

I think that I'm in GrillMaster's boat. While I admit that we haven't played "great" football recently, we have played the best football I've seen out of United in a long time.

What's more, is that it is evident in the stands. The Barra and Eagles have experienced they're best nights of the season over the last two home games. In addition, our attendance has also been above average for us. I'm sure some of it has to do with National alliances and the weather, but the point is that the fans are coming out to see United win. Not just to see United.

Plus, we've just come off of a win against LA (and SJ) and we've seen what they are made of. If anything, we've learned what LA can do, and what our Ryan and Mike have to do to prevent them from getting in for clean shots.

Our offense is much faster than LA's defense, so even if we play a defensive match (which obviously favors us) we'll have a better chance on the counter attacks.

The other thing is that LA just really isn't that good. There are only two teams in the West that are any decent, SJ and Colorado. The East is much stronger than the West this year. The East's record against the West is 23-16-17 (W-L-T). To LA's credit, they are 3-1-2 against Eastern Teams when in LA, but that's far from perfect... they've only managed to win half of the games they've played at home against Eastern teams. Ironically, we are 1-3-2 against western teams.

The bottom line is that DC is on a win streak, while LA is not. LA is weak and has struggled to find their rhythm where as DC is finding there's.

I just have to think the DC goes into the Tool Box with a slight advantage, and more at stake. It's a big game with big consequences for a big club.

United will leave LA with at least 1 point, but I suspect that DC wins this match.

 

You know what would be great? If Ruiz dove....and broke his leg on his own, then in a wild attempt to stand up he swings a big elbow and knocks Serna clear out. Ruiz gets two yellows and is kicked out of the game(not like it matters with the broken leg and all.) Serna quits the team.

Oh yea analysis....hmmmm

DC- 4 Convey, Cerritos, Olsen, Kovalenko
LA- 1 Afterwards, Cobi humps his own leg somehow...

 

4-1 to the d-bags in yellow.

 

LMAO

what a freaking pity it is that all of us, with good reason, have to assume that Ruiz and or Serna will dive in the box and get a PK from it ... its simply disgusting ... tell you what I want to see is a ref that red-cards them at the first attempted flop-in-the-box

 

Those predicting a DC win-sounds great. Unfortunately, there'll probably be something that gets in the way of that-and it's called reality

Tell you what-anyone want to take up a challenge w/me? If LA wins, they put something stupid on their profile of my choosing. If DC wins, I'll do the same of your choosing. If it's a tie, forget about it.

 

i personally always believe that 1 point should be the goal on the road. it is simply hard to win on the road in any league and against a team in even reasonable form, it can be very tough. recall that even the past few years when we struggled we often played fairly well at home.

so my rational hope is that we can get a draw from the match. however, this is a winnable game, there is no question we have begun to show our best form in the past several years and i just don't think LA is all that good a team at the moment. that doesn't mean they'll lose, but we do have an opportunity here.

i gather that they haven't quite settled in made it "home" yet. the new stadium is in a very different location than the rose bowl. it has likely required everyone to make a lot of changes. it takes a while to create "atmosphere" in a stadium and one could interpret they may not have done so yet. not to mention the fact that whatever technial and architectural wonders it has, it doesn't allow tailgating, so it will never have a really great atmosphere

anyway, i do think we can seize an chance here.

while i usually applaud conservative road play, i doubt we can hold ball across the middle long enough to make that strategy work. good holding play, with a midfield moving the ball not just bunkering works fine on the road. laying everyone behind the ball with no shape invites trouble.

schmid seems to be favoring some slow players, cerritos, stewart supported by cheyo/ben can put some real pressure on them. i'd rather we attacked through the wings and then clogged the middle to prevent counters, they don't play fast enough to completely switch us, the non-attack side supports in the middle and then stuffs counters. we do our job on the attacking wing and then cheat over we can compact them nicely and serna/ruiz are far less dangerous forced into crowded space in the back. if we can stretch them on the wings we might snatch a quick one from them.

anyway it is gonna be fun and i bet a close game no matter the outcome.

 

Someone recently pointed out how dumb it is to play defensively on the road because of the strong mathmatical bias in favor of a win. We have, I believe, two road games coming up. If we play not to lose, usually the best you can hope for is a draw, but often you lose when you are not trying to win. If you try to win, you may draw or even lose, but even one win (and one loss) garners you more points than two ties. The whole point of three points for a win is to force attacking soccer. I say let's go all out, whatever pitch we are playing on. If we attack like we did early on against San Jose I don't think any team in MLS can keep us off the score board. But when we bunker, bad things tend to happen.