The Official DC United vs. San Jose Earthquakes POST-Match Thread

Fantastic game. 3 things:

1) I echo the sentiment that either Ben or Q2 should've been lifted late.

2) Watching our bench guys warm-up, I was really struck by how much talent we have to choose from... I know we're entering ad nauseum stage on this, but chemistry issues are going to be pretty tricky down the stretch.


3) And, as somene that hadn't seen Thiago yet: Jeebus, but he's a tank.

 

Sormum, please watch other MLS games and tell us if you honestly think that other teams are playing that much better soccer than DC. Yesterday SJ, the league leaders, came to RFK and no one, not even the most biased SJ fan, has claimed that DC did not outplay SJ. You can't hold DC to EPL or La Liga standards.

The constant negativity I don't mind. But the constant unwillingness to admit that "hey, you know, DC played ok for the first 20 minutes" is getting a little silly.

 

Did anybody else see after scored his goal hudson and Etch kind of did a chest bump and then hudson hugged him that was great to see. Also Stoich started to laugh after hudson yelled at him.

 

Well said Chico.

I enjoyed this game so much more than just about all the games for a long time now. Even Prideaux was attacking. Like Rongen said, we were almost kind of playing total football. It was great to watch. We did fizzle off toward the end of the first half, and spent a lot of the time in the second half back in our end, at least we countered more effectively then I've seen us do in the last three years or so. This game really exhibited our imporvement well.

Sormun, in all of the games that we lost unluckily, not once did you say, "oh we were unlucky to lose that game." Every time you said how bad we were or how the other team created their luck, so how come when we create our lucky, you give the team no credit? We deserved this win.

 

Ignoring for a minute that sormun will simply never give this team any credit unless we have some quality A-League strickers, a major tactical change is happening before our eyes..

While it certainly helps to have a good roster of players to choose from for a starting X1 and bringing quality players off the bench, go back and watch the past two matches.. A major shift has occured in this team..

Seemingly, the "posession at all costs" attitude has disappeared.. We basically have been playing like most teams have played us in recent seasons.. We concede most of the posession, limit good scoring opportunities and counter whenever the chance avails itself.. With better passing and better decision making (which will get better once they get used to playing this style) we win both of these last two matches going away.. Just count the number of good scoring opportunities in both matches for LA and SJ and I come up with 2 total and they both scored goals on them.. Other than those two scores, they didn't get much at all..

I've got a feeling that sormun is firmly entrenched in the camp that would rather look good and lose than play solid if unspectacular soccer and win..

The mere fact that sormun said the following boggles the mind:

" You guys are really pathetic!! It seems to me that winning is everything that matters in your mind. "


Well duh...........


Gee, call me stupid but I thought getting the win was the objective..

Ya know sormun, your attitude reminds me of my old indoor soccer days when I got a whole bunch of my buddies out on the field who were willing to run through a wall to get a win and then we played the might Latino team with their assortment of mulletts and tricky moves and beautiful backheels.. No doubt they had some talented players but not a single one of them had any concept of team play.. It was all individual flair and how stupid they can make an opponent look on a nutmeg..

Needless to say after our 10-2 win over those mighty individually talented players, me and my friends sat back and watched them argue amongst themselves and actually fight with each other over the fact that a bunch of no talent players beat the hell out of them..

What does this have to do with United? Not much really, it's just the team concept that I am trying to relay to you.. It might not suit your individual tastes or style of how soccer should be played, but for the moment, these guys are running through brick walls for each other and that is what counts in the end..

 

Excellent point. Last night, and in the LA match, our outside backs were influential getting forward. For much of the first half, SJ was playing everything through the center. Neither Mullan nor Corrales were effective, and this left the flanks open for Prideaux and Ivanov, and Q2 and Olsen to pinch in towards the center.

I think a lot of this has to do with the addition of Cerritos. He and Stewart are creating options for the backs and midfield when on the break. As a result, we're not running the four corners offense, and our play has improved as a result.

