Moose hernia repaired

There's been some speculation about why Moose hasn't played in our last games. Today, DC United reports that the second-year midfielder underwent successsful surgery to repair hernias on his left and right abdominal walls. His full recovery is expected in 2 to 3 weeks. Justin has made seven appearances and four starts this season, and had begun to establish himself as an excellent substitution when United needed hustle and spark in the midfield. Let's hope his recovery is as quick as predicted - no one else has stepped up in this role yet this season.

Debriefing for 12.15: F.C. Dallas

D.C. United 3 : 3 F.C. Dallas

Six Word Novel Recap

Three goals surrendered, two points missed.

Media, Traditional and Otherwise

The Washington Times, Mark Medina: "United scored in the eighth minute, when forward Fred crossed the ball to Moreno, who marched inside the 18-yard line on the right flank. To avoid a slide tackle from FC Dallas defender Clarence Goodson, Moreno passed to forward Luciano Emilio inside the box. Emilio tapped the ball in for the 1-0 lead. Before the end of the first half, Boswell lobbed a well-placed pass to Moreno from midfield. Moreno immediately fed Fred, who headed the ball into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead...Then came United's goal in the second half..."
The Dallas Morning News, Ryan Mink: "FC Dallas (9-6-3) rallied at RFK Stadium to earn a 3-3 tie. A flu-ridden Toja played 83 minutes before leaving the game. He recorded his first two-goal game of the season, netting FC Dallas' second goal in the 71st minute, followed by the game-tying goal on a header in the 81st minute."
The Washington Post, Steve Goff: "D.C. United earned a point... but because of the astonishing way in which the match unfolded, the only thing for United to do afterward was accept it as a loss."
UnitedMania, Jimmy LaRoue: "Soehn rued the team’s lack of organization, but United never seemed to transition from its big lead into closing off the match."
Six Yards North, QJA: "...Perkins let us down. His form not only regressed from last week, but it regressed over the course of those ninety minutes."
The Edgell Supporters: "This felt worse than any loss I have experienced to date."
Poplar Point Perspective: "The referee was very questionable, but not the reason for the loss. He just made it easier for Dallas to come back."
QuarterVolley, I-66: "On the middle goal, you could fault Brian Carroll’s defense, or perhaps Perkins for not coming out and challenging the closing Toja. Overall, after the 3rd United goal, the hunger for victory seemingly ceased to remain." [D - I disagree with this. After the third goal, United did press for the 4th goal to regain the victory, and was better at putting pressure on Dallas. The desire was there, the discipline to maintain the lead earlier was not.]
An American's View, Brian Garrison: "I blame the four defenders. I really do. All three goals were the result of sloppy play on the side of our defense...when you have a 3-0 lead in the second half, the ref could step off the field and you should still be able to win 3-2 at the very least."
BlackDogRed, BDR: "If the problem with the defense was irreparable differences between Boswell and Erpen, if the two of them could not coexist, and the decision to trade Erpen was based on solely soccer evaluation - that Boswell is the better central defender - whoever made that evaluation should be fired. If the problem with the defense was irreparable differences between Boswell and Erpen, if the two of them could not coexist, and the decision to keep Boswell was based on marketing - he's so hunky! - whoever made that decision should be fired."
Also: Screaming Eagles Podcast

The Good

1. Jaime Moreno: As one of those who has been advocating rotating Moreno in among the forwards, let's acknowledge that he was excellent in this game. His vision and pace were miles better than what we saw before Copa America. Here's the thing about Jaime: He can be two kinds of annoying. There's the annoying Jamie who skillfully eludes markers in the box, dancing amid the defenders but never quite pulling the trigger to score the goal. Then there's the annoying Jaime who seems disinterested for most of the game, whose passes are predictable and largely non-productive. This game saw the return of the first type of annoying Jaime, and I was never so happy to be so frusturated. Man, he can still cause problems, and it is beautiful even as you wish he would shoot the damn ball... but can he keep that up in the summer heat?
2. Luciano Emilio: What I like about Emilio is that he scores when he should score. Open net, easy tap-in? He takes those well, and doesn't overhit the shot or try to be too complicated. In that sense, he is the perfect compliment to Moreno. You have to love that.
   
