OPO: Other People’s Opinion (Basking in the Afterglow)

By: jon | June 30th, 2008

These are the kind of Monday mornings I can deal with. I have been scouring the internet for media about yesterday’s game, for the sole reason that I want to keep reliving it. We beat a team that has a bigger band wagon than any other team in MLS, and we did it in 90 degree temps. It wasn’t always pretty, and the team has some issues with turnovers in the midfield. Not all of the players are firing on all cylinders, but the fact that we’re able to grind out the games and get results now, on games that we would have lost at the start of the season, is a positive sign.

Some tidbits for you on this Monday morning:

- From the UnitedMania podcast (which I listen to every Monday), it looks like Santino’s hamstring, which pulled him from Sunday’s game in the 25th minute, is serious enough to warrant an MRI. An acronym no DC fan likes to see.
- Here’s a interview with our boy, Ben, on his return and the fans’ support.

-Here’s one of Coach Soehn:

Here’s the wrap up from Comcast.

“I’m disappointed with the way it went in the second half,” said Beckham, whose appearance helped United draw roughly double its usual crowd. “We lost our way. We kept giving the ball away, and we didn’t play well. It was hot out there, but it was more than that today.”

Yes it was more than that, David.

-An interesting post at Booked for Dissent about the difference between Ben Olsen’s return and the plight of Claudio Reyna in New York. He also noticed something about Beckham which made him think very highly of Goldenballs.

- ESPNSoccernet’s Recap of the game. Gotta love this lead-in…

WASHINGTON – The motion of Moreno and control of Emilio trumped bending it like Beckham and the emotion of Landon Donovan in D.C. United’s 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday.

Niiiiice.

- The Washington Times ascribing our success to having Latin players. Okay.

- Goff’s recap. Good as always. The Post also ran a side bar on Ben, which you should check out.

- Behind the Badge with their Quote motherload…a highlight from Ben,

On the fan support
I don’t understand, it I really don’t. These people here are just so supportive of me. All I do is play hard, I like to play soccer, I like this team and I guess they appreciate it. It’s nice to see. It’s emotional. A lot of this stuff you act like it’s not a big deal. But I like to play soccer; this is my living and I want to come back, but again it’s going to be a long road back. But again I’d like to thank the fans for helping me through this and giving me the benefit of the doubt – I get choked up just thinking about it now.

- D’s recap over at Dcenters. Always a good source.

-JCM at Poplar Point Perspective appeared to be pretty pleased with DC on Sunday.

Possibly the best game of the year from this group. Simms was steady. Fred was dangerous. Quaranta, while he was on, was very good running down long balls and making well struck crosses. But, Gallardo was the class of the group. From beginning to end, he was the best player on the field. Just a masterful game from him, and his goal could win goal of the week.

-DCUMD writes with glowing words for most of the team, excluding the same player that I’ve had gripes with for the last three games.

1. In my love of creating controversy, I’m going to put Fred down here today. This was his second match in a row that I think he underperformed. My comments about Burch and Quaranta above show clearly that Fred was the weakest link on the wings in this match. His assist to Emilio’s second goal was well-placed, but I think Emilio could have had a hat trick today had Fred played the ball across the front of the goal to him instead of taking a weak shot right at Cronin earlier in the second half.

That’s plenty for now. Get back to work!