First Impressions -- D.C. United 0 : 0 Real Salt Lake

They say some nil-nil draws can be exciting and dramatic as a scorefest. This was not of them. Tedium was an ever-present blanket at RFK, draping fans and players alike in a humid embrace. It was a game where even Clint Mathis running his mouth like a deranged poodle defending his turf from a mastiff was more a pleasant diversion than a source of interest. Forget Tony Limarzi's excited inflections, this game should have been called by Garrison Keillor. "Well, the news at RFK is of the languid summer, the trees venturing towards green. In soccer at RFK, it is considered impolite to score, since most of the forwards are Lutherans and that sort of excitement might lead to rock and roll."

Even Fred's misses were not as exciting as normal. This match was a volley over the bar, a routine miss instead of the glorious and epic miss from last Wednesday. The Barra was displaying a "Sing or Leave" sign to its faithful, and the match made the second option a serious consideration. Part of this was the lack of engagement from United's attack. Jaimo Moreno was silent for 13 minutes. I had utterly forgotten he was in the game until the 14th minute, when he kicked off a stretch of multiple bad giveaways in the defensive third. The great addition of Moreno was his ability to the hold the ball, right? Not so much.

Similarly, Emilio seemed reluctant to pull the trigger on a shot, passing up chances to try and put the ball right on his foot only to find his momentum had carried him to a difficult angle. Christian Gomez showed a few scant signs of passion, at one point pulling off a classic forty yard sprint with the ball that ultimately went wanting. The only first half player demonstrating any desire to score was Santino Quaranta, and even he ultimately was disgusted but what he saw, even rightfully yapping at Jaime after Jaime never made a run on a nicely headed through ball played by Tino.

That being said, the defense was better. While RSL dominated the shots category in the first half, most of these were distance affairs with little traffic to bother Josh Wicks. At the end of the half he made an excellent stop to preserve the deadlock. In the second half, Wicks came alive, pulling out three excellent saves. Wicks is the first keeper to have a game where the presence of the keeper ultimately saved whatever hope United had for points. Similarly, Marc Burch's game defensively was strong. While his marking off the ball remains a little suspect, his tackling was excellent and timely, and was ultimately crucial in thwarting some RSL advances.

Tom Soehn deserves credit for pulling Moreno at half-time and replacing him with Pontius. The addition of Rodney Wallace two-thirds through also at least added someone willing to make the runs Fred was not. But tactically, this team was consistently trying to play over the top against an RSL back line that seemed content to handle it, boxing Fred or Tino to the side and then turning the play back.

If you decided to pass on the Freedom game and only watch the United match, you made the wrong choice. This game is forgettable, a waste of a strong defensive and keeping effort by an attack that seemed to thing their three day weekend had already begun.

Your man of the match is quite rightfully Josh Wicks. Merit awards to Burch and Tino. Censure to Moreno and Emilio.

Debriefing for Match 14.04: At Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake 2 : 1 D.C. United

Six Word Novel Recap

United plays to not win. Doesn't.