3. Toja: I thought the league was starting to adapt to him. Maybe they are, but United didn't. For the first half, United handled him fairly well, forcing him to pass away when he was streaking forward, and the ball was usually errant and easily handled. The second half he was strong and confident and gutsy. A truly impressive performance.
   

The Bad

1. Brian Carroll: At this point, the unwillingness to start either Olsen or Simms in the CDM role is becoming a major folly. Carroll when playing disciplined was acceptable, but he seemed unable to keep up with the pace of the game, and as a result the game got away from him. In the first half, you may have noticed Ben Olsen consistently making "settle down" type gestures to the team. Brian Carroll needed that advice more than anyone later in the game.
   
2. Vanney and Boswell: The thing about Facundo Erpen is that his boneheaded plays were so spectacular in nature that the eye was naturally drawn to them. Passing it directly to another player? Erpen would do that. Bicycle backpasses? Amazingly, flashingly stupid. Here's the thing: Vanney also commits a lot of poor plays, they're just not flashy and eye catching. Easy headers into a space five yards closer to a Dallas player than a DC player? Poor communication on how to clear a ball? Failure to put his body on a player in a set piece? All things Vanney commited that are just as harmful as Erpen's play. Boswell is getting reamed by BDR above, and while I disagree with the intensity, Boswell was thoroughly pedestrian last night. Boswell is still better than Erpen was, but he shouldn't be better than Vanney is, especially given the fact that Boswell was not particularly good. He's lost some of the bite to his game.
   
3. Perkins: It's already been noted that he's taken the blame for not getting to two balls and shutting down the attack, but the other aspect of the game that was troubling was his distribution, a moment epitomized when he sent a low ball about forty-five yards right to the feet of the Dallas attack.
   
4. Kpene: Some are calling his play poor or lazy. To me, it seemed like he was playing as though he were afraid of reinjuring himself. It wasn't lazy, or bad, but very, very timid. I think the two hamstring injuries may have affected his mental toughness. That's something that will have to be overcome.
   
5. Tim Weyland: It's not that any of his calls were particularly bad, it's that he was calling a different game for Dallas and DC, a problem that accentuated until the 80th minute. Marginal fouls were consistently given to Dallas, and were not given to DC United. It's almost as though he believed that the offside non-call resulting in United's second goal was wrong (it wasn't, look at the Dallas right back [Drew Moor?]) and shaded his calling appropriately. Which is ridiculous. The fact that United starting getting calls after the game was tied really is the kicker, as though he felt it was acceptable to remove the filter at that point. A cynically officiated match.
   

Man of the Match

N/A

Karma Bank

-1 for giving up three goals, since that shouldn't be allowed to happen. However, +1 for dealing with Weyland's officiating, and +1 for playing some smart, nifty passes to generate goals in the first half. +1 for the game, overall EVEN for the season.

Final Thoughts

First, I don't know why Justin Moose is in the dog house. Supposedly the management are upset about his defense, but him not even making the bench means that Soehn had limited options for trying to regain the win after the game was tied. Moose adds attacking fire, something that might have helped at the death.

Second, Soehn's ability to adjust the lineup depending on the time seems to have deserted him. If he was considering locking down the game, why not bring Simms into the match earlier? Why not add in a Burch or Mediate to the defense and push Gros up for Fred? If Soehn is upset about the way the team tactically responded to the three goal lead (you can hear him complaining about sending too many number forward on the SE Podcast) then he should also be honest enough to admit that he didn't do enough himself. It is starting to feel a little Piotr Nowak-esque in terms of the predictability of substitutions, as well as their timing (far, far too late).

