Urban to United: "Ugly Ugly Ugly"

Normally I write these lists where I point out three to four stories and offer a few comments on each. Today I see a bunch of stuff that's interesting, most of which merits its own post in response. So I'll try and get to each with a post, but first some quick hits: DCU draft pick Ricky Schramm has signed with Richmond. United has again gotten Spanish language radio signed up at WACA 1540AM. And Emilio is up for Goal of the Week honors, but personally I'd go with Sacha Kljestan's strike myself.

Now, on to business...

Bill Urban calls out D.C. United in his Week 1 review at U.S. National Soccer Players. Some highlights:

Bad: Christian Gomez. After opening United's CONCACAF Champions' Cup campaign with two goals against Olimpia, Gomez has become less of a factor with each successive match, and was virtually a passenger against Colorado. Not the best way to earn a larger contract, or to attract suitors from foreign clubs either.

Now, I think Gomez was moderately effective against Chivas in Leg #2, but the point is probably correct. Gomez disappearing does not help. With all the concern about Moreno and fixture fatigue, Gomez, too, is occasionally prone to fading away when tired legs meet tough, physical marking. It's not just disappointing, it can be dangerous. Gomez helps us hold the ball, and when that isn't happening then every miscue from the defensive midfield, and the natural weaknesses of a three man backline, become all the more apparent. Which brings us to the second call-out from Urban.

Bad: Playing a 3-5-2 formation in Dick's Sporting Goods Park. When your back three are less than nimble and the field width measures at a healthy 80 yards, there will be trouble. Fernando Clavijo clearly did his homework, with Colorado's wide midfielders doing plenty of damage to a United side that simply had no answer to the pace of Herculez Gomez and Terry Cooke.

Here's where I dissent. Urban is clearly seeing the acres of the space afforded to Cooke and H. Gomez, and concluding that a three-man backline is to blame. That's not how I see it at all. Consider: Two goals, one off of a corner kick where marking was more to blame than anything, and the other off of a build-up that came up the middle. Yes, Gomez and Cooke were finding some space on the side, but that space was more illusory than real. Erpen and Namoff, assisted by Moose and DeRoux, were able to contain these mini jail-breaks, exactly as they are supposed to. The real problem was that the 3-5-2 gave no advantage in holding the ball around the midfield stripe. If there was any defensive weakness that was exploited, it resulted not in the goals, but in the seven corner kicks that United surrendered. (But one of those corner kicks after wing penetration led to the goal. Doesn't that undercut your argument? Yes, a bit, but the argument that Urban is making was that the 3-5-2 is deterministic in a bad performance given United's personnel. Given that my problems with the team were in distribution from Carroll and others in the back, and poor passing in the middle, as well as overly relying on Emilio, I don't blame the 3-5-2 for that. I blame execution, and feel that this personnel could have made a 3-5-2 work. Now, perhaps another formation would have been better, but that's not the argument advanced either.)

In Denial

COVER: I don't get paid to take flak for Steve Goff, but the headline at Goal.Com of "Sarachan blasts Zidane-Fire Link" seems a bit excessive. Careful reading of Steve Goff at Soccer Insider makes it clear exactly what Goff's information is, and Sarachan's comments do not directly contradict Goff in any way. We've all (other than Miss Chatter) seen All the President's Men, and we know what a non-denial denial is.

GONE: The David Stokes Experiement is over. The Ricky Shramm Experience is relocating. Neither strikes me as particularly surprising, but I think both of them could catch on as a reservist elsewhere.

NOT FORGOTTEN: Jimmy LaRoue on the end of Matchnight, and the rebirth of UnitedMania. Congratulations on the upcoming nuptials Jimmy, and I hope you are as lucky in your choice of spouse as I have been in mine. You'll know if she starts emailing you links where a writer trashes Landycakes. That's love.

RETURN: It's been a long time, but I think I have to write a match preview this week. Wow. I'm probably going to keep the debrief format we've been working with, but the preview format is in flux. Anything you'd like to see? One of the things I'd like to do this year is write the six word novel preview and recap of every game, but I'm open to suggestions on other things.

Past and Present

KNOW THE PRESENT: In DC, when any personality makes it to all five of the Sunday Morning Talk political shows on the same day, it's supposedly known as "The Full Ginsberg". I propose that when a soccer personality manages to hit The DCenters and the DC Sports Bog on the same day, it should be known as "The Full Needham."

Ricky Schramm gets his student newspaper bio: "Who needs David Beckham? We’ve got Rick Schramm." That's the kind of arrogance we appreciate.

Soccer365 lets you know that the Coach likes the Luciano.

KNOW THE PAST: Pretty much all the mainstream media were quick to invoke "Pele and the Cosmos" after the David Beckham signing. That's why it is pretty nice that the Washington City Paper decided on another historical allusion: Johann Cruyff and the Diplomats. It's nice to know that chain smoking soccer personalities have a rich DC Soccer tradition. Perhaps at some point I should put up an image of my Ben Olsen autographed pack of Camel Reds? (No, Concerned Parents of America, he didn't smoke any of them. He just signed it.)

