SB Nation DC: All Posts by Martin Shatzer

The Last Word On D.C. United's Draw Against Sporting Kansas City

2013-05-21T00:59:54Z

I didn't know that 1-8-1 was even possible for a legitimate MLS team (defined as any team that isn't in its expasion season or hailing from Toronto). Whether we truly deserved it or not, for some reason 1-8-2 looks much better.

The past two matches were truly reasonable results for a mediocre team to get against some of the top teams in the league. Mediocre teams lose close matches on the road against the leaders and tie at home against the Conference favorites. A mediocre team should also gain at least five points from the next three matches. That's how the climb out of the cellar should start.

Their Words

- Ben Olsen (via dcunited.com): "It wasn’t a great performance from us, but it was a gutsy performance. It’s what we needed right now to change our course. Again, things don’t go your way, especially when you have a bunch of losses and guys doubt themselves a little bit. You’ve got to dig in and find a way to get results. That starts to steamroll into confidence, and that is how you get out of this stuff. Unfortunately, I’ve been through these before when I first started my coaching career and I watched it from an assistant coach’s standpoint. You have to have everyone committed. You need a bounce here and there."

- Ethan White (via dcunited.com): "We’re not completely out of the ditch, but it’s a step in the right direction. We fought hard, and we had some chances on goal and put in some good balls and actually have them on their heels for a little bit. It feels good to take a step forward.”

- Carlos Ruiz (via MLSsoccer.com): "Never in my career have I had the experience I've had in D.C. ... I would like to clarify something: I am physically at one hundred percent and this is not something that can be attributed to the fact that I'm injured, sick or have not recovered my physical condition ... These are the determinations of the coaching staff."

- Ben Gartland (via SB Nation's The Daily Wiz): "Sporting had a couple of chances late in the match and, given the recent history of Sporting beating United late, they seemed ripe for another goal opportunity. However they were not able to put a goal behind Bill Hamid's line and they ended up with a final score of 1-1."

- Craig Stouffer (via Washington Examiner): "Ironically, it was the officials who took away a goal from the visitors in the 30th minute. Capitalizing on a dominant stretch of possession, Kansas City defender Matt Besler surged toward the end line and cut the ball back to Jacob Peterson, who slid it perfectly to wide-open Ike Opara for a tap-in finish. But assistant referee Matthew Nelson raised his flag and referee Jair Marrufo blew his whistle even though replays showed as many as three United players keeping Opara onside when the pass was delivered"

- Assistant Referee Matthew Nelson (via Soccer Insider): "I misjudged the play at the time the ball was kicked, leading me to believe the player was in an offside position."

My Words

- And now playing the role of 2010-11 Andy Najar, please welcome Kyle Porter! During his time in D.C., Najar was most known for his dribbling skills and escapability, but Najar had an incredible ability to make a late run and show up at the back post to finish off a cross. That's exactly what Porter did yesterday, ending a well-timed run with a simple little finish. Let's do that more often please.

- With Chris Pontius clearly at less than full health, I was hoping this would be the match in which Olsen would place Pontius atop the formation for his appearance in the second half. Pontius was instead employed in his usual left midfield spot, and rewarded Olsen for that choice with a great cross to earn the assist on Porter's goal.

- I had the same terrible thought repeatedly throughout this match: We have the worst fullbacks in the league. Chris Korb hasn't yet shown the quality that had us singing his praises at the end of last season, and Daniel Woolard is a far cry from his top form. It was embarassing how often and how decidedly Graham Zusi was able to beat Woolard on SKC's right side. Unless Taylor Kemp's defensive abilities improve quickly, fullback should remain our biggest target for an acquisition.

- Nice to see you again, Bill Hamid. Thanks for dismissing your evil twin. Hope you stick around a while.

The Last Word

... goes to one of my favorite television characters of all time:

"The moral of this story is that I chose a half measure, when I should have gone all the way. I'll never make that mistake again. No more half measures, Walter."

(Mike Ehrmantraut, Breaking Bad)

Before kickoff, Steve Goff tweeted that the average age of United's 10 starters not named Dwayne De Rosario was 23.5 years old. The qualification in this statement suggests that Ben Olsen's lineup choice for this match was a half measure. The full measure would have been to remove De Rosario as well.

