DC United Match Report - 5/22/2006

DC United visited Colubums Crew Stadium last Saturday, and left with a very lazy and uninspiring 1-1 draw. As 1/4 of the season has now passed, United find themselves sitting atop the Eastern Conference with 15 points and having only one loss. While this is a very good position for United to be in, there is still a creeping problem that must be resolved if they are to continue to stay at the top of the table and reclaim the MLS Cup at the end of the season.

The thing that got me was that as United hammered the Crew in the second half, they were unable to get the winning goal, when it looked as if they should. It wasn't really anything that the Crew defense did that was spectactular, it was just that when United had a great opprotunity to finish the match, they miffed their shots or their last touch was either too heavy or too soft. The defense looked rickety once, and it wasn't the Crew goal, it was around the 43rd minute when Crew forward Jason Garey was just about all alone against Perkins, and Troy got his hand on Garey's shot and deflected it away. The Crew goal was Troy's fault. He ran off his line way too fast and should have stayed closer to goal to cut off the angles, and Boswell should have continued his run at Ngwenya.

Once United were down 1-0, they looked like the United of old, they were passing batter and running better off the ball and to no one's suprise, that was when they scored their goal. Their finishing just left them in the cold the rest of the match. Freddy looked pretty good running at the Crew defense, however he was one of the biggest culprits of being heavy footed on his last touches, as he often hit the ball too hard as he tried to get around a defender and ended up giving the ball away.

All in all, United came away with a point, they are still in 1st place in the East and are still 3 points behind FC Dallas in the Supporters Sheild race, with one match in hand. It wasn't a travesty that they failed to take all three points from Columbus, even though they should have. This was just one of those matches that going into it, they should have won. United have been in three of these matches this season, all three away matches. They took care of business against RBNY, dropped all 3 points in Denver and now dropped 2 points in Ohio. As the season moves on, if United continue to drop points in these types of matches simply because their finishing wasn't up to par, they might find themselve getting passed on the left by Chicago or Kansas City.

They need to look ahead now towards their second match in two weeks with the Kansas City Wizards, who themselves lost to that Western Conference powerhouse, rEal Salt lake.