Washington Post Odds and Ends

Goff had an online chat today. Good stuff as always.

Also, he has more information on the Emilio signing. Luciano is making about $200,000 a year, for four years. Notice how Goff reports the Beckham contract correctly, unlike a majority of other sports writers across the world.

The sports Bog had this great story on draft day, and though it was in our comments section thanks to one of our readers we never linked to it until now. Good stuff about United's G'town draft pick, Ricky Schramm.

Leonard Shapiro has an intersting article on Beckham's signing, which is one of the better articles I have read on the matter. But most interesting to United fans when he parapharases Kevin Payne.

In Washington, he [PAYNE] pointed out, cable ratings for D.C. United games on Comcast were about equal to ratings for Wizards regular season games and about 2 1/2 times greater than numbers for the Capitals.

First off, everyone knows that both the Wizards and the Capitals have a lot more games than D.C. United. So they obviously make more money because of that, just like they do in attendance. Some people knew that United had better ratings that the Caps. But, I had no idea that United was basically even with the Wizards in ratings. That is very interesting, and these numbers are a good sign for D.C. United's future.

DCU's #11 Selection Is...Bryan Arguez, Midfielder. Brad North selected 2nd round. Needham and Schramm in 3rd.

UPDATED: And it's Bryan Arguez. A project, to some degree, central midfielder holding type. Interesting choice...Not sure the one I would have made (Findlay being on the board still) but one that could work out. May fall under the "this guy is safe, let's get him" theory.

What do people say? Buzz Carrick rated him as the #3 Midfielder in the draft, noting he's a good linking and posession midfielder with "upside". Jeff Carlisle had him projected as the #9 pick: "Arguez is described as a player with great tools who is incredibly comfortable on the ball." In short, the more I look at this, the more it makes sense as a "Best available talent" selection. Which is fine with me. The fact that he's a Generation Adidas player doesn't hurt either.

This may not have been the pick I would have made, but it's not a bad pick. It doesn't address a need, but it's tough to do that in the draft. Working with Simms, Olsen, and perhaps even the Carroll brothers... you have a player that can contribute in a few years.

Kinney's Take: I agree with the above. Very much a "best available talent" pick. Which IMHO is the way to in the superdraft.

SECOND ROUND: BRAD NORTH (F-Northwestern) -- Our Rod Dyachenko for this year? Led Northwestern with 9 goals and 2 assists in his Senior Year. A pick from off the radar of most, I'm guessing. Nice to grab a forward.

Kinney's Take: Ranked 20th of the forwards by Buzz. First player picked not invited to either the combine or Generation Adidas. Hopefully this is just more great scouting by the DC Front Office, but we're just hoping at this point. Could be the next Van Sicklen as well. Here is his School Bio.

THIRD ROUND: Jay Needham (D - Southern Methodist University). For a kid who got rave reviews in the Combine, he fell a long way. DC picks him up, and at first blush it seems like great value. From College to the Pros praised his size and awareness, and Joe Soccer Fan said he read the game well. This seems like a good pick at this late in the game. Add a defensive reservist to develop, which is something we need.

Kinney's Take: Great pick this late. I wanted him in the second round. Makes the North pick okay even if he doesn't pan out in my mind. Buzz has him rated 5th out of all defenders. He has problems with pace, but should be good as a back-up. Basically a younger Prideaux with more ball handling skills, won't be as savy, but United can teach that.

D: Totally in agreement with that. Allows us to still take a flyer with our other 3rd round pick. Good stuff here.

THIRD ROUND: RICKY SCHRAMM (F - Georgetown). Anyone? I have no idea. Kinney, what you got?

Kinney's Take: I've got nothing. 21st on Buzz's Forward Rankings. 2004 Big East Player of the Year. Waiting on what JoeSoccerFan thinks of this pick. Hopefully it is one of the ones he was holding close to his chest because he thought we could get him in the Supplemental. But I don't know. Buzz calls him a sleeper pick, but apparently he is very streaky.

FOURTH ROUND: LUIS ROBLES (GK - Portland): This seems like a "Have him in the pocket" pick. Robles wasn't at the Combine, but that's okay. Robles was the 3rd rated keeper from Carrick. Wynalda mentions Nick Rimando, the the absurdly high save total indicates that Robles has some reflexes along those lines. One of those "Hey, why not?" picks. Look, it's the fourth round, you're not going to be wowed, all you can hope for is that you don't get a "What are they thinking" pick. This is fine.

Kinney's Take: This is the goalkeeper that we wanted all along folks. I don't know that for a fact but Goff said that United might draft a goalkeeper and Robles is one of the better ones. Didn't play for a big name team, but he has been on the fringe of the youth national team for while now. Not sure how I feel about taking a goalkeeper, but I think this is exactly what DCU was looking for with this pick. By the way D, Carrick moved him up to second after he wrote the ESPN article, maybe because Noble didn't show much at the combine.