If you're going to turn this season over to the youngsters, why not go all the way? There was a moment in this match that symbolized this conundrum. Nick DeLeon intercepted a Sporting pass and then pushed the ball in front of him to start a run. But De Rosario intervened, taking the ball from DeLeon, slowing the play down, and almost forcing a collision. It should be said that De Rosario played pretty well in this match and shouldn't be faulted for our inability to capture the full points, but at some point United is going to have to get more production from his area of the field.

I thought this would be the match it would happen. By inserting DeLeon at central midfield, Olsen was trying something new - giving a dynamic young attacker more responsibility in the attack. The problem though is that he didn't take the same responsibility away from De Rosario.

Why not hand DeLeon the keys? Why choose a half measure when we could have gone all the way?

The half measure analogy is furthered by Olsen's substitutions in the second half. Taylor Kemp brought some life to the left wing, but he was given only one half of action. And by the 60th minute, with Chris Pontius and Lionard Pajoy reclaiming their usual positions, United was back to having most of the lineup that had lost the previous seven matches. Giving Kemp and Casey Townsend only 45-60 minutes of action is a half measure, and if Pontius doesn't have full fitness yet, why not use his limited time by placing him closer to the goal?

Breaking Bad fans know that Mike never really did learn his lesson. Mike employed half measures throughout his relationship with Walter White when he probably should have gone all the way.

The Last Word On Yet Another Loss To The Columbus Crew

2013-04-29T12:00:03Z

The game might have been mostly even, but the final score sure wasn't. D.C. United lost its fifth match in a row on Saturday night against the Columbus Crew. Some might say that United turned in a better offensive performance, but the team also gave up three goals thanks to three mistakes by Brandon McDonald.

Their Words

- Steven Goff, Washington Post: As one of my editors dryly pointed out during the delay, goal-starved United has no use for a scoreboard anyway. Especially on the road. The last time the club scored more than once away from RFK was last June 24 at New York, a 3-2 defeat. That’s a span of 15 matches, including playoffs: 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0. United did create plenty of opportunity in Columbus: Perry Kitchen‘s equalizer was wrongly annulled, Kyle Porter hit the post, Marcos Sanchez missed terribly in the box, Lionard Pajoy failed to finish Porter’s long ball and later hit the crossbar with a free kick, and Dwayne De Rosario‘s stab was kick-saved away.

- MLSsoccer.com: Jairo Arrieta was back in the starting lineup for the first time in five matches and the Costa Rican forward had a part in all three goals by setting up Dominic Oduro on the first; drawing a corner kick that led to Williams' score and earning a penalty that Higuain converted.

- Patrick Guldan, Massive Report: D.C. created little all night, the two best chances would be when Kyle Porter shot that got past Andy Gruenebaum and rung off the post in the first half and Marcos Sanchez pushed a breakaway shot wide late in the second half.

- Brandon McDonald, dcunited.com: You can blame that whole thing on me. That’s completely my fault. Three goals? I mean that penalty kick? I really didn’t touch it. That’s just unacceptable. I don’t even know how to put it in words how I feel. At halftime I came in and just I lost it, but I’m better than that. My teammates, fans, and the whole club need better from me and they don’t deserve that. That was just terrible.

- Ben Olsen, dcunited.com: Offensively, if you look at the way we went about it, I thought we were pretty good. I thought defensively, almost everyone was pretty tuned in. We had a guy that had a bad night and that’s the way things have been going. We have been getting punished for what seems like any mistake we’ve been making.

My Words

- Has any other United defender ever had as bad a match as McDonald just had? Yep! Follow me back to Aug. 18, 2009 and a CONCACAF Champions Cup match against Marathon:

It's not often that a single player is responsible for all three goals allowed, but that was the case tonight with Greg Janicki. He made a terrible mistake in misplaying the first goal, and his poor slide tackle in the box set up the penalty kick for the third goal. Marathon's second goal was a bit more deserved, but it was still against the run of play, and I still feel like Jakovic would have stopped it if he were playing instead.

- Possibly the most positive development of this match though was Olsen's willingness to pull a player who was having a terrible match. Olsen sent a message to his team by yanking McDonald in favor of Ethan White. Perhaps its a tactic he should employ more often. The downside though is that Lionard Pajoy has played all 90 minutes in all of the last five matches. All losses. Olsen continues to see no wrong in his striker's performances.

