It is the same turf used in Toronto, New England, New York, and approved by FIFA. Fieldturf. It is an aging installation, but is the same stuff. So, to the extent that you are sure that it is the reason for the loss in Salt Lake, you should be assured that the same problems will plague you in those other towns. Several starters sat. DC played a formation that exacerbated a problem that had been noted prior to the match, vulnerability to over the top balls (and RSL exploited that vulnerability, like they should). IMO, this was a coaching loss, not a player's loss for DC. But, give credit to RSL for showing up with a team and tactic to take advantage of what DC gave them.
After a night's sleep, that game was still a disaster. The Pachuca series was a noble loss, the RSL game was a loss to be ashamed of. We did have a horrible 4-0 defeat to Columbus early in the '96 season and we won MLS Cup that year. Thankfully, we no longer have Thor Lee. I suppose that's something resembling a silver lining.
i would not worry about it to much lad. the engine is started we just need to getter hummin that is all. bad loss, no questions there. horrific even. but it is early days as max says.
40 dollars? you lucky bastid... will they spread it out over 2 or three billing statements? i susbscribe to mls.tv -- 20 bucks... game did not come on for some reason until 15 minutes in last night after kyle had scored, but that never happens, strange.
there were similar over-reactions, mine included, after the galaxy lost 4-0 to the rapids. based on the games i've watched so far and the topsy-turvy results and performances lead me to believe this is the most egalitarian season every. only toronto has looked consistently terrible - though in keeping with trends they'll probably beat us today. welcome to our season last year. i'm just glad it's other teams dealing with overcrowded schedules this year. get ready for increased injury roster and fatigued players and some really frustrating results. kirk is an enigma, think quaranta without the attitude. he can be brilliant, tear down the right side of the field and launch a perfect cross or drilled shot. unfortunately those moments of brilliance are usually surrounded by 3 games of horrible first touches, wiffed shots, bad defending, etc... i think he could turn out to be one of those guys that in a different environment excels like albright or ching.
No trolling... I was standing 30 feet from the Barra Brava fans that came over and I have to say hats off to them. They are awesome fans and we were honored to have them in our stadium. They never sat down, they waved that huge flag all game long. They exchanged insults with our RCB. They sang songs. They were awesome. We did have a couple of RSL pricks sneak in behind them towards the end and taunt them but quickly got security to escort our fans out. DC is a classy team and the players were visibly frustrated after the game. I wish you guys luck in future matches. And keep up that Barra Brava!
I don't think it's an over-reaction to say that was a horrible game. I don't see may people saying DC won't make the playoffs. Yet. I do think it's not correct to say they played without heart. I saw a lot of effort; just wasted effort. They clearly weren't in sync up front, did a lot of chasing the ball, and the first touch by many players was way off. I think RSL uses the bounce on their field to their advantage as I never remember them pressing as much at RFK as they do when they are at home. I think they have figured out that visiting teams are surprised by the way the field plays, and often lose the ball in dangerous places. I can't wait for RSL's new stadium to open.
That "game" was a personal insult to everyone who ever bought a United ticket, merchandise or rooted for the team. We'll be lucky to win that stupid cup from the metroscum this season. I hope the kiddie team plays better, someone needs to represent the fans, and these bums ain't the ones.
And the pendulum swings back the other way. I swear, more than half of you need to be on medication or adjust your dosage. This game sucked, DCU sucked, the feild absolutley sucked, the line-up sucked, Emilio sucked (again), Soehn sucked, Comcast sucked, did I leave anything out? This is "The game which shall not be mentioned". Our boys are coming home to kick some arse on Thursday. Vamos United!
Somewhere around the August-September timeframe we might look back on this game as: 1. A portent of the worst season in DC United history; or 2. An aberration on what turns out to be a decent season with a berth in the playoffs. I suspect it will be #2.
I'm snipping it here because you've listed some (not all, but some) of the reasons why I place my blame for this result on Tom Soehn.
Sorry, but after the F.O. shipped out our best player over the last three years, hyped the new arrivals like crazy, etc., I started out expecting a lot more than a decent season with a berth in the playoffs. If that's all we get, this team will have been an abject failure. So, I hope there's a #3 in your list.
I meant to post this last night but forgot: SUCK A$$ today: this game could serve as a wake up call to our boys, I predict we'll be unstoppable by mid season when everything has gelled nicely. Like a good soup, it takes a few days for all the ingredients to mesh together for a super combination. or whatever
I think that has to be the ugliest pitch i've ever seen. How can MLS let them play on that shit? We kinda had a slow start last year also. I'm optimistic.
Well, there is a #3, but I'm trying manage expectations right now. As far as this game goes, as well as the off-season acquisitions, I think both are examples of the saying that things are never as good (new players) or bad (the RSL game) as they seem at first.
That sucked... a lot. I just hope that this is just an aberration because of the amount of games in a short time period, lots of travel, experimental line-up, etc, etc. Cause that was not United. The crap passing, the lack of cohesion, the frustration... Thursday better be a wake up call.
I cant really comment much on this game, saw a little bit after 9:30 and then watched the last 15mins. Based on that, i will say we looked like crap. Our subs didnt look very good, meaning mediate, mctavish, and Dyachenko. It seems like Chenko' tried to be too tricky and fancy, he kept messing up trying to do things, he doesnt have the pace needed for that. Moreno from waht i saw was trying to be the pulled back play maker, doing nice cuts and moves, but he isnt that. His long ball passes were close but not accurate and no one could do much with his service or anything for that matter. Carvallo.... i dunno what to say. I thought he would be better than what i saw. He wasnt very impressive, and for his sake i hope it was the turf. Also i was looking at that turf, it looks like the dated old school style?? Whats up with that?? Even at university practive fields have better turf! That stuff looks like the kind that htey used in the 80s, the tezxture of a tennis ball. The new stuff now a days is almost just like grass, longer, ball doesnt roll as fast and is cushier(sp). Why arent they at least playing on that kind of turf??
What bothers me the most about last night's match is that I continued to what it's entirety, despite the ugliness of it all: the horrible scoreline, the awful turf field, the constantly high bouncing balls, the balls getting constantly kicked out of bounds as if the field had the traction of an ice skating rink.
I'm not disagreeing here. Just pointing out with a friendly reminder that said best player, when he joined DC a few years ago, was being knocked unmercifully for not being match fit. DC drew his first two games and then lost to the Fire before beating the Burn. They were mired in a dogfight for the last playoff position. We all know what happened next. MLS Cup. 3 Best XI. And an MVP in 2006. So before everyone goes punching the ticket on Gallardo, we should all probably take a step back and see how the season develops. We started off worse last season. And Gallardo does have a pedigree that Gomez didn't when he joined the league. If the team and he are still mired in this slump come the big break in July, then the early criticism will be justified. However, if we continue to win at home (the Crew and RSL are up next, followed by the Fire and TFC again) and start to put it together on the road by getting draws instead of losses against the bottom-feeders, we should be in good enough position to win another Eastern Division crown. And I expect the coaching to come through on this account. Tommy's had a rough go of it since roughly the last game of last September. We're 3 wins, 4 draws and 6 losses since then. If winning the tournaments is in the cards, it's in the cards. However, I've pretty much resigned myself to thinking it's the Supporters Shield and (if the team is serious about it) the US Open Cup that we should be winning. We'll never be on a level playing field in the CONCACAF tournament, and the Superliga is a joke. Too many things can happen in the MLS Cup tournament (as evidenced by DC itself, winning with the worst seeding) that's 6 months away. Thx, Jay!