is there going to be a dcu english language radio webcast? i can't make the game thanks in advance -jim oh yeah, nice to see olsen playing again... real nice
Predictions: - Rimando will make some good saves. - DC's defense will play relatively solid. - Chicago will bunker and counter. - DC will create chances. - No striker will finish DC's chances. - Chicago will catch our defense out on a counter and score. - Everyone will claim that DC United is "unlucky" and that Thornton played an incredible game.
i thought the first half against metros was more about poor defending than the awesome power of the fire. i mean curtin (? the big tall gawky dude who is disturbingly effective at times) had no business scoring that first goal. while i hope we can play better defense than metros, we do give up a bothersome number of soft goals. i think DC will score wed, random chance would seem to almost dictate it. 2-1 fire
I wish they would look into doing some digicasts. I watched some of the Seattle Sounders - Vancouver Whitecaps digicast from the new stadium in Seattle last night, and the quality was excellent. I have a DSL connection, so I'm not sure what someone with a dial-up would get, but the signal was only slightly jumpy. The picture was very sharp and the audio crystal clear. I want to see digicasts of United games that are not televised locally in the future.
digicast = audio + video webcast?? That would be cool, but only for you high-speed folks I would think. Then again, if I could watch DCU on the web, I would probably become one of you high-speed folks.
Faulty Correllation OK, here are my excuses for that false-positive: 1) Most of those games were in the first third of the year. There were almost never any two defenders at the same time that had played together in any previous year. Players need an adjustment period to cover for one another on a back line. 2) New coach and new defensive philosophy. While Rongen's defensive philosophy sucked, the players needed to learn Hudson's from scratch, and that also takes time. 3) Missed games. Reyes wasn't acquired until late. He had an adjustment period to MLS refereeing as well as his teammates, etc. He missed several games because of cards. Pope missed several games because of injuries or Nat's callups. The team never fielded the same lineup for 3 games in a row when Pope was available. 4) Prideaux being played out of position. He's a man marker and can play either flank or marking back. But, he's not an organizer. While he did OK in that role, he didn't do stellar. 5) Nelsen's improvement. IMHO, Nelsen has shown tremendous improvement over last season, and almost with each game he improves. I'm impressed. He didn't really begin to demand playing time until a few games before he started scoring. Now we realize that he was the glue that we've been missing in the back. 6) Defensive shell. We've bunkered a LOT this season, and no matter how good your defense is, if the game is played 75% in your half, you're going to give up goals. Lazo as a right winger is too defensive, and pairing him with McKinley who moves forward but is too slow to get back and defend, will inevitably expose the rest of the back line. 7) Focus. Pope has been focusing on the World Cup. Now that it's over, I think we're getting the "real" Eddie Pope. The same is probably true of almost all of the USMNT players. Look at McBride, DaMarcus, Wolff, etc. They are playing with focus and total determination now. So I'm saying that the correllation is a false-positive. -Tron
As I said in my post about the GAA with and without Eddie, discuss the statistics. I'm not saying "bench Pope", or "Pope needs to be in at all times", just presenting the facts as they happen to be. As for predictions...4-1 United. I know I'm probably wrong, but how much longer, honestly, can we not score goals? On the tiny pitch at Naperville we might accidentally score a couple as we're trying to pass the ball around in the box. Also, I truly believe that once we score one the floodgates will open.
I wasn't dissing you Thamlin19. I actually thought it was a very good discussion and one I had been meaning to bring up (although I had no idea what the statistics were I did kinda think our D was allowing fewer goals without him). Thanks for originating the discussion. -Tron
No problem Tron. I took no offense from any of the posters who quoted my post, just wanted to make it crystal clear to everyone that I was just presenting the facts. However, if you include the Boca game which (correct me if I'm wrong...I can't remember!), Pope didn't play, the DC GAA without Eddie drops to 1.23. I don't care who plays where though, we just need a win in Naperville!! Unfortunately we are running out of games, and we have 3 remaining against the Metrostars who as much as they suck have found a way to not choke too badly this season, and 2 more against (wow this sucks) the Earthquakes.
Do you actually watch any of these games or just close your eyes, throw ************ at your keyboard and see what sticks? Our midfield keeps creating chances, even your favorite player Bobby "A-League" Convey, but our lack of healthy and/or talented forwards can't do crap with these chances.
Wow, that is nice. I would love to see DCU doing that sometime. I would however have to upgrade to high-speed. I tried it on my dial-up connection, and the audio was choppy to put it nicely, and I didn't even get any video! In other news, it looks like Nowak is injured for the game tomorrow. He bugs me. Good player, but he bugs me.
Maybe we can pull out another 0-0 draw! It's sad that the prospect excites me. I just hope we don't try the damn 4-5-1 with Ali Curtis as the trigger man again. Anything but that. If we're going with the 4-5-1, at least put Eddie Pope up front!
i wonder is Q2 can really do much as a lone frontrunner. while he is a clever little player with some great touch, he is unlikely to win many balls up front and i am sorry to say, the speed he showed last week isn't enough to get behind defenders. to my mind--understanding i have seen him once for United and once for his national side, so this isn't based on much--he seems much better suited for either pairing with a quicker or bigger guy or and perhaps best, playing in a more withdrawn forward role. not that i wouldn't love to see him prove me wrong and operate up front effectively.
Re: uninformed and lazy I just checked the Shootout Package. The only game on tomorrow night is the Crew at the &^$*# Metrocruds.