- McDonald wasn't the only player who had a poor game. The problem though with pointing out the deficiencies of guys like Daniel Woolard and Dwayne De Rosario is that we have no one to replace them. Do we really think this team would be doing better with White, Taylor Kemp, and Casey Townsend playing instead? Is it worth a shot?

- Only one player on the entire D.C. United roster is exceeding expectations this year. It's Kyle Porter, who just barely made the team and has turned into one of our top offensive threats. Unfortunately, that's less a statement about Porter's abilities and more a statement about how poor the rest of the team has been.

- Is this rock bottom? Please say this is rock bottom. (But I don't think it is yet.)

The Last Word

I honestly don't understand this season.

I understood the 2010 season. That year, we took a non-playoff roster and made it worse. This year we took a roster that finished second in the conference and made very few changes. On paper, we shouldn't be this much worse than last season.

How did United fall so far so fast?

Is it because we lost Andy Najar and Branko Boskovic and didn't replace them? Or are we just underachieving now after overachieving last year. If it's the latter, then there might be some hope that United will turn it around and finish somewhere near the middle of the pack this season. That's pretty much the most we have to look forward to though. There's little hope for improvement beyond that, and little chance for summer reinforcements - no owner is going to invest significant money in upgrading a team that is already out of contention. Certainly not these owners.

The best and yet also most obvious response came in a comment from Croftonpost yesterday. United needs to just take it one game at a time. The only goal now is to win in Houston on May 8. That's all that matters right now.

Bring Back Saragosa: Calling For A Return To The Formation That Works

2013-04-14T20:00:03Z

We all know the numbers. They've been counted time and time again.

The nine-game undefeated streak that capsulated the final matches of D.C. United's 2012 season and the beginning of the playoffs has been mentioned in this place and others dozens of times. I don't know if we keep bringing it up as if to remind ourselves that it happened, or if we bring it up because we still don't fully believe that it happened.

That streak represented a change from the attractive soccer that this D.C. United organization has been seeking for the better part of two decades to a more conservative style that this fanbase is naturally averse to watching. It was forced upon us by a coach that we all love who was reacting to the unfortunate departure of his best player. Ben Olsen had to do something when Dwayne De Rosario got hurt, and the 4-2-3-1 was born. And it wasn't pretty. But it worked. It freakin' worked.

Without De Rosario, United would go on to finish the season without a single loss, and then beat those despicable New York Red Bulls under loads of adversity. The team was one terribly unfortunate match against the Houston Dynamo away from an MLS Cup appearance. Without suspensions to Bill Hamid and Andy Najar, without three substitutions in the first half due to injuries to Chris Pontius, Brandon McDonald, and Marcelo Saragosa, without an incompetent referee missing a clear red card challenge, United could very well have been lifting a trophy at RFK Stadium last December.

And yet here we are, less than five months later. Here we are at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Here we are with just two goals scored in six games.

What's changed? Some of the personnel have changed. United sold Andy Najar to Belgium for millions of dollars and didn't replace him with a starting-quality player. United allowed Branko Boskovic to head back to Austria and replaced him with a player who has spent more time injured than not over the past decade.

But that isn't all that's changed. The formation has suddenly changed too.

The 4-2-3-1 formation that was used for the entirety of that nine-game undefeated streak was once again employed for the first three matches of 2013. United collected four points from those three matches, which isn't an incredibly impressive tally, but it was mostly acceptable. It included a win against a Western Conference playoff team, a road loss in a building that has hosted many more prior and since, and a scoreless draw against our hated rivals in New York.

After those three matches though, the formation changed. And those same hated rivals just embarassed us on our own field.

The next three matches of the 2013 season saw the sudden emergence of a 4-4-2 formation that is a bit more common and more familiar. It's a formation that the fanbase at large has been hoping would help bring back a bit more sex appeal to our storied club. The 4-4-2 is a formation of tradition in an organization that takes tradition quite seriously.

But it doesn't work. For whatever reason, it doesn't freakin' work.

With the 4-4-2 as its new default formation, United dropped the next three matches, all against Eastern Conference opponents. The team lost a home match for the first time in over year, and then it lost another.

As much as we all want to stand up and definitively claim that Olsen was wrong about Lionard Pajoy being a lone striker and we all were right that he doesn't belong in the starting lineup... The numbers don't quite tell the same story. As much as we were all glad to see Raphael Augusto on the field in place of Marcelo Saragosa, the team hasn't scored any more goals because of it. And they've given up quite a few more.

