Rumination on a golazo

If you watch the highlights of Gallardo’s goal, you’ll hear two quotes that I’ll reference in this post. The first is Dave Johnson saying, “Surely that’s the one!” He’s referring to the fact that a 4-1 score line is likely to stand with only 10 minutes left in the match. I prefer to think, however, that Johnson was speaking more broadly, meaning that when Gallardo buried Burch’s high cross, that goal would certainly rise to the top as an eventual Goal of the Year nominee.

I was so impressed with Gallardo’s goal on Saturday night that I feel like it needs more discussion, dissection. It certainly needs your vote for Sierra Mist Goal of the Week.

When I was watching the match on Saturday night, in real time, and I saw Burch’s cross, I immediately felt that the cross was a poor one. It was lazy and seemed too high and when I saw Nat Borchers coming over to play it with his head, I figured United might at best win a corner. Gallardo however, seemed to not even notice Borchers running on to the ball. He didn’t seem phased at all when the defender jumped to try to head the ball out of danger. He just cocked his leg back and hit it as hard as he could.

There are many similarities between United’s 4^th goal of the night and the 3^rd goal by Quaranta. Both came after crosses to the right wing and in both occasions the goal scorer hit the ball first time past Nick Rimando. But watching and re-watching Gallardo’s goal makes me a little embarrassed that I had been so impressed by the quality of Quaranta’s tally. Quaranta did well to control the cross off the inside of his right boot and touch it just out of reach of Rimando, but still keep it inside the left post. It was a very tough angle and he achieved that deft touch with his body fully in midair. I believe he had the Goal of the Week for about 13 minutes.

But Gallardo blasted that ball and buried that ball. He crushed it. It was an absolute bomb. [And let me now apologize to my wife, who was sleeping next to me on the couch at that point, for exclaiming loudly at seeing the strike, and waking her most rudely.]

One more point: Guevara’s free kick was a brilliant one, no doubt. So I don’t want to say anything dismissive or negative about it in order to try to help Gallardo’s cause for Goal of the Week. But if I have to, I will.

As Thomas Rongen summarized the whole thing, “Thanks for coming!”

Update
(4/30 10:13) Gallardo 47%, Guevara 40% (You magnificent bastards...)

Get Busy

The nominees for the Sierra Mist Goal of the Week are up. I love that both Quaranta and Gallardo are nominated. I told my wife that if I was doing the debrief for this match, my Six Word Novel Recap would have been "Quaranta GOTW for only thirteen minutes".

For me, personally, Gallardo's goal is easily GOTW and I would think a strong contender for GOTY. But currently, Amado Guevara's bending free kick is leading the voting with 52% of the votes to Gallardo's 27%. So like I said, get busy people!

"Thanks for coming!"

Update
(4/29 15:55) Gallardo 32%, Guevara 51%
(4/29 10:21) Gallardo 34%, Guevara 35%
(4/28 21:24) Gallardo 39%, Guevara 39%
(4/28 16:06) Gallardo 44%, Guevara 34%

Best goals compilation

Scaryice over at Climbing the Ladder has made compilations of the best ten goals for each team. Enjoy his selection for DC United.

The Best Show NOT on TV

Bob wrote a post on the best soccer show on TV today which I still haven't seen, but am looking forward to watching. That reminded me of the best soccer show NOT on TV today. It is called, brace yourselves folks "David Beckham's Soccer USA." Before you indignatly exclaim that I have lost my marbles, hear me out. First, this is not the David Beckham's Soccer USA shown on FSC and linked to on basically every MLSnet.com page. That show is a) on TV, and b) horrible. I lost a lot, and I mean a lot, of respect for FSC for airing that travshamocracy of a show instead of the very well done show that you can see on Five.

Please don't start checking the 700 section of your cable channels for Five, it is a British channel that we don't get here in the states. Basically the British version of DBSUSA (an acronym that I just made up) is all that you could want in a soccer highlights show. It is hilariously funny, mostly because of "international TV personality" Tim Lovejoy, and it shows all of the goals from the past week. They have hilarious bits like "How to Speak American Commentator" and slightly irritating bits like the de rigueur interview with Mr. Beckham. It is nice to see how MLS is viewed in England, but it is also a breath of fresh air for somebody on TV to make fun of MLS in a lighthearted manner instead of the "greatest thing since Pele" vs. "already a failure" argument that we get in the states.