Media, Traditional and Otherwise

The Washington Post, The Goffather: "United showed promising signs again Saturday, going ahead for the fourth straight game, but by halftime the lead was gone, and when Javier Morales scored in the 80th minute, D.C. was headed for a 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake before an announced crowd of 11,793 at rainy Rio Tinto Stadium. "
Desert News, James Edwards: "RSL was forced to fight for 90 minutes against a quality opponent in sloppy conditions, but somehow the players found a way to get the job done even when a draw or even a loss seemed inevitable"
Examiner.Com [DC], Ed Morgans: "United got a goal in the 38th minute from Luciano Emilio - his third of the season - when he headed home a well-placed cross by Chris Pontius from the right side. The goal was one of just two shots on target for United all night long."
Examiner.Com [Utah], Brian Shaw: "Real Salt Lake would answer quickly, however, doing the only thing that seemed to be working offensively for them in the first half, and that’s swinging the ball wide to onrushing midfielders. Will Johnson raced down the left flank, crossing a perfect ball into the middle of the six-yard box, where Jamison Olave awaited, redirecting the cross past the wobbly hands of D.C. goalkeeper Louis Crayton to tie the match at 1-1 going into halftime."
Goal.Com, Randy Davis: "In the 62nd-minute defensive substitute Raphael Cox whipped in a cross from the left wing that Findley was able to get his head on, but the ball popped straight up in the air. Findley was able to head the ball again as it came down, but the ball went well wide of the goal. Findley had another great chance off of a pass over the top by Nat Borchers a minute later, but couldn’t get a shot off with any power as the defender caught up to him and nudged him off the ball. Real Salt Lake was the aggressor from that point on as DC United appeared content to play for the draw."
MLSNet, John Coon: "RSL finally found its game-winner in the 80th minute when Kyle Beckerman tried to find Robbie Findley on a long pass to the top of the box. The ball deflected off Findley somewhat, but Javier Morales -- who trailed him -- managed to track it down. He sliced a shot right past Crayton to give Real their first lead -- an advantage the team never relinquished."
UnitedMania, Chris Webb: "United didn’t mount much of an attack after that energy draining goal and their game long tactic of playing for the draw fizzled out and resulted in United’s fourth loss in a row in the state of Utah (three of which ended in 2-1 losses)."
MLSNet, Jeremy Horton: "Early in the second half, D.C. enjoyed a fair amount of possession, but had trouble turning that possession into scoring chances... Added Soehn: 'I don't think we created enough in the final third.'"
Fullback Files, Fullback: "Gomez looked more active than in the previous matches, at least in the parts of the match I saw. That's encouraging. Where he fell flat on his face for me was in dead ball situations. I'm well and truly aware of the DC United Corner Kick Curse, but come on! At least get the ball high enough to clear the first defender, won't you? By contrast, RSL always looked like they were a danger from corners and free kicks."
RSLBoz, Truhlk: "With the rainy conditions and the ref not making much of an effort to keep up with the run of play, the second half turned into a very ugly game of soccer."

The Good

1. Luciano Emilio, Starting with a Streak: At four matches into the season, Emilio is currently sitting second in the league with three goals. The thing about Emilio is that you can tell when he's feeling good, and you can tell early when he's feeling bad. Right now he looks very good, and a combination of Pontius and Emilio on United's best worked goal as a team this season was a very nice move.
2. Christian Gomez Will Pass to X, Where X is a young D.C. United player: Remember the "Jaime won't pass to Freddy", "Christian won't pass to Freddy" discussions of yesteryear? There was always some truth to those arguments, though not as much as the makers of those arguments pretended. What I like this season is that I don't have any sense of that at all, this team is willing to play everyone in at the appropriate time. Which is good, since the last thing we need is to tie one or two hands behind our backs. Bootsy in the first impressions wondered aloud at "Why the merit for Gomez?" This is why -- if his job is to run the offense, this is the first match where he really seemed involved at using all of the tools at his disposal.
   
3. Marc Burch: After criticizing him early in this season, a more stay-at-home Burch did well against RSL. Both goals had attacks down United's right flank, and while Burch perhaps should have helped cover on the first goal, his blame is tertiarary as opposed to primary. For the most part, this was his best game as a defender (as opposed to a set piece taker) that he's had. Part of that was the quality of opposition, but overall I was pleased.
4. Jakovic = Erpen: My poor spelling from the First Impressions decide, remember that one thing Erpen did very well was recover. I frequently remember him making a ridiculously poor pass to an opposing defender, but then recovering with a difficult tackle to atone for his mistake. Jakovic has that same ability to recover.
   

The Bad

1. Christian Gomez, Dead Ball Specialist: Several places will note that Christian Gomez's corner kicks were fairly atrocius. They were. I count three that didn't clear the first defender, your count may vary. Also, how does Gomez pick up a yellow for dissent? Shouldn't that be the Captain's job?
   