Right now, we're at the crossroads. Sure, the play on the field has looked better in a lot of ways the past three matches, but the results have been awful. How much longer can we keep using this same 4-4-2 formation when it's just given us our first three-game losing streak since 2011?

There's another option, of course. You know what it is.

Even though it's unattractive, even though we all hate to watch it, perhaps United should change back to that other formation. You know the one. For whatever reason, it's the one that just freakin' works.

The Last Word On D.C. United's Loss To Sporting Kansas City

2013-04-07T13:00:06Z

Yes, the schedule has been tough. But D.C. United has now lost three of its first five matches of the 2013 season, scoring only two goals in the process. That's good enough to be better than the Chicago Fire, but no one else. Let's get to it.

Their Words

Ben Olsen (via dcunited.com): We talk about earning the right to play soccer. If you battle and win second balls in this league, you’re ultimately going to have more possession. We’re not good enough to start from (goalkeeper) Bill (Hamid) and build out of the back and play like the best team in the world. We’ve got to earn the right to play, and today we did that. It’s not easy to come in here and play well, but this was our best effort to date. Unfortunately we didn’t get anything out of it.

Steve Goff: Pajoy continues to frustrate and befuddle. He works hard. He provides moments of promise, like tonight just before the half when he beat two defenders in the box. He does occasionally score. But he also doesn’t seize on opportunities — like the two in the first half tonight. On a punch-less team that can’t afford to let chances pass by, those misses are magnified.

More Steve Goff: Midway through the first half, Bieler "punched me in the throat," defender Brandon McDonald said. United pleaded for a red card, but because the incident happened away from the ball, none of the officials apparently witnessed it ... "If he doesn’t get suspended," McDonald added, "Kansas City turned into the Lakers," implying MLS would give star treatment to Sporting ... "He clearly hit him," United goalkeeper Bill Hamid said.

My Words

- The fans have been pretty frustrated this year that no starting quality central midfielders were added in the offseason. At least none without a long history of injuries. Well this was the first match that gave us the hint that that starter might already be on our roster. He may have had some lapses, but Raphael Augusto was really good in several stretches of the match, quickly, decisively, and precisely distributing the ball under pressure, playing the two-way midfield role in exactly the way Ben Olsen wants it played. With some more consistency, he could be a regular starter in this system.

- This was also the best Perry Kitchen has looked this season, which goes even further to prove that we don't need two pure defensive midfielders in our lineup. I'd forgotten that Benny Feilhaber was on the field by halftime, and Kitchen was the major reason for that.

- Aurelien Collin and Matt Besler get a lot of press for being the best central defensive duo in MLS, and rightfully so, but I'm not sure that Dejan Jakovic and Brandon McDonald aren't all that far behind. They shut out one of the best teams in the league for 89 minutes (but definitely could've done better on the goal). They've now allowed just three goals in four matches together, all coming in the two most difficult places to play in the Eastern Conference. Now if only we could occasionally score a few...

- Ah, the offense. Well at least the passing was better in this game. If the mission from the last two weeks of practice was to get back to fundamentals, it paid off. Next week? Let's practice generating chances. There weren't enough in this game. Let's practice giving the opposing goalkeeper something to do every so often.

The Last Word

Just like in Houston, United was out-possessed and largely out-classed, but kept the score even until the end. In both games, the better team won. But even though we weren't that much worse than either the Dynamo or the Sporks, it would be hard to argue with United's current position of ninth place in the conference.

You could question the coaching. You could question the tactics. But for me it all goes back to the offseason, and to what our front office has left us with. In an improving conference, United is one of the few teams that has less talent on the roster than it had last year. Sure, Rafael has loads of potential, but we lost very important players from central midfield and right back, and we replaced them with guys who weren't wanted by their previous crappy MLS teams.

When our new owners arrived with their deep pockets and cool-sounding names and contrived cliches and illogical plans to be a "global brand," I was honestly worried that D.C. United would be abandoning its traditions and adopting instead the player acquisition strategies of the Galaxy and Red Bulls. Well, I guess we don't have to worry about that anymore. But I don't really think that I like this any better.

But hey, if the whole idea is for ownership to control costs while United remains at RFK Stadium and then start opening the checkbooks once we have our own home, I can buy into that. I can be patient. But if that's the case, then we HAVE TO see progress on the new stadium. We just have to.

