Starting 11
I think Soehn will come out with his normal 3-5-2 like so:

———————-Crayton—————————
————Burch—–Jakovic—–Namoff—————-
——————–Olsen—Simms———————-
——Wallace——————————Pontius——
————————Gomez————————–
—————Emilio———–Moreno——————

If this line-up looks familiar, its because it is the same line-up Soehn has been using all year and will likely never change. I can see Fred, Quaranta, and Barklage coming in for Wallace, Moreno, and Gomez in the 2nd half if we have the lead.

Tommy Talks some Smack:
I came across this quote today on the examiner website: “We thought about training in our parking lot to try to emulate what our game is going to be like,” said Soehn. “But there was a little too much gravel. It’s hard because even if we go onto our [artificial turf] field it’s not even close to how it plays there… it plays too much like grass.”

Hey Tommy, talking smack about the field at Giants Stadium before the game doesn’t count as a reason for you not to prepare the team and then use the turf as an excuse for us losing tomorrow

DC came out and dominated the first half, scored their goal, and went into halftime with a lead.

They came back out a different team, and were hurt by a mistake by backup keeper, Josh Wicks. Sloppy passing, poor shot selection, and questionable decisions by DC players led to the draw and to the feeling of disappointment that was evident in the crowd at RFK.

Speaking of the crowd, it as a little sparse. The loud side was taking care of business and standing for 90, but the quiet side was dead, and not very populated. Disappointing for a home opener. Do better next week, people.

Bryan Namoff. What were you doing? I counted at least 4 or 5 times where Namoff carried the ball way up into the attack and was caught in possession. I apologize to Bryan if Tommy was asking him to do that, but if not…c’mon.

Benny was fantastic, and the little episode with Blanco which isn’t being talked about anywhere was awesome. Basically, Blanco ran into Ben, and Ben pushed him off. Blanco then faked jab stepped around him (which made no sense), and then Ben shoulder charged him. He was already on a yellow, so I thought that was his Zidane-esque moment of madness, but the referee yelled at Blanco to stop diving. Hilarious.

I tried to twitter updates, but I can tell you right now, that isn’t going to happen. Sorry. Follow the DCUnited twitter updates, they get paid to not watch the game.

Thoughts?

Where to begin? Oh, I know. Greater than the win, or the crowd, or beating Becks. Ben Olsen, heart and soul of DC United, stepped back on the pitch for the time this season. Did he look great? No. Did it matter? Not at all. It was an amazing sound when Benny stepped back on the pitch, as the Barra and every fan who know was going on stood up and cheered Benny. It was wonderful, and the most emotional moment of the day.

As for the rest of the game, you can’t argue with 4 goals. The first half was spotty at time, and more goals should have been converted against a spotty LA defense. I felt bad for Cronin, because not too many goals were his fault today. Donovan had a gripe with Gallardo, and the fourth official is a blind man, which was good for us. Fred was again poor, with no real positive impact on the game. Peralta, who many BigSoccer people have problems with, is an all or nothing player. He always seems to either make a big play, or make a massive blunder. As a midfielder, you can get away with that sometime, but as a centerback, those mistake often translate directly to goals. Zach Wells did much better today, with three strong saves that I can remember.

Ratings: Wells 7, Martinez 8 (He locked Becks down), Peralta 5, McTavish 6, Namoff 7, Quaranta (NR), Burch 7, Gallardo (there will be a big post about him this week) 7, Fred 5, Simms 6, Moreno 8, Emilio 9, Dyachenko 6, Olsen 100 (I know, I know. More like an NR, but, it’s my blog so whatever)

What did you think?

I will repeat the phrase used everywhere else, and numerous times throughout Sports Cliche history. Sometimes you win ugly, but you still win. That’s really the most apt way of describing what occurred on Sunday. The first half was 45 minutes of half chances, and frustrating missed opportunities. Nicole and I sat in the sun and baked in Section 127. At half, we decided to try different seats so we can pick our season seats for next year. We tried the quiet side, at about midfield, and I’m not sure how I feel. Nice to look at the Brava, but I kind of like being on that side too. We’ll see how that shakes out.
Enough about me, DC was a much better team in the second half, with crisper passes, and were getting all the bounces. Clyde Simms was the recipient of one lucky bounce, and Emilio got the other one.
But the man I voted for to be MOTM (and was) scored a BEAUTIFUL goal and was dominant the entire game. Gonzalo Martinez, best pickup of the offseason. The problem now is, where do we put him? We compromise the center when he gets to bomb up the wings, but he’s done so well at it, maybe it would easier to pick up another defender and let him do his thing?
Zach Wells. Please, stop. I’m sure you’re a nice guy, but you are a backup.
I’m not going to do ratings for the SJ game, because it was too long ago now, and I’d be guessing on some players.

I promise a big writeup for the next game, as I think there might be a few people there. I don’t know, I’ve heard some things.

Well, that was a barn burner! It didn’t start out that way with weak wing play in the first half, bad touches by key players, and indecision in the final third. But the second half was a different story.

I will leave the recaps to the professionals, but I will give you my observations about things that stood out.

Fred-7 (started off very weak, and showed that he doesn’t have a left foot in any capacity. looked much better when he moved to the center alongside Quaranta)

Emilio-7 (showed some hustle, but looked harmless in the first half. second half, it was good old fashioned poaching Emilio)

Quaranta-9 (put a stamp on the game with great vision, good touch, and three assists. he looked a little pissed at first when his shot was blocked and Emilio put it in, but it looked like he realized that was kind of dick, and went to congratulate Emilio. should start next match)

Niell-6 (if endeavor and effort was all the game is about, Niell would be a superstar. but its not, so he isn’t, and he acted like Ruiz out there. want to see better)

That’s it for tonight. What did you all think?Barra