2. Louis Crayton: Ah, we were all worried about him wandering about on the field like an absent-minded greek philosopher in a bath towel, and now he gives up a goal by pushing a ball into the side netting (that'd be the wrong side netting from our perpective).
3. Playing for the Draw: Here's what I want you to think about, and it's important that you do. Playing for the Draw is a Conventional Wisdom tactic, one that United fans that lived through the Rongren and Hudson years can well remember. If Tom Soehn decides to not play for the draw, but to go for the win, then he is likely to give up more goals, and consequently may lose several games where we can say "Why didn't Tom Soehn play it safe?" So if we're going to criticize the play for the draw, or play safe with the one goal lead strategy, we must be willing to accept the consequences of letting some games, and some points, get away from United. Now, there's a potential compromise -- Play safe with the lead, but don't be happy with the draw. I can get behind that. Just so long as we're consistent, right?
4. Jakovic = Erpen:Where Erpen would simply distribute poorly, Jakovic tends to have difficulty on anything in the air, a huge liability for the single central back of a 3-5-2. Now, he's young, which helps, so perhaps Jakovic's huge problem can be tought out of him. This is a positioning problem, not a brain-fart problem. I tend to think training can help more with the former, and a psychologist more with the latter.
5. Rodney Wallace: While I've been mostly positive, his poor touch on Emilio's back heel made me cry. What I think excites people, including me, about Rodney are his attacking instincts, his willingness to make some smart runs off the ball. What's frustrating is the execution of the same when the ball comes.
   
6. Francis Doe, Santino Quaranta, Come from Behind Subs: One thing that we still haven't seen this year is what happens to United if they give up the first goal. Now, ten minutes is not a particularly long time to see how a team will respond to being down a goal, but can you say you were comforted in any way? Doe for Gomez (and moving Pontius back into the middle) did not seem to be particulary effective. Tino seemed marginally better, but if I rate players, I doubt I would have rated either. There just was nothing going on.
7. Clyde Simms, On-Field Leader and Captain: There is a place for a cerebral leader, typically on a young team that's impulsive and undisciplined. However, on a team with Moreno up top, earnest rookies like Pontius and Wallace who seem to be focusing on keeping their heads down, and Bryan Namoff in the back, Ben Olsen's fire seems like the appropriate leader, one who'll yap and step up and play the role of a larger ego on the field. Clyde, and I love Clyde, is just too quiet. He needed to be the one yapping at Kevin Stott, not Christian Gomez. He needed to be the one to bring the fire with Ben Olsen out. Clyde's a capable player, and I can see him credibly as a leader, just not sure he's right to be the leader on this team at any given point.
   

Officiating Watch

I was all set to give Kevin Stott a positive rating, but the more I think about it, the more I think he may have been a tad trigger happy on the early yellow to Javier Morales. The Wingert and Borcher yellows both seemed legitimate as cynical fouls. For the most part, I feel pleased with the officiating this season. Really. That's kind of stunning.

Likert Scale Grade: 3 - Average

Karma Bank

Was United unlucky to lose the point at any time? Not particularly. In fact, United may have been fortunate that Salt Lake didn't notch a second or third goal earlier. As a result, had United earned a draw or win, there would have been a karma transaction, but with the loss the account was settled in the game. No change, +1 for the season.

Man of the Match

N/A

Final Thoughts

It is interesting to think that a DC fan with Fox Soccer Net will now have seen twice as many Washington Freedom games on TV than United games. I have no commentary on whether this is fitting or not, it's just a side note. I'm sure others have noted this already. CSN is, I am sure, keeping their schedule open for the Caps post-season run, and more power to them.

I still feel the same about this match as I did when it occured -- Ah, there you are 2-1 loss. You're overdue.

The interesting thing about New England this Friday is that New England seems to be the kind of team that United wants to be. Get a goal early, lock it down. They probably will do that better than anyone else in the league this year. When looked at it from this perspective, the idea of giving up an early goal is chilling.

So, as a fan, here's what I say. If United starts cautious, then so be it. But if they get an early goal themselves, or the match stays level, it is time to throw caution to the wind, right? I mean, really, do we want to be the Revolution?

And doesn't this make the Revolution the most poorly named team in the league? If anything, they conservativeness is shocking, it would be like the people rose up and asked, no demanded, that khakis and polo shirts be our national uniform and that we all allocate 6% of our pre-tax earnings to our IRAs. A revolution of young Republicans. Steve Nicol, as played by David Spade.