Build me a stadium and all will be forgiven.

Nick DeLeon To Miss 6 Weeks With Hamstring Injury

2013-03-27T01:15:33Z

We'll get a chance to see how D.C. United copes with some early-season adversity this year. After losing Dwayne De Rosario for this first two games of the season due to a suspension and watching John Thorrington suffer a long-term injury just as he was starting to round into form, United received some more bad news today. Midfielder Nick DeLeon fell victim to a grade-two hamstring strain and is expected to miss the next six weeks.

DeLeon's injury occurred in the 31st minute of Saturday's 2-1 loss to the Columbus Crew at RFK Stadium.

When DeLeon came off the field on Saturday, he was replaced by 23-year old Kyle Porter. The Canadian midfielder earned mixed results on the right side of the midfield. He finished what could have been the tying goal if not for Lionard Pajoy's ill-advised attempt to attrieve the ball from an offside position, but Porter didn't seem to be on the same page as the rest of the team for much of the match.

With more time on the field, I have no doubt that Porter's chemistry with his teammates will improve. But he might not get that time right away. Ben Olsen has other options he might employ instead.

Panamanian midfielder Marcos Sanchez was away on national team duty on Saturday, but will return in time for United's next match on Fri. Apr. 5. Sanchez has proven to be one of United's most dynamic attacking options so far this season, and he would seem to be the likeliest candidate to step in for DeLeon.

Olsen might also choose a slightly more conservative tact on the road against Sporting Kansas City. He might choose to start the more experienced Lewis Neal, who is a specialist in maintaining possession and making smart and succinct passes, an area in which the team has struggled at times this season.

Regardless of who starts at right midfield the next few weeks, there's no doubt that DeLeon will be hard to replace. While not quite living up to his 2012 form yet, DeLeon is an important part of the team, and he will be missed.

The Last Word: Closing The Book On D.C. United's Loss To The Columbus Crew

2013-03-25T11:30:05Z

Before we begin, let's take a brief moment to recognize what D.C. United has accomplished. It's been more than a full calendar since we saw United lose at RFK Stadium. Since March 2012, this team has gone through many transformations, some for the good, some for the bad, but one thing has remained constant - RFK is an effing fortress. Despite Saturday's loss to the Columbus Crew, I don't think that has changed.

Their Words

- Ben Olsen: We just weren’t good enough on the ball, again. We’ll work on it. We’ve got two weeks to work on things. I’ll take the blame for that game, 100%. We’ve got two weeks now for me to whip this team into shape. I’ll make sure we get back to basics. The coaching staff and I have to teach again, get back to fundamentals because right now the team doesn’t have a lot of the good things that we had at the end of last year. And I’ve got to get that in them very quickly

- Dwayne De Rosario: It feels terrible, for one. And second of all, it was embarrassing. I mean, I don’t know how many offsides we had, so that’s obviously difficult when every ball you play over the top is offside. It kills the flow of the game, kills the momentum, it kills the attack that way. But, you know, it’s the fourth game in. On the bright side, we are noticing the problems now, before it’s too late. We know what we have to fix and it’s like a huge test of character thing.

- Steven Goff: The fact that D.C. United’s Bill Hamid made five marvelous saves Saturday was both heartening and troubling for Coach Ben Olsen. The 22-year-old goalkeeper remains in fine form, but the amount of work required of him is a sign of United’s deficiencies elsewhere. "We’re asking a lot of Bill right now," Olsen said following a 2-1 loss to the Columbus Crew before 11,034 at RFK Stadium. "I wish I didn’t have to see him make so many great saves." If not for Hamid’s gems, Olsen added, "the game could have been 8-0."

- Thomas Floyd: After disappearing for much of his season debut at New York last week, De Rosario was dropped into midfield Saturday but still struggled to find the ball and dictate the game the way he did last season. On the plus side, he did nearly score twice, getting denied by Andy Gruenebaum on a dangerous header and a point-blank rebound opportunity. But United’s whole attack suffers when he doesn’t get involved in the possession game.

- Massive Report: After a few early chances, Columbus would strike on a free kick in the 15th minute. Tyson Wahl sent in a bending left footed service that caught Bill Hamid between his line and attacking the ball. Williams took advantage looped a header to give the Crew an early lead.