 

Thanks to everyone!

I came up from Raleigh, NC for Saturday's game and had a blast! Watching United on television does not give you any sense of the din and energy inside the stadium. Thank you, Barra, SE, and La Norte for the constant whirlwind of enthusiasm -- your joy really is infectious and truly is appreciated. Thank you, RFK stadium staff, DC United staff and players for working so hard to provide such a wonderful experience.
If there are any long-time long-distance fans like myself out there who are thinking about going to a home game, I say don't hesitate!!! Make your plans now and get yourself to RFK.

 

Should Ray consider starting Olsen at right-mid and Quintanilla at left-mid on a trial-basis? What about for a half? Olsen is right-footed an Quintanilla is left-footed, and with Olsen on the left and Quintanilla on the right we haven't been getting much in the way of good crosses. Although I like when outside-mids cut inside and go to goal, it's nice to have good crosses, as well. Also, Cerritos and Stewart are good at getting on the end of crosses.

On a different note, when Convey plays left-mid, he should try to play wider than he has the last couple times he has played lef-mid. He tends to get sucked in so that DC doesn't have as many passing options. Also, he is a good crosser of the ball.

 

I dont know Quintanilla especially has been sending in some quality balls into the box and we've been winning with those two switched, if it aint broke dont fix it.

 

great match for them - have to echo others thoughts -

my 13 year old and I both said the same thing - what a disappearing act Donovan did for that game.

Cerritos and Stewart look good together ...

Beninho looked marvelous - his goal was a backbreaker for San Jose .... glad he took the shot once again - as my son said after his weak first half shot - got to take those shots dad - can't score if you don't try .... and the second half he teed it up and nailed it --- great confidence builder for him.

Convey is coming back strong now - nice play in the midfield - smart move to take out Etch.

I thought the goal San Jose scored was from an offsides position - looked like they had four players off when the ball was played????

my nagging question two days later remains - what were Hudson and the coaching staff arguing about for five minutes after the end of the first half in the middle of the field???

 

thanks - understand - all I saw was the kick and the flick and four players offsides (I thought) and the AR running backwards toward the goal - the first thought was that the AR was out of position ... but I did not see where Petke was.

 

I think they are getting a different kind of cross... more of a diagonal cross instead of a square one (I know everyone hates that word). it also leads to earnie or ronald having to push it to the end line to cross (which has actually worked well so far...). I think benny and q2 should stay where they are, but every now and again should switch up to their "natural" sides. that way if one of them can push down the flank they can cross to both forwars in the box...

 

my thoughts on the game...

this is probably the best game etch has had in a long time. his passes were on target, both short and long. he had a high work rate (until he got banged up) which i think is the most important for him to be effective. i think ray should have pulled him out a little sooner since he didn't run much after the knock. also, while i give him mad props for the saving tackle on which he hurt hiself, i don't like the fact that he has to come so far back to defend. he is much more effective for us closer t the forwards, and it also means he has that much farther to run to get into the attack which tires him out sooner. i don't know if that is a tactic of Ray's or if he has to come back to cover for somebody else...

bobby was mostly invisible except for the last 10-15 min, and i thin that's a factor of not playing for us in a while, and more specifically, not playing in the center for us in a while.

i think everyone has pretty much covered everthing else. great games by ronald and earnie, backline is a bunch of studs, no gaffes by nicky, bennie and q2 with good games, dema is a stud, ray should have used at least one of his 2 remaining subs, crowd was great, reffing was pretty good except for two occasions. when we got mugged, stott was looking in another direction, i couldn't believe it the first time because it was only a few yards away he had turned to look up the field. same thing happened again a little while later and i almost fell out of the chair it happened again!

we're playing pretty good soccer right now and we're getting goals which is a good combo. lets keep it up into the playoffs!

 

I think Convey is either trying too hard or he should start.

I'm not saying Convey should be in OVER Quintanilla but that Convey is probably better as a starter than late game sub. right now, DC is winning with that current lineup.

