DC United and the New England Revolution played to a 1-1 tie at RFK stadium on this past Friday.
I thought the match was entertaining, some others might not agree. Seemingly par for the course so far this season, I thought DC had some good moments and some bad moments. I’m re-watching the game now, to get a more level-headed opinion of the match.
(Photo of the YEAR as far as I’m concerned…)
A few standout points for me…
- This team goes as Ben Olsen goes. If he’s on the field, he should be wearing the Captain’s armband. No one else. Period. He was wise positionally, defended well, attacked well, organized well, and most importantly… he led well.
- Moreno looked better, but he’s still not fit.
- Gomez has looked good the last two games (where he stunk the first two). As with Moreno, though… still not fit.
- The training staff on DC United needs to be fired and shot. Or at least one of those two options. This is going on two years+ now where people are out of shape and/or getting muscle injuries. I know that some are just freak stuff and can’t be avoided but can you honestly say that it has NOTHING to do with their training regimen? I don’t think so.
- Wells Thompson is an a$$
Soehn was a disaster. I think the team pulled out a win *despite* his coaching.
First of all, his starting lineup consisted of three guys (Olsen, Moreno, Gomez) who are very likely to need a sub. So potentially he could have used all three subs on tired guys. So what does he do? He uses his first sub on Marc Burch. Ostensibly, this was the “you suck so bad I can’t take any more of you” sub. But I have to ask… You didn’t know he sucked beforehand? Burch may not have played a brilliant game (in fact I think he’s been involved, in a negative fashion, in almost every single goal against us) but it’s not like anyone was surprised, and it certainly wasn’t any worse than any other game he’s played in so far this year. So why pull the plug now?
Soehn has a nasty habit of making half-time subs. They have occasionally bitten him in the arse, but never disasterously so. Friday night was another example of this since we did walk away with a tie and not a loss. And why is it that every sub requires several players to change position?
While Wallace wasn’t too bad playing left-back in a 352, he didn’t seem to me to be entirely comfortable. (Again, I ask why does Soehn put people in places they won’t succeed?) But the bigger mistake is that moving Wallace back COMPLETELY removed any semblance of a threat down our left flank for the entire second half. I bet during half-time Steve Nicols (Revs coach) was scratching his head trying to figure out what he could do to prevent Wallace from getting behind his defense time and time again. But, Oh wait! Look! Soehn figured that out FOR HIM. How thoughtful. So you make a move that arguably is neither better nor worse for your defense (Wallace was involved in the goal against) AND you take away a strength from your offense. Definitely a two’fer.
First Impressions from the DCenters
Post game misc stuff from Behind the Badge
Highlights and post game quotes, also from Behind the Badge