My Words

- Regardless of how much you ~~love~~ don't mind or hate Lionard Pajoy, I think we can all agree at this point that Rafael should be starting ahead of him whenever possible forevermore. Rafael may not be an expert at holding the ball up (Pajoy hasn't been this year either), but he has all the other traits that we should be looking for in a target forward. He's big and strong enough to win long balls, as demonstrated by his abuse of Glauber during his goal, and can distribute to the midfielders well too. Obviously the finishing abilities of the two forwards can't even be compared. We always hoped that Rafael would be able to supplant Pajoy in the starting lineup at some point this season. Now we can begin to hope that switch will happen immediately.

- By the way, did you guys see Chad Ashton's interview with Kyle Martino at halftime? Does anyone else get the feeling that if we'd asked him to rate Hamid's performance after the New York game, Ashton would have said "Hamid played well, but he needs to hold the ball better..."

- Whether you agree or disagree with Allan Chapman's call on the Kyle Porter goal, let's at least all agree that Pajoy cost us that goal. I'm actually less disappointed with the referee on that call than on the non-called penalty kick earlier in the half. I'm actually confused as to why some, including Ben Olsen and Josh Wolff, think it's such a tragedy that the referee allowed the play to continue before conferring with his assistant and making the final ruling. On such an important game-changing decision, don't we want our referee to gather as much information as is available to him? This is something that happens in every sport, and it should probably happen more often in soccer, not less often. And it wasn't a problem on this play, because in the end, Chapman got the call right. Lionard Pajoy's dumbass decision to chase the ball negated Kyle Porter's run. The only potential problem is that of the slippery slope - What if the referee had allowed play to continue and Gruenenbaum deflected Porter's shot out of bounds. Is the ruling a corner kick, or is it offsides? What if Gruenenbaum catches the shot, quickly distributes, and Columbus scores 30 seconds later. Is the ruling a Columbus goal, or is it still offsides?

- While we're discussing the referee, his pandering to Columbus' tactics deserves some discussion too. The Crew are very self-aware of their set piece accumen, so they go out there looking to draw fouls. And watching Federico Higuaín's near perfect service made me long for last year. I miss Branko Boskovic, and I wish we'd used him better when we had him. The Crew create scoring chances when they hit the grass easily. When we had a set piece specialist last year, we should have done the same.

The Last Word:

Many have been suggesting that this match was a step forward for D.C. United, despite the scoreboard. I can see how that perspective might be prevalent, but we need to keep the standings in mind also. Those of us who suffered through the entertaining seasons of 2008, 2009, and 2011 will also remember that it sucks to miss the playoffs. Even though our offense may have lacked sex appeal towards the end of the year, the 2012 season was far preferable in my opinion. And I have no doubt that Olsen would agree. A few entertaining losses won't kill us, but the playoffs are always going to be this team's goal. The conservative formula that got us into the playoffs last year isn't far from anyone's memory.

So even though this match was fun to watch, and even though United's attack generated far more scoring chances than in the previous three matches, we shouldn't expect to see the same formation used again when United's schedule resumes on Fri. Apr. 5 against Sporting Kansas City at Livestrong. Olsen won't like the lack of control his team held in the midfield. Don't be surprised to see an extra defensive midfielder deployed once again when the team returns to action.

The Last Word: Closing The Book On D.C. United's 2-0 Loss To The Houston Dynamo

2013-03-04T12:30:07Z

In the opening game of the 2013 season, D.C. United suffered two late goals at the hands of the Houston Dynamo - a familiar result in a far too familiar place. Here's what the rest of the local media has to say.

Their words:

Chris Pontius (via Steven Goff) - "I felt good about it for about 10 minutes in the second half. We actually started moving the ball and people wanted the ball. I didn’t see that in the first half. It’s expected in the first 25 minutes of the first game of the year; it’s going to be hectic. They were on the ball, they wanted the ball. We were hiding at times from the ball. I don’t understand why. We’re chasing the game the whole time."
James Riley (via Andrew Wiebe) - "Just unlucky – a good ball whipped in, we both go up, and unfortunately I’m on the wrong end of it and [the ball] hit off my head and in," he said. "Obviously very disappointed. The guys worked hard. We could of gotten out of here with a draw. It would have been a good result for us."
Thomas Floyd - The defensive cohesion was surprisingly lacking for a group mostly comprised of holdovers, as the Dynamo found gaps throughout the game and won many of the one-on-one battles. Perhaps that’s natural since Houston dominated possession and was able to exhaust United with constant pressure.
Dynamo Theory - D.C. seemed to settle in and defend deep, something that nearly let them escape with the point though. The Dynamo were the better team on the night, but the game appeared headed for a draw with goalkeeper Bill Hamid likely to be the man of the match.
SBNation.com - D.C. will likely be disappointed having suffered yet another loss in Houston but it's not the end of the world. They're a solid team that should be just fine in the tough Eastern Conference though they will need to find ways to score goals, especially if DeRo misses any significant time during the season.

