My Take: DC United 4 -1 Toronto FC

Now that is how you start a game! I had barely hit my seat when we were all cheering for MVP's goal in the second minute. Santino scoring in the fifth minute was the perfect dagger for a really bad Toronto side.

Not to take anything away from United's offensive explosion, but Toronto really didn't look that great last night. Getting the stupid Red Card in the 22nd minute really didn't help the Canadian's either. For as bad as Toronto looked, United looked amazing.

I called for Santino to get the start over Niell and I am was happy to see him on the pitch at the opening whistle, as he deserved it with how well he has done recently. He has picked his game up so much since returning. The payoff came quick for Santino with his first goal of the season. United over all looked like a much faster and deadlier unit with Santino up front with Emillio.

With all the goals and shots, I would have to say that the most reassuring part of watching last night's match was that our defense continued to show that it has a much better shape than the one we had last season. Peratla and Martinez in the middle, along with Simms in front of them, have been massive in shutting down threats to Zach's goal. Wells looked very strong last night. The 88th minute goal was a last second flub to a great match, but I honestly have to figure that goal came from more of a mental break down of the whole team, rather than the goal keeper.

We have picked up our first 3 points of the season and our first home win. We were able to pull Gallardo, & Emillio early in the second half, as well as get Niell and Moreno time out on the pitch. All of this is building to the Wednesday night match against Pachuca. We still have that 2-0 hole to climb out of. Pachuca is no where near the club that Toronto FC was, they will be ready to play. If we play against Pachuca, they way we played against Toronto FC, we stand a much better chance of climbing out of that hole and making it to the CONCACAF Champions Cup finals, but we still have work to do.

Match Recap: DC United 4 - 1 Toronto FC

What a difference a Bolivian and a Cavalier made tonight.

I brought my brother along with me to the game as he hadn't been able to make it out to any this season. We hung out at the SE tailgate and got to our seats around 7:15pm. The match started and as it slowly went on, my brother asked me if they looked this bad all season. I tried to explain to him that it really wasn't the entire team, but it was more of the fact that Kpene was in and that Moreno and Olsen were out.

Once the second half started, he became fully aware of why I said that. This was definitely one of those matches where there was two sides to the story. In a tail of two halves, United stunk up the joint in the first half and obliterated the second half. Scoring four goals in twenty minutes is amazing. Scoring four goals in twenty minutes after a half of play that looked like United couldn't find the other half of the field is even more amazing. So why does the match result sorta bother me?

Well, it shows that despite the fact that Kpene is listed as a forward on the roster, he doesn't still have a true grasp as for what he should be doing, mainly his positioning. The entire first half he was playing back in the midfield, deep in the midfield. Yes that is sort of what Jamie does, but Kpene doesn't have the skill of experience to carry or hold the ball anywhere near as good as Jamie does, so he should have just played up on the line with Emillio.

It also shows me that unless the opposing team has Olsen and Moreno on the field to worry about, Fred and Gomez can't do anything. It is pretty much just like last season when clubs would hack Go & Mo and basically shut down United's offense. Until Olsen and Moreno showed up, we looked lost.

Ok, so bad things aside, damn that second half was fun. Talk about beautiful goals. I am not certain which one was the best. Burch's goal was great, as was Fred's. Moreno's looked like he was offsid's when he collected the ball, but he put that away the way that Kpene should have put his break away in the first half: strongly. The final goal and yes, everyone's favorite, was Emillio's one timer volley into the net. SWEET! Nice way to score your 20th for the season. I loved that after Moreno & Emillio's goals Stamatopolous stood in his own goal and watched the video replays on the video screen behind his goal.

So with this win, United has three more regular season matches left. Away at Kansas City, who are without Jimmy Conrad for his Red Card against LA; home against Chicago, who are currently leading Chivas USA 1-0 off of a Blanco goal; and home to Columbus, who really haven't done much for the last part of the season. Jaime Moreno will miss the match at home against the Chicago Fire as he has been called into the Bolivian National team duty for their World Cup Qualifiers. United also have their away trip to Guadalajara for the second leg of the Copa Nissan Sudamerican against CD Guadalajara, who have a new coach.

An 11 match league unbeaten streak, nine of those are victories. Pretty not bad. Let's keep it up guys, we got ourselves a Supporters Shield to defend!

Weekend Update

I really hate not having the internet at home, as it cuts down on the amount of soccer info I get, especially on the weekends. Despite the lack of web access, I did get to catch several matches this weekend.

DC United picked up another three points with an early goal and some great work from Troy Perkins. I tell you, for my money, Troy is actually playing better this season than he did last season. His command of the 18 yard box and his effectiveness in the air have seen huge improvements over last season. His defensive line in front of him has also gotten alot better. DC United has not allowed a non-PK goal in their last five matches. It is a little sad to see Boswell sitting on the bench, but why mess with something that works?

Considering the depleted offensive unit that Soehn took to Toronto, I fully expected a 0-0 draw. I knew that our defense would be able to weather any type of storm that Toronto attempted to throw at the United goal and considering that Toronto can't score any better than a high school nerd, I figured we wouldn't leave Canada with anything less than a point. However, it was good to see that United has the ability to go against the run of play and steal goals, even when neither Moreno or Emillio are on the field.

DC United travels to Dallas for a match up with the Western Conference leaders Saturday night. Dallas will have had two weeks off, so I expect a very tough match up in Texas.

My other United, Manchester United, took the pitch Sunday in probably one of the worse situations that they could have been in. Having only taken 2 points from a total of 9 possible, United have already put themselves against the wall in the Premier League. Facing off against Tottemham, who were in just as bad a situation in the league, it was a must win for Sir Alex and his boys.

I was shocked at how bad United played. They never looked that threatening. I am trying to figure out what is really going on at Old Trafford? It was good to finally see Hargreaves get on the pitch and he looked good in his defensive midfield role, but despite the goal, United's other midfield signing, Nani, never really looked that interesting. I was disappointed with how Carrick was playing, almost resigning himself to sit back with Owen and just let Tevez, Scholes, Nani and Giggsy try and do the most in offense. I really, really think that United should look to try and bring in another striker. Saha seems to always be injured and Ole isn't that much better in the health department. SAF really only has Tevez and Rooney, who is out for a while with his broken foot. Is the transfer deadline closed? This would be the perfect situation for Rossi to be brought in...oh wait, they sold him. Nevermind.

Over in Deutschland, Bayern Munich rolled on to their third clean sheet victory of the Bundesliga season, dumping Hanover 3-0, to increase their goal differential to +10. Anyone who is set to play in the UEFA Cup should start looking for another way to get some silverware because I really don't see Bayern missing out on any of the three trophy's they are contenting for this season. I really hope that they have a home UEFA Cup match when I am in Munich for Oktoberfest this year, it will be great to see a match in Allianz Areana.

Final note, I am happy to see that Yallop decided that it would be better for Beckham to sit out the trip to Denver considering his ankle and recent playing time. It was also interesting to see that whether or not Beckham plays, it seems that the Galaxy are now bleeding 3-0 losses. Has anyone got a Yallop/Lalas countdown clock going?