First Impressions - Real Salt Lake 2 : 1 D.C. United

Call it the opposite of last week. This was a more entertaining match, with United having stretches of strong possession and creative attacks. At the same time, Real Salt Lake had the edge over the course of all ninety minutes, and the result is a fair reflection of a game where RSL was one goal better than United. This was an enjoyable match, for a neutral. We are not neutrals. Therefore this match is an abomination.

Seriously, if you want to know, this is my nightmare, but this is also my expectation. Part of me felt that this game will be precisely the kind of match I expect to see this year: A game with moments for United, but ultimately a goal down. In some ways, United was fortunate that they surrendered the one goal lead as quickly as they did, as it forced them to play a little longer into the second half to try and get the win. However, once the decision was made to settle for the point on the road, then it fell apart. The final goal is not so much as result of bad marking, or a great shot, though certainly you may wish to argue both of those. No, in my mind it was presaged by the United midfield falling back as RSL took position down United's right flank. United midfielders drifted receded like seaweed pulled in the undertow. We were looking to find our shape in defense, not pressure the ball. We wanted to build the bunker, not stop the enemy from coming to our door. And so it went.

Where there other options, better options? I am a fan, not a coach, so for me the concept of settling for a point on the road is inherently abhorrent. As a coach, I suppose there is a certain attraction. Gregg Easterbrook has frequently made the argument that coaches play the conventional wisdom because they don't get fired for it. Fair enough. And Tom Soehn's choices were inherently conventional, safe choices. Without Ben Olsen and Jaime Moreno, he elected to throw McTavish into midfield and pull Pontius back into center when Doe arrived. Quaranta was a move only after United found itself down, and that too was conventional (a more aggressive move might have been to move Q to withdrawn forward, as opposed to wing, and play a 3-2-2(bucket)-Q-2, but that would not have been conventional play, and to be fair would easily have opened up United's flanks to a third goal.)

So we arrive at United's first loss of the year, and it feels as if an annoying acquaintance has shown up to your party, but an hour late, just as you were hoping that he might not remember the invitation you extended out of some strange social obligation. But in your heart, you knew he was coming, and he'd tell his bad jokes, and hit on your friends, and double-dip into the guacamole. All we can hope is that he didn't bring a sleeping bag, and leaves next week at RFK.

No man of the match. Merit to Pontius, Emilio, Gomez. Censure to Clyde Simms (who deserves the armband, but needs to add more fire), Crayton (some nice saves, but if you thought the odd rebound disappeared with Wicks, well, this game would change your mind), and Wallace. We need to discuss BDR's assertion that Janicow = Erpen (a theory that gained some support tonight, but there is good and bad in that), and we need to talk of Andrew Jacobson as well.

Debriefing for Match 13.05: Real Salt Lake

D.C. United 4 : 1 Real Salt Lake

Six Word Novel Recap

Revenge is best served at home.

Media, Traditional and Otherwise

The Washington Times, John Haydon: "Moreno, the league's all-time leader in penalty kick goals, converted two more and assisted on another goal, leading United to a 4-1 win over Real Salt Lake at RFK Stadium last night before 23,269."
The Washington Post, Steve Goff: "Though well rested, well prepared and highly motivated, United was plodding and predictable in the early going and lost Brazilian wing Fred to a bruised quadriceps after 22 minutes. His replacement, Burch, influenced the game right away."
UnitedMania, Mike Martin: "Poor Nicky could only shake his head ruefully and wax philosophic after the match. 'He makes a living off PKs. I think he’s made 203 career goals off PK’s. No, especially at home I’d say one hundred percent. I just want to guess the right way and at least get a touch. But what are you going to do.'"
RSL Malcontent, "I know a lot of people will probably complain about the referee. Frankly, the first PK I thought was just an incidental hand ball by Kovalenko and should have just been played, no call. He didn't make a move to redirect the ball in any way, he was sliding and it hit him. As for the second PK, while I thought it was a bit soft, it was still a good call. Any time you slide, especially in the box, from behind a player, and block him from shooting, without really playing the ball, you will get called. It was one of those calls that even the ref probably knew was soft, but it was so clearly in the box and was certainly not something for an indirect kick, he had no choice but to award the PK."
Behind the Badge, The Management: "Winning is way better than losing."
BLCKDGRD, BDR: "Meaning, all applause for avoiding the horrific, but little credit for beating a team United should have knocked out in the first twenty minutes. All applause for avoiding the crisis another embarrassing home loss would have created, but nothing I saw assures me the crisis has been averted rather than just delayed. Hope, but."
DCUMD, Shatz: "Seriously though, it's strange how starkly different this match was from the match played by the same two teams just two weeks ago. DC United dominated, especially in the second half. Let's just hope this result won't be followed up by a series of letdowns like the last time we had a 4-1 victory at home."
The Offside - D.C. United, Jon: "Gallardo was putting his stamp on the game in the midfield. And his goal HAS to win goal of the week, once they put up the link, I’ll post it here, and make you vote for it under the threat of violence. When he keeps the ball, he’s a force. Right now, there are no forwards who are reading his passes correctly."
Fighting Talker, Aaron Stoller: "Now that is what fans expected of this team. I was struck by just how good the attack looked in general and by how much they seemed to do it in spite of Emilio. While he did draw a penalty, he looked like he was in a fog for most of the match. He and Gallardo still do not appear on the same page but, and this is the important thing, rather than just continuing to try the same Gallardo-to-Emilio plan over and over again - they evolved."