Now we head into the all-star break. There's some time for some introspection. The feeling among some of you was that this team was making a run to MLS Cup. I still don't look at this team as the favorite to come out of the East, and personally I think that moves made with an idea of adding a fifth star this year are likely to make the future more untenable and also not likely to reward us with another trophy, the worst of both worlds. United's first five games after the break are a chance for them to change my mind, but that's where I am mentally.

Cliches about Journeys and Single Steps and Associated Kerfluffle

PRET? ALLEZ!: First, Oscar put up our match preview last night, and it is the essential document for getting you ready for tonight. Honestly, I have no idea if United will fair well or poorly tonight (so much will depend on how well Chivas can finish their chances) but I do know that I am excited for this match.

URBAN - RELEASE THE MOOSE SO THE MOOSE CAN BE... WELL, YOU KNOW: Bill Urban tips Justin Moose as a 2006 draft pick who can make a difference. He calls Moose a "combative bundle of midfield energy" which almost sounds like a doting parent talking about a precocious toddler. That seems about right to me.

FRED IS FRED: Dan Loney with what I am now declaring is the definitive take on the "FRED" uniform situation. Personally, I liked the entire "you earn the right to have the first name on the jersey" concept advanced previously by Kevin Payne, and the idea of standards and all, but hey, there's something to be said for cultural sensitivity.

CURSING THE DARKNESS: One of the nice things about the expanding soccersphere is that it gives more chance for me to dissent from other opinions. David over at The Offside: Chivas USA savages Garber's announced changes to the league competition structure. You should read his article, but I do want to take issue with some of it. I'm not afraid to attack the league and its decisions from time to time, but in this situation I think David's got it wrong. He writes:

There is no mention within these new initiatives to increase the player’s wages or accept a Player’s union. Rather the effort is used to hire new scouts for South America and create “world-wide” databases. If you cannot pay your own players and help cultivate the talent within your own country, how do you expect to “scout” for international talent? How do you expect to keep your own players?

First, there is a player's union, which has a Collective Bargaining Agreement in place. Steve Goff has a pretty good breakdown on what it says for the 2007 season. So essentially the players have negotiated what they feel is fair until 2010. Now, this deal can be amended (and indeed probably will be since there's a playoff bonus, and if there are fewer playoff teams then the union probably can demand that the playoff bonus be either increased or distributed as if eight teams made the playoffs instead of six.) The point is, while I agree that MLS salaries for home-grown talent, especially developmental contracts, are disgustingly low, it is what the union has negotiated for. That's how collective bargaining works. As Goff points out, this current deal is an improvement, despite some of the low rates. David's big issue (so far, and I am awaiting part 2 of this series) is that players aren't paid well enough. I agree! But the league and the union made that agreement, and it isn't something Garber can dictate. Now, the other thing at work here is that while the CBA has set minimums, the league sets the cap, and market forces may cause an increase in the cap if developmental players consistently jump to Europe (or, say, Puerto Rico). In that case, it's in the league's interest to go ahead and make money available for more players without waiting for the union to renegotiate.

As for David's conculusion:

The “Game First” initiatives are no more than just a band-aid and are issues that should have been addressed years ago.

Maybe, but for three years I've head a lot about how MLS couldn't find its ass with a map and a flashlight. They're wrong. Over the past two years, MLS has been consistently making moves in the right direction. Sure, there's no single table (but when there are 16 teams I'll bet we see one). Sure, even with only six playoff spots the regular season could still be more meaningful. But the fact is that almost every major change approved by the league over the past two years for competition has been in the correct direction. Yes, more can be done, but I say right now: I am more optimistic about the future of MLS, and the way the league is led, every day. Yes, there are some supreme idiots out there making some decisions, but overall the trend is very positive. We are only a few years from the Florida Contraction, when MLS seemed on the verge of disintegration. We are now in a place where we can be cautiously optimistic about a quality, long-term future for this league. There's more to be said on this, but that's enough for now.