Yes, yes, I know, I know. Almost a week late, geesh! Anyway, here is a brief review of last weeks game, and check back soon for a preview of this weekend’s game.DC United beat the Houston Dynamo 2-1 over the weekend. Goals were scored by Christian Gomez on a sweeeeeet free kick, and by Ben Olsen on an assist from Gomez. Dwayne DeRosario scored for Houston about a minute after having his penalty kick saved by Troy Perkins.
Here is a clip of the goal by Gomez. Note you can’t see the goal real well, but the crowd reaction is awesome
[youtube width=”425″ height=”335″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pia5ROg2GbA[/youtube]
And here are some of the supporters cheering during halftime
[youtube width=”425″ height=”335″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLVhtn-aM8g[/youtube]
So the good news is that United has now won several games in a row. They aren’t pretty wins, but they are wins nonetheless. The defense has tightened up a bit, and overall there are less turnovers and random examples of stupidity. Since we haven’t been making costly errors, that means that we haven’t been giving up cheesy early goals which lets us score the early goal instead.
This first half against the Dynamo was probably the liveliest and most productive half we’ve played all season long. Is it a coincidence that Jaime Moreno was missing? Hmmm. Food for thought (for you anyway, because I already know the answer). Second half wasn’t anywhere near as good, but we managed to hold onto the lead for the winnings.
One really big bright spot I take from this game is this is now the second game in a row where Gomez has had a significant influence on the game. He wasn’t dominating. Not by any stretch. But he was influential. Last week he served the free kick that a Toronto defender headed into his own net. This week he served another free kick (similar position on the field too) that this time went in on its own. He also later served up a ball for Ben Olsen on a platter, (complete with silverware and even those forks in two different sizes) that he pushed into the far corner for his first goal of the year. Incidentally, United is something close to undefeated whenever Benny scores.
Gomito needs to be a game changer. He’s that guy who you can’t take your eye off of for even a second or he burns you. And up until the last few games, he has not been that player. But with these two games, I think he’s poised to return to the form of the last two years. And if he can actually start forcing people to draw to him, that leaves room for others like Fred to pick up the slack.
And if there is a real bright spot, there also needs to be a dark spot. And this week that was Josh Gros’ defending on the wing, and to a lesser extent the entire defense during set pieces. Houston was a lot of headers.