Official (Live Action) DC vs. NE (9/9) POST-GAME Thread [R]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Nicol b**** about a no offside call on a Jamie Moreno goal.

 

No, about what he perceived to be an uncalled foul by Olsen on Smith on the play that led to the goal.

 

If they don't have that award, they should invent it so they can give it to B.C. That was sweeeeeet.

 

DW and I attended our first DCU match tonight. Had a blast. DCU has amazing supporters groups, simply amazing. They make up for RFK being an abysmal facility and the Helps You Slip And Fall Brand (TM) turf (not the infield stuff, either).

We are not yet 'invested' in DCU. We are RSL fans since the day they announced the team in Salt Lake. But, we live here (see below) now, so we will over this season become acquainted with DCU and will probably be fans by the start of next year. Still, divided loyalties will exist. When RSL comes to town this Wednesday, we expect to be there. And we will be cheering for RSL (understanding all the futility that comes with this, we EmbraTSu, too; see the RSL forums to understand the term).

We live a long ways west, like the last county in Maryland heading west. So, we won't be season tix holders. (We have one of the 5 game packages for this season.) But, we will probably buy single game tix next year for convenient and interesting looking matches.

Maybe at one of the upcoming matches we can get there early enough for some Lot 8 time.

 

In watching the replay carefully, I don't think that Fred was actually offside. I think He was even with the defender on the far side of the field.

 

I was also up in 409 - brought two more new fans (my brother in law and his daughter) who recently moved here from Nevada.

They had a blast. Great view of Barra Brava and Screaming Eagles.

Revs fan behind me was going nuts about how terrible Smith was. It was hilarious. He was so ticked the whole game at him and jeered him off the field when he got substituted.

Yes perhaps the performance is going to Emilio's head.

Overall great performance in that heat and humidity to come back from being down.

I really like how Soehn has them clicking right now.

Was great to see Jaime get a goal in the run of play.

Reis is a tool for swinging at Olson.

Great day to be a United fan.

 

I, too, thought the Gomez goal off a great cross from Namoff was legit, while the Fred goal was questionable. It made no difference in the final score, but I sure would have liked Namoff to get an assist. He does so much good stuff on defense, but it would be nice to see his attacking forays pay off.

 

I couldn't make to RFK today because of my son's NCSL game. However, I did DVR the game and I have to say I'm surprised more folks haven't been upset by the Heaps non goal.

I watched that "goal" several times in slow motion and for the life of me I can't see how that was judged a goal. At no time did it seem to cross the line - at least from the TV angles shown.

I guess in the larger scheme of things it doesn't matter - that was a great win today, especially since we came from behind.

 

I agree with this part, anyway. Someone asked me "what do we make of the fact that Olsen and Boswell didn't start this game, and Carroll came in so late." I said "well, it means we won't be exhausted on Wednesday."

 

The problem is that the Goal Of The Week (and, for that matter, Goal of the Year) tends to reward individual play by the goal scorer rather than team play, or individual play by someone other than the goal scorer. Which is a shame, because it really was a great play by BC.

 

Ok, after making possibly the three best tactical subs of the season I can now say it is time to fire Tom Soehn.

Seriously though, great game. Electric and crushing for NE. Benny changed the game. What a luxury it is to be able to bring him into a game.

Steve Nichol is fat. Khano Smith can't figure out that when he flops to the ground after a Brian Namoff challenge, the ref ain't going to buy anymore of his bullcrap. Jay Heaps is a prick.

We spread the field and used the wings so well, it makes me want to cry. Gross back in the line-up is very very good. Fred was a warrior. No one on this team is going to quit, they all want to win.

Happy day at the game with the family!

 

In case I didn't make it clear in my post, that was my favorite part also. I'm so glad Benny had a "response."

 

After watching it several times, I agree - Steve Ralston keeps him onside.

 

One person here got what I consider to be the biggest thing from this game:

Yes, it is.

Everyone, think back to how many times this season you've seen this team give up a goal, give up an equalizer, and melt down. Early in the season, we'd go down to another team, and we'd forget we knew how to play. Hell, just this past week, when we played the Goats and they scored, we lost our shit. When they tied, we panicked. We were lucky to walk out with a point. Everyone here knew that.

But today, TODAY, we gave up the equalizer, and then we gave up a go-ahead goal, and we didn't lose our shit. We didn't panic. We didn't forget how to play. We didn't lose confidence. We continued to play our game, we played well, and we got the goals back.

I was totally bummed out after the Chivas game, not because we drew -- before the match, I would have been happy to take a draw -- but because of the way we drew. And tonight, I'm bouncing off the walls not because we won, but because of the way we won.

********ing hell. Us us us.

 

I WAS at the game tonight, and I'm still not impressed. I guess we just have to agree to disagree. However, I was impressed with Mctavish's save in front of the goal. He gets a gold star tonight.

