First Impressions - DC United 1 : 1 NYRB (DC United Advances to Conf. Final)
Okay, I now admit that everyone that was right last week to worry about this team. The opening 45 minutes of this game were pathetic. All this season, DC has known the exact right thing to say to the press. Olsen this morning was quoted as saying "we'll play like it's a tie game, and we need to get ahead." Yet instead they piddled, twiddled, and resolved in a way that would make Congress envious of their capacity to do nothing while seeming to do something. Erpen and Gros had some ridiculously bad touches on the ball. Jamie was mostly invisible. Eskandarian couldn't put a shot through the defense's legs. And yet...
Yet, Christian Gomez equalizes, and we go through to the next round. We don't deserve it, but we're through.
There are good signs, but they were more plentiful last week. New England isn't going to give us the same favors that the Red Bulls bestowed upon our defense, sending ball after ball over the crossbar. Apparently instead of punishing us for some defensive sloppiness, they were overcome with sympathy and wanted to get Perkins the goal kick as soon as possible.
New England is a challenge. A bigger challenge than they were in 2004. I hope our team is good enough to put up a fight.
Also, I'm not sure, but I damn sure though half the team was offside on the goal we scored. That being said, the ARs were inconsistent all night, and usually to United's disadvantage, so I'll take it as karma.
posted by D @ 9:15 PM
11 Comments:
You quoted "1776"! Nice.
D, you said it...I'm one of those that has been critical of the play and concerned about our chances, and tonight showed me nothing but the same ole' nothing from the last two months. Fortunately, to win in the playoffs, you don't need to play well, you only need your playmakers to step up and make a play, which Gomez did...again...
It begs the question: how far can we ride Gomez' greatness this postseason? I know this: If lousy L.A. can ride Landon to the title last year, this team can certainly achieve the same result. But does anyone really think we're gonna beat NE playing like this? Dempsey and co. have got to be the favorites coming in the game next week, and I'm real curious to see what the coaching staff can come up with to get us back to where we need to be in just a week's time...
The crowd looked fantastic on TV. It was a shame that NY couldn't even muster 9,000 at home.
I am pretty sure that Mendes and Dunivant were late in pushing up the line and they kept everyone onsides. It's hard to tell in the replay, it looks about even, but they were clearly trying to move up as Gros crossed in the ball, indicating that they may have been further back. At any rate I didn't see any RBNY players complaining.
Can we get Gomez citizenship..like right now????
Did anyone hear Wynalda slamming Erpen...both quite accurate and funny.
Classic was went the other guy talked about overtime and Wyanalda said "I'm pretty sure another goal will come (camera flashes to Erpen)...and yeah since he's still on the field I'm sure it will"
Really funny stuff...now that we won.
DC might consider benching Erpen. Gros has been pretty crap also.
Gomez and Perkins men of the match
Wynalda started calling out Erpen from the start and never let up. It was a pretty brutal attack and I would have been pissed if it wasn't for the fact that he happened to be correct.
I'd also like to point out that Wynalda tried to credit anything good thaty happened for NY to his buddy Chris Henderson. Going so far as to say after the RB goal, "You've got to give the credit for that goal to Chris Henderson and the way he's been pushing forward all night."
Really Eric? You don't think that maybe the player who scored the goal should get the credit?!
The midfield stunk. Except for Gomez, the other fours' touches were lousy. When Perkins has the ball, he long punts what, 50% most of the time, feeding the ball to work through midfield the other 50%? Last night, he long-punted almost every time. Nowak must have ordered him to kick it long and not risk more bad possession through the midfield.
Erpen. Oy.
I had to watch the game w/ the sound off because I was at work, but every time I looked up, there was Erpen. As far as I could tell it wasn't like there was any reason for the camera to be on him so much. All he did was make me tired. I used to really like him, too. Sad. Still, I was on the floor with relief after this game finished, and I really shouldn't have been. I'm really going to have to fortify before next week.
I remember someone posting mid-season (on this blog or somewhere else), "I hope that all of the friendlies don't wear us down like they have in the past." Shortly after reading that, BANG!! DC United starts to suck. And suck bigtime in a way that suggests something that isn't necessarily correctable (perhaps seriously dead legs.) Sure there were lots of bad touches the other night, but guys also just got beat to the ball. I dunno if Wise's article about running the guys to death has validity, but I'm not sure if I've seen anything that can really be "fixed" in the big scheme of things. Other than getting a new set of legs.
Anon: That was our very own Kinney, in the Real Madrid Debrief. Scary, eh?
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