The Good

1. Marcello Gallardo: First off, his goal is the leading candidate for goal of the year. I remember back to the DCU v. Chelsea game when Sean Wright-Phillips dropped and easier one-time side volley into the net. United fans basically shrugged it off as MLS defending, not that MLS defended worse, just they never had to deal with a player who was dangerous when one-timing a cross. MLS is a changing. As for the rest of Gallardo's game, I think Aaron said it best in the part I quoted above. He and Emilio still aren't linking up like they should, but we are starting to see DC adjust its game to Marcello. Hopefully we can see more of these adjustments and the fruits of that knowledge in games to come.
2. Key Coaching Decision Making: After the first RSL game this blog took Tommy to task for playing a system that just didn't work with reserve players, the 3-4-3. It seemed that Tommy could make changes to the way United played but when he found something that they won with he would run with it until problems arose. It remains to be seen if he continues with the 3-5-2, or if that was just a tactical decision for this game, but either way it worked for this game. Starting Sratford was interesting, but got a young player some valuable experience and helped clog up the midfield to hinder Kyle Beckerman. Taking off Stratford when we lost some of our possession game when Fred had to come out was a good move that many coaches would have waited on too long. Add to this that Kirk got some time at the end of the game and we can't really fault Tommy at all for his in game decisions.
   
3. Wing Play: A United with width this year is going to be three times as dangerous as one without. Without Gomez stretching the field vertically United is going to need players stretching the field horizontally so that teams don't key in on Gallardo and Moreno. Though Burch isn't as good as Fred, he played left-mid in a more traditional role and it showed how much of the field Fred leaves unused. Quaranta on the other side really brought a lot more to attack down the right, I don't know if I would play him there all of the time, but against less attacking minded wingers he might be a good choice until Benny comes back.
   
4. Jaime Moreno: Jaime played better than he has all season. I think this is in part him and Marcelo understanding each other better. But I also think that this was partly due to Soehn telling the team to shoot more. Jaime doesn't really shoot all that much, but when the rest of his team is the defenders have to respect his shot as well. It is when nobody is shooting that we see Jaime get dispossessed a whole lot more than he should.
   

The Bad

1. Emilio: Still isn't in form. Still don't know why.
   
2. Wells: Still doesn't have the communication down with his defense. This is probably just the learning curve for a young keeper in his first starting role. However, he needs to show improvement so that United can be confident going into some of the big games it will play later in the season.
   
3. Final Third?: I don't know if this should be here or not but it seems like DC really didn't have any good chances until after the PKs were given and Salt Lake was pushing forward. If United is going to be a dominate team this year they are going to have to be able to break down bunkering team, and RSL wasn't even bunkering, just playing high pressure defense.
   

