Maybe Dallas should have remembered that it's a 90 minute (plus injury time) game. I know they haven't been going at their stadium 100%, but it'd be nice today if they had finished the game a little better.
Meh, I'm indifferent on the game, as NE and Chicago have such a wide lead that catching them is unlikely. That said, I can't wait for the rest of the east to start playing each other, as we have already played NE, Chicago, KC, and Columbus 3 times each (add NY/NJ and that's 13 of 17 games) and can distance ourselves with wins against the weaker western conference teams in the second half of the season.
I might just be crazy here but I think its good that Gold Cup happens in the midst of the MLS season. We're getting to see guys who don't normally get playing time on the clubs 1st team, get them more experience. Not to mention that we get to see guys like Benny and Q1 get some caps.
No reason to throw in the towel. Chicago may be up by 10 points, but we do have 2 games in hand. Best case scenario, we're only 4 pts behind them. And we still have a game against them, potentially reeling them to within a point. I'm not giving up on that. Catching NE requires a little more hope, but it's also not insurmountable. BTW I count 7 conference games remaining for DC. 3 against the Metros.
And that's what it really comes down to, isn't it? Regardless of coaching changes, it's going to be real tough for Columbus to make it out of the cellar far enough to get into fourth this year. Expansion really hit them at a bad time because they have to jump two teams this year where last year they only would have needed one. That leaves DC to at worst need to finish ahead of one other team in the East. It would seem at this point that KC and NY are going to be close to us in the standings (at least positionally) the rest of the way through, which makes the head to head games that much more important. The match Wednesday against the Wizards is big, but in the long run, those points can be made up. However, if DC can figure out how to get seven or nine points from the three games against the Metros (thus leaving them with zero or one....it's a longshot I know but it would be huge) then they can really distance themselves and start worrying about playoff positioning. No team is safe in the East at this point. Can you imagine the tear United could go on if Jaime and Christian continue to produce at their current pace and any one of the three of Adu, Quaranta, or Eskandarian step to the plate with their virtually unlimited potential? Not to mention if even two, or potentially all three break out over the rest of the year. There's still a ton of games left, and a lot of goals in which that trio can be a part of. Furthermore, as Sundevil pointed out, Chicago has played a lot more games and is in no position to guarentee continued good play. Their heavy reliance on Rolfe and Seagares could prove costly if either or both of those guys hit the rookie wall and they are left searching for more options. With the injuries to Jaqua and Tiago, they could also drop some points. I know Nate's injury is small, but without giving away the result the game was fairly listless today without him in there. As far as Tiago is concerned, his absense definitely affected the lack of creativity and I find it hard to believe he had surgery on a knee tendon and will be 100% in three weeks as reported on the ESPN2 broadcast today. Needless to say, United has a ton of games in hand and I doubt the Fire will continue their run. As far as New England is concerned, well that's a toughie. Under Nicol, they're predominantly a second half team. Lackluster beginning of the season combined with a blistering finish and run in the playoffs. It's tough to guess what they're going to do this year because they've never started like this under this coaches tenure. Can he keep them going or will they run out of gas? Can Parkhurst and their other young guys on the teapkeep things rolling? What happens if Twellman or one of their other offensive studs loses his form? What if Joseph gets hurt? Wouldn't that rip apart their entire team from the inside out? Right now, DC could finish anywhere from first through sixth in the conference, although I doubt they slide down to the cellar. The team that gets hot against it's conference opponents will do very well, and if there can be some more Eastern conference games which don't involve DC that result in draws, all the better. But those three games against the Metros are really, really important.
Armas has supplanted Olsen on the depth chart with his performance today and Ben's consistently bad passing. If Ben hasn't played himself off the team, he's certainly moved down a rung. That's good news for us, however! The Gold Cup tourney is a great way to get players injured in games that really don't mean very much. Cherundolo is lucky if he's not seriously injured after that grotesque tackle on him that somehow only merited a yellow. The Jamaican tackle on DMB was so flagrant that even that ref had to pull out the red. The Jaimaicans were not honorable and did not deserve to score the goal of honor. I still don't know what happened on that play -- did Keller throw it right to him? GM
Not really. Noonan and Dempsey were actually in the same stadium and therefore available to play. This does present an intriguing position for Arena. - he could release Olsen altogether from the tournament (once you are released from the roster, you can not be called back in). This is probably the most likely of scenarios seeing as Armas, JOB and Mastro are deservedly ahead of him right now. - he could allow Olsen to play at KC midweek. He would be back in plenty of time for the final on Sunday provided the US takes care of business on Thursday. - my guess is that he will be released to play. However, with the good game that Simms/Carroll had yesterday, does it necessarily mean that Olsen goes straight into the lineup? If Olsen is released to play in this match specifically, I would think that Nowak puts him in the game.
In one of the replays it looked like Vanney was either fouled or just fell on his ass, leaving Fuller to stride in alone on Keller.
Just a heads up, but I highy doubt Arena do this. The Crew asked for Arena to release Hejduk for todays game against the Fire -- he was suspended due to yellow cards for the Gold Cup match today against Jamaica -- and Arena refused to release him for the day so he could fly to Chicago and play for the Crew.
Yes, Chitcago is very catchable (is that a word?). With their tie today, we have 3 games in hand. Don't forget that 4 of their 11 wins have come against RSL and Chivas. We have 3 games left against those teams and should be favorites to get all 9 points. asitis 4/9...5/10