The show used to be an hour long, but it was recently cut down to half an hour. Somehow I think that MLS' best highlight show is probably England's worst, but I still love it. By now you are trying to figure out if I recently moved to London, the answer is no. I merely harness the power of the youtubes. Kinsellagem has been posting all of the shows up on youtube for us Americans (and Canadians). I watched one around week 5 and then immediately went back and watched the past shows it was so good. I have embedded the last episode for your viewing pleasure; it really is a great show.

Week 10: Part 1


Week 10: Part 2


Week 10: Part 3

Access United Update

I was clicking through MLSnet while watching Houston v. LA last Sunday. I came across this page that has all of the Access United posts along with the other team's insider shows. I realized that I hadn't watched an Access United video in a long, long time. They come out randomly with no set schedule and I don't normally check the DC United web page for them, which means that I usually miss them. If I am missing them I am pretty confident that means that a lot of DC United fans are missing them, and that is a shame.

I really like the Access United videos that I have seen and think that they do a good job of showing a small portion of the raw feed that reporters with press releases get week in and week out. As I was on YouTube watching something I will hopefully get to blog about later, I saw that Kyle Sheldon has started to put the Access United videos up on the tubes. This basically means that DC United is trying to get these distributed as widely as possible.

So here is my question for you readers, would you like it if The DCenters started a regular feature where we embed the Access United videos as we find them so that you don't have to continually look for them on the website? Or do you guys have some other means of easily viewing them and knowing when they are released that I should know about?

I have included the last two Access United videos as an example of what the embed would look like and how good the video would be through YouTube.

D.C. United vs Chicago on September 23, 2007 Preview


D.C. United vs CD Guadalajara on September 26, 2007 Preview

US v. Brazil U-20 Match

Wow, that was an amazing match. Adu jogado bonita better than the Brazilians and the Altidore showed the US Men what a finisher can do. Seitz proved that Guzan isn't the only goalkeeper in the mix for 2014 and/or 2018. Zizzo and Rogers showed good ball control with their feet on the chalk and Bradley played a good defensive game.

MLS has really helped give this US team bite. Adu creates the first goal by just destroying the Brazilian D-Mid, plus he never once got knocked off the ball. Jozy easily holds the ball up against U-20 players after learning how against MLS vets. Bradley and Szetela did a good job clogging up the middle and forcing Brazil wide. The US players were a lot more physical than their Brazilian counterparts and I think it threw the Brazilians off their game a little. Yes, MLS players will pull a Mastroeni every once and a while, making a poor challenge that wouldn't be a card in MLS but is on the international level, but on the whole I liked what I saw.

It was especially effective when they combined it with some stellar possession and creative plays. Goff is incorrect when he says that, "Brazil was technically superior and more comfortable on the ball -- no surprise there -- but the U.S. team hung in there, absorbed pressure and confidently counterattacked." THE WERE EVEN ON POSSESSION WITH BRAZIL. Yes, the young Brazilians were definitely more technically superior but the US players were much more organized and linked their passes better when they took the time to build up an attack. It was a fairly even game all around, and a great one to watch.

For those of you who missed it here are some highlights.


Now the real question for DC United is when do we want Adu to transfer to Europe? According to Goff:

The future considerations acquired in the trade also are vital to United's plans. If Adu was to leave Real Salt Lake for Europe, it would receive compensation from MLS to acquire a new player. Under the conditions of yesterday's trade, United would receive a portion of Salt Lake's payout. In addition, if Adu stays with Salt Lake through the end of the 2007 season, United would receive a draft pick. The better Adu plays, the better the draft pick would be.

So the way I see it, without any further information, we are hoping that he goes to Europe before the end of the season. A large payout is not out of the question anymore (thanks to MLS changing the rules) and DC United could get a significant chunk of that. I will leave Goff with the task of finding out exactly what percent of the transfer fee United might obtain, and what type of draft pick United might get if the move isn't completed until after the season.

Highlights of DC United vs. Colorado Rapids

I really didn't want to post this...and there really isn't that much to see. But I am trying to make this part of the regular DCenters match coverage, so I guess I have to put it up for all the games, even games like this.

Highlights of DC United vs. CD Guadalajara

Not many highlights in this one folks. Pretty ugly game all around, but here they are if you want to see the goals. This is the home leg of the two game home and away series.

DC United v. CD Olimpia Second Leg Highlights

For those of you who missed the game. Here is a youtube video.

DC United v. CD Olimpia Highlights

For those of you who missed the game. Here is a youtube video of some sublime goals.



Much thanks to Bigsoccer poster GreekChampion04 for getting this up.

DC United 1 : 1 Real Madrid - YouTube Highlights

YouTube highlights for all those DC fans that couldn't see the game live.
Created by jdna.