Officiating Watch

Baldomero Toledo called a very interesting match. Without the PK calls, it seemed to be a very well called match which I didn't have too many complaints about. However he did make two penalty kick calls for United and I really don't know what to make of them. I think both were legitimate calls while both being "soft" at the same time. Frankly if I had called the first I wouldn't have called the second. I would have called the shirt pull right outside of the box on Emilio, in fact that is what I thought he called at first, wondering why it was a PK. Let's just hope this was payback for the 2006 game at RSL and not karma United will have to deal with later in the season.

Likert Scale Grade: 4 - Above Average (Note - I have no idea what this is)

Man of the Match

Moreno. I think I was ready to go with Santino right after the game, but thinking back Moreno really did more. I think he takes it home, but I am still open to discussion.

Adjusted Results

As I said earlier I would have given one of the two penalties. I think the adjusted result should be +1 goal for D.C, for a final score of DC 3 : 1 RSL. For the season, D.C. United's adjusted record is 2-2-1 (7pts); 10GF, 11GA, -1GD.

Final Thoughts

Much better, now just do it again. Basically, I am wary of United's up and down mentality. A 4-1 win is nice, but not if you lose two games right after it. DC needs to show more consistency. I don't know how they do that other than win against Colorado, but I do know that they need to be better over the long term. I hope this is a corner that United is turning, but I fear that this is just a blimp while they let down next game. At the same time I am happy with the performance I don't think that we can use this game to overturn what happened in the first couple of games without more evidence. I guess I am optimistic, but cautiously so.

First Impressions - DC United 4 : 1 Real Salt Lake

Well that was better than the last time these two teams played. There were good things that United brought to this game that has been lacking in the past two. United actually shot the ball. Amazing as that sounds you could tell by the 10th minute that Tommy told the team to take more shots. The wing play was some of the best I have have seen this year. Quaranta did very well on the wing and Burch playing the more traditional winger really spread the field for the rest of the offense. I am really liking Santino this year, he has been playing much better than I have ever seen him. His goal was a thing of beauty, and was a welcome respite from penalty kicks (the pks were a welcome respite from being shut out.) Gallardo's goal was just jaw dropping.

I was happy with United's performance but problems still exist. I don't want to be that guy who is unhappy with a 4 -1 win, but the first two were penalty kicks. Those scores changed the game and opened up the field for the goals later on in the game. It seems like United can score when teams are open and pressing but when everybody is back they have a hard time breaking down a defense. I am also worried that the two teams United have beaten so far were the two worst teams last year. Don't get me wrong, DC looked much better. I like the progress, but I don't want to say the ugly is over. I can only hope that it is. We will see what happens against a good Colorado team next week.

Coffee with Sweet Creamery Butter

GARTH LAGERWEY TO REAL SALT LAKE: As if sending them previous DCU players wasn't enough, now they want former color commentators. Anyways, congrats to Garth on his new job as General Manager in Salt Lake. Now, there is an interesting subtext here for those that want to think about it. At the SE Pub Quiz back in April, someone might have heard Garth speculating that his playing days in MLS ended a bit prematurely perhaps because of his involvement trying to unionize players. A bit of management payback, if you will. (By the way, if that's the case, and I don't know if it is or not, but any front office official that got rid of a decent keeper to make a collective bargaining point should be fired. Just saying.)

The interesting thing is now Garth is across the table for the Union he worked so hard to create. Wonder how that will play out.

And no, I never liked the Sweet Creamery Butter call, and if you notice he hasn't used it much in recent games. That being said, I thought he was a capable color commentator, and if he's as capable in the General Manager role, I think RSL will improve.

IS IT TIME TO PLAY "ROOT FOR WHO CAN HELP US?": Of course it is. Here's my guide to the upcoming games:

• CHI-DAL Root for a Chicago win. Two reasons for this. First, Dallas is a potential Supporter's Shield competitor, and Chicago isn't. Second, I don't want Chicago all riled up with must-win thoughts when we face them. Let them have the three points in this game, and hopefully (okay, not realistically, but still) they'll be a bit more complacent facing DC.
• CLB-TOR Root for whomever you want, no real implications to this match.
  