As an unrelated side note, I also felt that BC's run was amazing. We were sitting in the Mezzanine behind that goal and had a fantastic view of it. I also think its a shame that after all that work, he can't get credit as a nominee for "Goal of the Week".

 

The two players in DC history who always made me groan when they went forward with the ball are Brandon Prideaux and Brian Carroll. Yet Carroll's run today was a thing of absolute beauty. It was even more impressive when I went to review the DVR.

 

As a couple people have already mentioned, that play was fated to end badly no matter what for us -- it looked, both from where I was sitting and on the stadium replay, like there was at least one clear handball by a United defender in that rugby scrum near the goal line. Considering Abby could well have given out a red card if he'd made that call, things came out alright.

Of course, the three unanswered goals by D.C. after the Heaps goal also helped get me over any agitation it might have caused...

 

On second viewing, here's the thing that impressed me: right after Jaime scores DC's second, on the re-start Dave Johnson says something like, "Here we are, the two best teams in the east, all tied up at 2." That was the 60 minute mark. Over the last 30 minutes, DC, having played Thursday in LA and at Dallas last weekend, outplayed a New England team that has only played one game -- against a USL-2 team -- during that same time period, and outplayed them to the tune of 2-0. That was impressive.

 

A couple of short thoughts:

No way was Fred offside. The defender on the far side kept him on.

Either Ben was reminding Reis of his fumble against us in the game a few weeks ago or maybe he was having a chat regarding the Esky mauling when he whispered sweet nothings in his ear. I vote the prior, and yes I was glad Benny got the last word on the matter.

The scrum in the box that resulted in a goal by "the one who will not be named" was awfully messy. Whether or not the ball went over the line it looked like we might've gotten a hand on it at that point anyway. Maybe Perkins stops the pk and maybe he doesn't, but it wasn't like we got robbed.

Abbey was Abbey, glad to get out of there with the points and hoping that's the last of him for the year. Nicol has no grounds to whine when he gets 80% of the fouls in his favor.

Lastly - and this is something I've been meaning to say, not directed necessarily at any part of the thread -

Why in the hell do we bitch and moan about Vanney, or Carroll (as we've done in the past), or Fred, or anyone?? Maybe that's cool at the start of the year, when Tom was still getting his feet as the head man and the roster was in much more flux, but not now. NOT NOW! We're in the final stretch, jostling for playoff position, trying to get into the show with as much momentum as possible. Lay off the guys. Now matter how you feel about one player or another it is now time to circle the wagons, quit pointing any fingers, and support the guys as much as we can. This is our team this year. This is what we've got. VAMOS!!

 

There are some photos posted from tonight's game over at BobbyBoswell.com

Click here.

Enjoy.

-Kyle

 

Then I have no idea what it is you expect from him. Seriously.

You really can't see the impact he's made on the team? Are you kidding me?

We keep our defensive shape now rather than running around like a bunch of amateurs covering for everybody's mistakes. We move as an organized back line. We pick up assignments, we rotate to the attack, we step up to keep the line as high as we need to for the situation. A great deal of that comes because of direction from Vanney.

That doesn't mean individual mistakes won't happen. They will, and at MLS salaries, they'll happen a lot.

Erpen was a nice kid, all eager to please, and he was full of energy. But he was the Bouna Condoul of defenders. He tried to make up in spectacular plays what he lacked in fundamentals. I laughed out loud a couple of times during the LA-COL match yesterday. The Erpen-Condoul show was going great guns.

Frankly, for you to say you remain unimpressed tells me that Vanney must have come over to your house and pissed in your cornflakes or punched your dog, because you're clearly not making your judgement based upon his play.

 

To be fair, Benny had two handfuls of Reis's jersey and it looked like he was keeping him down.

And Reis didn't hit Olsen. He pushed him in the face. Nothing that could be considered 'striking', IMO.

 

Oh No, I won't have this! Prideaux and Carroll??? Clearly you've blocked Alavanja and Alegria from your mind! And even if you were only channeling inoffensive defenders, you're still missing out on the grand and ignoble Erik Imler. Prideaux had his flaws god bless him, but at least if he got forward it was because we were winning, so his lack of offensive skills was negligible. And if you're going to dun Carroll as a midfielder who is offensive in the atacking third, you really should look deeper into the United sack to find the more egregious offenders.

Aside from that, this thread has actualy addressed every point I might have made, so I might have passed quietly into the night if not for this post.

And as I'm already here, let me mention that Sachin is a rookie! Yes, the rule is never wake a sleeping baby, but you can't let that conflict with the golden rule that thou shalt not abuse the sabbath by not attending the soccer match of your choice.

Take it from me, you can slip the baby quietly into the car if lucky, but no matter what, a baby will adjust to the new environment upon its waking. Granted La Norte can be distressing to even the most jaded, but might as well get the babe acclimated early! Staying home now only prolongs the adjustment period.

 

Where is the [R] in your post, God-Dangit. I had it on Beta-max and really wanted to see this one.