Debriefing for Match 13.08: At Chivas USA

Chivas USA 3 : 1 D.C. United

Six Word Novel Recap

Early goal... late defeat... final accounting?

Media, Traditional and Otherwise

The LA Times, Grahame Jones: "D.C. United rode the talents of former Argentine World Cup midfielder Marcelo Gallardo to a 1-0 halftime lead over Chivas USA... Then, in a thoroughly unexpected turn of events, Chivas USA answered with two late goals from two good players -- Jesse March and Sacha Kljestan -- and then got another from teenager Jorge Flores to come away with a memorable 3-1 Major League Soccer victory."
The Washington Post, Steve Goff: " It happened so suddenly and without any warning."
UnitedMania, Chris Webb: "United now has lost all four road matches this season and have been outscored 11-1 in those games. To add insult to injury this was the first ever win over United for Chivas USA in six matches."
MLSNet, Danny Bueno: "Marcelo Gallardo had put the visitors ahead in the 30th minute with a tremendous goal and D.C. United looked ready to take advantage of an injury-depleted Chivas USA squad that was missing nine players, including their entire starting defensive backline."
MLSNet, Luis Bueno: "Marsch finally gave the home crowd something to cheer about in the 73rd minute. Harris tried but failed to reach a loose ball inside the penalty area. Wells, though, dived and failed to collect the ball. Marsch ran onto the ball and softly slipped it into the back of the goal. Kljestan continued the late offensive surge. Harris tracked down a bouncing ball on the right flank and slipped a well-placed ball to the center of the box. Kljestan ran onto the ball and tucked it into the back of the net before heading toward a pocket of United supporters and karate-kicking his way toward a celebration."
Booked For Dissent, Dave Lifton: "United allowed themselves to get beat because they had no response to Chivas’ physicality. Instead, they got scared every time a Chivas player got near them, which led to cautious, hesitant play, resulting in turnovers. "
You Are My Minions, Landru: "It's also, not at all coincidentally, time to note the major role that awesome goalkeeping has played in DCU's success lo these many years. Great DCU teams had memorable keepers--Scott Garlick, Tom Presthus, Nick Rimando, and it appears all-too-briefly, Troy Perkins. Semen Wells is on a track to be the wrong kind of memorable. Except a keeper doesn't stay on that track long enough to become truly memorable."
DCUMD, Shatz: "I was all ready to come on here and give Tom Soehn props for putting together a good starting lineup that played really pretty well for 30 minutes. But that's about as far as it went. Because the tactical decision to sit back and defend a single goal lead has NEVER WORKED in this league...So we might as well start the countdown. If this persists, and there's no reason to believe that anything will change over the next few days, it will be exactly one week from today that Tom Soehn will be out of a job. That's Sunday May 25. And that will already be too late."
An American's View..., Brian Garrison: "It might be just as bad a situation if United replaces Soehn during this stretch as opposed to waiting until June. I really cannot see the club getting any better with Soehn at the helm. Maybe it is time for him to go down with his ship?"
BlackDogRed, BDR: "It's entirely plausible that Soehn is doing a shitty job, but I don't think it possible, or fair, to determine with any accuracy how shitty a shitty job he's doing considering what crappy tools he has at his disposal. What if Soehn is getting all that can be gotten out of these mutts?"
BehindTheBadge, The Management (feat. Tom Soehn): "But the first half I thought we had a game plan and we stuck to it, we were hard to play against, we got our goal. In the second half they came out with a bit more intensity and I don’t think we handled it well." [NOTE: And did you have a game plan in the second half? Did you stick with it? C'mon now... -D]

The Good

1. Gallardo's Goal: In a season starved for highlights, it was a good one. Not like his volley against RSL, but good none-the-less. I'm glad Behind The Badge has it up for you to watch. Really. Watch it, and pretend the entire game was like that. You might even come to believe it. We have always been at war with Chivasia.
   
2. Bryan Namoff: Another game where he was running his shorts off for most of the match. He makes mistakes, he gets beaten, but damn if he isn't trying. There was always talk of handing the armband to Ben Olsen at some point, but perhaps Ben should turn around and hand it to Bryan.
3. Atmosphere in the Corner: If we stipulate that certain Calvinists are right, and that there is an elect number of people that go to heaven come the Rapture, then certainly the brothers and sisters I was fortunate to join at the Home Depot Center have done enough to earn their place come Armageddon.
   

The Bad

1. Analysis from the Corner: Really, it's damn difficult to make sense of the game from down there. Even without the alcohol, you just don't have a good look at the game. That being said...
2. Aren't We Supposed to Play With the Lead? Yeah, let me say something I think I said on the UnitedMania Podcast. There's an old baseball maxim, I think attributed to Earl Weaver, that "If you play for the one run inning, that's exactly what you'll get." I think that also applies to us in the second half - "If you play not to score a goal, you'll succeed."
   
3. Using the Field: Ryan Cordeiro proved he's a standout in the reserve games, but never seemed to fully grasp his role in how to occasionally use both the left and right flanks.
   
4. LTJG Zach Wells: I was prepared to promote him after his performance against Chicago. Sadly, this performance negates it, as he lets in a dribbler and gives up a rebound. So we'll keep his rank unchanged, for the time being

Officiating Watch

Apparently the ARs had the offsides calls right. Michael Kennedy is a twerp, but no more annoying than any other official.

Likert Scale Grade: 3 - Average

Man of the Match

N/A. Merit award to Namoff. Goat to... Jaime Moreno, who never seemed to do what a captain needs to do. He's the one who should be harassing the ref, not Gallardo. He's the one that needed to give the team a quick reality check in the second half as the field started to tilt.

Adjusted Results

No adjustments.

Final Thoughts

Given this line-up, with the benching of Emilio and others, it had to be looked as a message from Soehn. So I feel that I have to give one game for the message to sink in. But that being said, all I asked for after the Chicago game was good basic soccer. Did you see that? I did for a decent portion of the game, but at the moment when the second half came around, we started making the same mistakes that have plagued us all season. Tom Soehn had a week and a half, even with a new line-up, to figure out how he wanted to simply move the ball around the field, and we couldn't do it in the second half. And that's a problem.

I'll be honest. He's got exactly one game left with me. And then, well, I might make the change. But if we don't do it in the next four games, then let's consign the season.

Shatz is writing that this is a rebuilding season. Well, it is now, but we were promised a shiny new car. It just happens to have been hit by a semi.

One game for Soehn. He's made his last possible move, now we'll see if it works. It's not that I think even that he's the problem, but the only move that can be made now to save the season has his name on it. Make the move, or consign the season to memory.