• NE-RBNY Root for a draw and tons of cards. From a supporter's shield perspective, a New England loss is better, but that would somehow mean rooting for the Bulls. Not gonna happen.
• COL-RSL: I hate to say this, but you should root for the Rapids. I'd rather have four seeds from the East than five, so I want Colorado to overtake Chicago for that eighth playoff spot. Since we're also rooting for Chicago, we need Colorado to keep pace here. That being said, a draw will do nicely as well. And wish Garth well on his first game.
• KC-CHV: Supporter's Shield implications mean rooting for Kansas City. Chivas is still only two points behind once games in hand are factored in, and we need them to drop points.
• DAL-LA: Root for LA. Let's get Dallas out of the Supporter's Shield picture.
  

Coffee for the rest week

A few notes and such, and then I have some posts I want to write during this brief moment when we're out of the constant stretch of games and can broaden our vision for a moment (before narrowing it for the final five regular season matches):

UNITED ACQUIRE MONTEIRO: The interesting thing here is the phrase "conditional pick." Typically, this means a pick that depends on the amount of playing time Monteiro will see. However, United does not have a #1 pick in the 2008 Superdraft (we traded that to Toronto to get Dyachenko back), which means that at best we traded a second round pick for someone that was drafted in the first round. More likely, the value of this pick will be between the third and fourth rounds. Now, is that a bargain? Probably not. Monteiro was a bit of a reach as a first round pick, he never made Carrick's list of the top 10 strikers, and JoeSoccerFan's analysis of the draft admired his instincts but hated his finishing. Whatever United traded for him is probably closer to his true value on draft day than the first round selection would have indicated. And that's before he's had a season's worth of evaluation with an MLS side.

That being said, both Kpene and Addlery may be made a bit nervous by this. Addlery is the most likely to be displaced: Monteiro is a bit younger and Addlery, and my impression is that Kpene has shown better in his time with the first team. The only reason that Kpene might be a bit nervous is that Guy-Roland Kpene is taking a Youth International slot which Monteiro would not.

WEEKEND RESULTS: Nice to see Chivas drop a few points against Colorado (Credit-where-it-is-due note: I-66 saw this in the cards. Still, United is playing with less than a one game margin of error in its upcoming matches (assuming Chivas wins its remaining game-in-hand on United). While I'm willing to overlook the Chicago match for now, given the number of people out for accumulated cautions, the four games after that may each have must win status in terms of the Supporter's Shield. Especially if United drops points against an improved Chicago side.

And I did watch some tivoed Women's World Cup games. Hooray for the US winning over Sweden, and all of that, but that Germany-England match was my favorite. Tense, cagey, smart soccer with some gaffs to liven things up, as well as some good end-to-end action. If MLS nil-nil draws were as enjoyable, people wouldn't worry about goal scoring so much.

NOTED: RSL blogger RSLFM visited RFK for the United-RSL tilt, and overall had favorable impressions of the match and crowd (except for a run-in with Talon.) A good read. One question: Who let her have an Eagles ticket and wear an RSL jersey? For shame, kids, for shame. (I know, it was the more tolerant 133 section... still, it seems a bit off to me).

Coming up in a bit: The big-lie told by the pointy-ball marketers, and a discussion of the strange quirk in the MLS Playoffs that punishes success.

Some People Never Learn, Others Don't Realize They Are Learning

Freddy, I try and be nice to you, and then you go say something like this:

"Speed is my game and DC United's attack wasn't suited to my strengths," he [Adu] says. "I was playing out of position and I had to change my game around so much. Now, I'm so much more relaxed. My coaches and teammates are awesome. My confidence level is as high as it's ever been."

Well, I'm glad that more relaxed and confident as the Real Salt Lake #10.

Oh, wait, you're not the #10? Who is? Mehdi wha-now?

That's right, Jason Kreis has you playing the same position for RSL as you were playing with DCU last season: On the left, on the wing. The difference is, of course, that Jason Kreis is asking you to do it, and not Piotr Nowak, who you never really trusted. That's okay, I understand that. Piotr was a prickly and problematic coach for more than just one player, so the fact that you accept the same advice from a new coach and not an older one doesn't surprise me. Just... if you really thought about it, you might realize that Piotr and Jason were both right. That people you dislike can occasionally still see the truth of things. Of course, that's a profound insight, one that many of us don't accept even later in life. But if you were to accept that... well, it would say a lot.