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DC United falls to the New York Red Bulls 4-0. Hi(lo)-lights below.

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And some post-game comments:

I don’t hate NY Red Bull anymore [I think I just threw up a little].

The New York Red Bulls were not only a mediocre (and often awful) team for many years, but also arrogant and pompous and whiny and didn’t know how bad they really were. They cheated (Bob), they dove, they hacked, they complained about being hacked and that others dove, they tried (and failed) to buy good teams and good coaches. There fans we equally as delusional, obnoxious, and annoying. They were the type of team I could thoroughly enjoy their (frequent) misfortune and relish the (also frequent) victories of DC United over this moronic group of individuals.

But things seem different now…

Bill Hamid vs Thierry Henry credit Ned Dishman/Getty Images via dcunited.com

I noticed almost immediately during the game last night that this was NOT the same team. I mean, it’s a different team every year, but this team is *really* different. It’s not just confidence or pride or anything tangible or quantifiable you could put your hands on. As a former player, you just know when your opponent is a p*&$y and you can just stomp them into the ground. NYRB has had that look tattooed on their forehead for many years now. But not last night. I knew we were in for a battle and I hoped the boys in Black were up to the task.

Chris Pontius credit Ned Dishman/Getty Images via dcunited.comWell. Some of them were. Some of them weren’t. It wasn’t that they were mentally “not in it”, it was just that some of these guys just aren’t good enough to play at that level.

Marc Burch in particular had a really bad night. He’s not that great of a defender (pretty bad actually), but usually he can add at least a little something to the offense. Last night he wasn’t attacking and he certainly wasn’t defending. By my reckoning 3 out of the 4 goals had him at least partially responsible. I feel a little bad saying that as I think Burch is one of those guys who leaves it all on the field and even stepped up into a leadership role at times over the last few years when others were doing impersonations of lawn chairs.

I thought overall the match was fairly even, with an edge (although not 4 goals worth) to NYRB who was just a little quicker to the ball and a little smarter once they had it. But when United tripped up, they really tripped up. And all credit to NYRB [gag again] for finishing their chances when they got them. As opposed to United who could have scored maybe 3 goals in the final minutes but seemed to find new and creative ways to miss the net.

This one stings a little bit, but you have to move on to the next one. Next league match is against the Dynamo April 29th.

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