So uh, who was that out there Saturday night?

If you read any of the press leading up to the match last Saturday night against the Chicago Fire, you would have thought that every United player was focused on taking the match to the Fire. They were going into the Fire's new home and the feeling that they had after the 4-0 route that happened in last years playoffs was still fresh in their minds. I expected United to walk away with 3 points.

Instead I saw a group of very slow and passive players. The only time I saw anyone do anything was when Ben Olsen decided to foul someone, or Erpen decided that Troy needed some work and just passed the ball to a Fire forward. Jamie looked slow and whenever the ball was passed towards him, he seemed to think he was supposed to step over the ball and allow the Fire to regain control.

So the second half came, and United still looked like they were thinking about something else. Maybe they were told at game time that they would be playing a friendly in Seattle against Real Madrid and the players were trying to figure out if MLS forgot that Seattle was in Washington State, not Washington, D.C. Alecko looked like he was the only one who didn't get whatever memo caused the day dreaming, as he was working. Freddy seemed to have realized that they were playing a match and came alive as well.

I have to credit the Fire. They came out with a swagger that United is supposed to have. They punched United in the mouth early and set the tone for the entire 90 minutes. They shut Gomez down, making him look like he was wearing concrete boots. Even down to 10 men, United could not retain control of the ball! United had an extra guy, yet it looked like the Fire had two more guys on the. If the Fire play like they did against us for the rest of the season, the race for second place in the East will be alot tougher with RBNY seemingly finding their scoring touch.

I really don't know what to take from this match. They got a point that they did not deserve. The unbeaten streak is still going and they have another trip to make this Saturday to Utah. Hopefully RSL will play as they are known for and United gets back to being United.