DC United Match Recap - USOC 8/1/2006

DC United 2 - 1 Columbus Crew (OT)

120 minutes in that heat was brutal. I cannot imagine how bad it must have been for the guys on the field. It was nasty out there.

DC United have moved onto the Quater-Finals of the US Open Cup tournament with a 2-1 overtime victory over the Columbus Crew. United will face the winner of tonight's RBNY vs. WILMINGTON HAMMERHEADS match. That match will be held at RFK Stadium on August 23rd.

Last nights match was one of the more "interesting" matches I have seen from United. They had 32 shots on goal, which after the RSL match, is a really good sign. They worked out the victory, but in all honesty, they should have won the match 9-3 after 120 minutes. 4 breakaways and 1 empty net. Those were just some of the "gift chances that United had and didn't put away.

If Freddy had put away his shot on the empty net, they could have saved themselves 30 more minutes of running and fighting last night. Granted, he was rushed by the Crew defender, but that is a ball that you have to put away if you want to play in La Liga and the EPL. Adu also needs to increase his tempo during the match. In the first half, Moreno picked up the ball at midfield and moved quickly up the field (or as quickly as Jaime moves these days). Olsen was on the far right side of the field and Gomez moved forward with Moreno. The Crew had 3 defenders back, so there was technically a 3 v 3. Freddy was right behind Jaime when he took the ball, yet he just kept stutter jogging in the center circle. I feel that if Freddy had broken into a sprint along with Gomez, that the 4 v 3 would have been able to produce a shot on goal. Instead Jaime was dispossessed and the midfield tussle continued. I saw Freddy do some really great things out there, but I also saw that if he wants to get first team action overseas, he still has room for growth.

My man of the match was Christian Gomez. That guy was insane. His two assists were off of great set pieces, which he delivered sharply. The thing that impressed me the most was that in the last 20 minutes of the whole match (120 minutes) that guy was still streaking up the middle of the field anytime he got the ball. He looked like he had been a second half sub or something. I know that the USOC matches are not considered when the MLS MPV is voted on, but the performance that he put in last night was enough for me. Christian Gomez for MVP!

All in all, it was a good match and a good return to the field after the RSL debacle. United took shots and played pretty decent defense. The Crew goal was a soft one and on a set piece. After that goal, United defended corners much, much better. Most of the guys should be off for some part of this next week, having to get back together for the Seattle friendly against Real Madrid.

Landy and Pablo out of All Star Game
According to ESPNsoccernet, both Landon Donovan and Pablo Mastroeni will not be taking part in the MLS All Star Game. Am I the only one who thinks that this is becoming less and less an "All Star" game? Nope, Andrea Canales thinks the same thing. The leading scorer this season (Razov), leading scorer last season (Twellman) are both not playing. The MLS poster-boy (Donovan) is now not playing.

I wrote about this before, and I now have even more of a reason to say this, Why Have an All Star Game? If you are not going to have the best players play, for any reason, especially due to a stupid schedule that you should have fixed at the beginning of the season, then the match should not go on. I know that MLS would shoot itself before it failed to piggy back a MLS match on the Barcelona vs. Chivas match. So since that was scheduled before the Chelsea's reschedule, they should have just worked out something else with Chelsea. Have them play several MLS clubs. I don't know, but I think that Garber & Co. are trying too much with the pimping and hoing of MLS clubs and players this season.