In fact, Walker's goal was probably offside seeing as how the ball was flicked on, and Walker was basically in the same position since the free kick.

I think on the pitch they need to find when to play the adventurous football (the first 15 minutes) and when to slow down and try a few backpasses till the right run is made.

Convey's energy is needed out there. I think he really wants to prove the Home Office wrong, and as such he should be starting next game.

 

I'm not sure what is more strange:

sormun's maniacal need to be the curmudgeon or the need for others to hear his validation.

Back to the game, as objectively as I can state it, that is the best football that I've seen from a DC United team seen since they shellacked Columbus 4-0 in the eastern conf. finals of 1999.

Now, for a blast from the past:

In 1996, the commonly referred to "turning point" for DC was the hurricane match against Tampa. Well, there's another hurricane headed this way. Although this team will be out in LALA land when it hits shore, maybe this is a good omen?

Tim

 

Wow. I wasn't at the game (got free tickets to Springsteen) and am surprised!

-Etch started
-No ridiculous lineup, in fact a smart one
-A win against San Jose
-People saying Etcheverry played well
-Earnie Stewart scored a goal (folks, it's not due to playing w/Cerritos, a little luck, experience in MLS-it's because I, yes I, called Earnie out w/the first and hopefully last Earnie Stewart thread (Lowecifer that means I'm kidding))

It ended up a little bizarre reading the comments. People say we played GREAT, dominated, wonderful, and then I get to sormun's post and there's a turnaround, we got dominated and played like crap. I check the stats, we got about the same shots and shots on goal as San Jose

I'm just glad for the win. I hope we played great ball too, but make sure to get the win.

 

Dear sormun, winning is't everything, it the ONLY thing. I would rather be lucky than good any day of the week, but it dosen't matter, because DC United seems to be quite good as well. Did I not predict a tear upcoming for Earnie the week before the LA game? Ok, 2 assists and one goal don't constitute a shred, and maybe sormun is right and we suck and we are all too blind to see it, But I don't think so. I think we ROCK! I think we beat the defending Champs, and the best team in the leauge back to back! I think that Barra Brava and La Norte up close are like a storm or something, loud and a little scary, but REALLY COOL!

I think that the scum should be afraid...

 

one more thing, used to scum and la fans, (read HATE HATE HATE) With smurf fans, (too insulting?) there is some good natured ribbing, and then they wish us luck? Have they always been polite? Are other fans polite? When some one whips DC, I get really mad, and holler bad words. If we had lost, would I have wished them luck? I thought you were supposed to be a jerk if you lost. Maybe could take a lesson in goodsportsmanship from these guys.

Except for the scum, they suck.

 

Well, I've met Sormun once or twice and I think that in "real life", he's a very respectable and enjoyable person. No matter what someones opinion is on anything, how they behave in life is what earns my respect. Of course, until you get to meet someone face to face, it's hard to determine what they are really like.

I enjoy Sormun's perspective on the game, mainly because it's a different opinion. While I may agree with some of his views, I'm not quite so extreme in my critisism.

He's always up for a challenge of opinions, and will "eat his words" if he feels he is wrong after the fact. That, of course, is the catch. He stands by his views whether they appear to be accurate or not.

I had made a little bet with Sormun, regarding Bobby's transfer. Sormun said, from the start the Bobby Convey wouldn't touch the ball for Tottenham. Sure enough, Bobby never even touched the field. The Home Office agreed with his point of few, that Bobby isn't good enough. While, I don't that my arguement took into consideration that Bobby wouldn't even make it to Tottenham, I couldn't argue with Sormun, since it never took place.

Besides, this is only BigSoccer anyway. What matters is that DC United wins, right? Even if they look bad doing it.

 

Has anyone else noticed that the team is finally taking shots from distances?

Gone is the unwritten team mandated 18 touches in the box.

 

Oh, I've noticed alright. I've been calling for this since 2000.