My words:

We may have a budding competition for a starting job on our hands at full back. At halftime, Olsen elected to pull Daniel Woolard in favor of James Riley, which seemed a smart move given that Woolard's best play of the half had been the very definition of a "professional yellow." It was the only way that Woolard was able to stop Oscar Boniak Garcia, but the problem is that committing professional yellow fouls isn't a strategy that can last very long. Chris Korb was more effective than Woolard on the left (although it must be said that Korb was beaten along the endline on Houston's second goal in a most unlucky fashion). Riley seemed to play better than Woolard and contributed more offensively, but he also was solely responsible for Houston's first goal with a terribly ugly (or pretty, however you choose to see it) own goal. Riley might get the start next week, but Woolard was in fact the only starting defender to finish the match with an even plus/minus stat.
The first two substitutions of the match were pretty easy choices for Olsen. The third was probably a tougher decision, and might not have been the right one. With United down a goal, Olsen shifted his team into more of a diamond 4-4-2, with Kyle Porter coming in on the left, Chris Pontius moving up top next to Lionard Pajoy, and Marcos Sanchez playing the #10 role. While he didn't have a ton of time to assert himself offensively, Porter also did very little to help Korb on the second Dynamo goal. And while moving Pontius, United's most competent attacker on the field by a mile, closer to goal seemed a good idea, I wonder if giving Rafael his MLS debut would have been a better move.
One of the lone positive developments in this match for United was something that we had previously hypothesized about this offseason. We'd wondered if Perry Kitchen would take on more of an offensive role this year, and now it doesn't look like we'll have to wonder anymore. With United's lineup in this match, with an ineffective John Thorrington starting in place of the dynamic Dwayne De Rosario, United needed a player who could help distribute the ball to the only decent attackers wearing black - Pontius and Nick DeLeon. Kitchen was that player, getting forward more often than he did in most matches last season. We'll see if this development continues when DeRo returns.

The last word

As soon as the Dynamo scored their first goal, I had flashbacks to RFK Stadium on Mar. 10, 2012. Remember that day? United was handily overpowered by Sporting Kansas City, but held the match scoreless due almost entirely to Bill Hamid's heroics until the final minutes. Saturday night's result was as disappointing as that one for a single reason: Hamid deserved a better.

But we all know that the 2012 season didn't end there. United improved and adapted as necessary, en route to a third place overall league finish. There's no reason to think the same can't happen this year.

Fortunately, United doesn't have to go back to Houston ~~again this season~~ until the Eastern Conference Finals in November.

COUNTERPOINT: Why I Don't Want Carlos Ruiz, A Player With No Place In D.C. United Tradition

2013-02-22T03:30:43Z

When D.C. United announced yesterday the surprise acquisition of Guatemalan forward Carlos Ruiz, the discussion here quickly turned to a comparison with Charlie Davies.

The comparison is a bit contrived, given that they each arrived in D.C. in very different circumstances - Davies as an immediate fan favorite, returning as a hero to the place that almost took his life and giving us the opportunity to watch him rise from the ashes, and Ruiz as one of the most hated players in MLS history. But the comparison isn't entirely without merit. They're both forwards who can score, but who don't always score in the prettiest or most popular of ways. And they both have a knack for embellishment.

For Davies, that knack was used with great success during his time with United. Davies earned two penalty kick opportunities for United in 2011 off plays where he hit the ground in the box with little to no contact. Over the course of the season, Davies became less and less popular with both the United fanbase and coaching staff. He fell out of favor with Ben Olsen because he wasn't putting in the requisite level of work that the young coach asks of his forwards. And he fell out of favors with fans because of the diving.

Ah, diving, a tactic that's become so engrained in the soccer that the sport will seemingly never escape its bad reputation. And yet it's just as significant a problem in the NBA. I'm actually surprised diving isn't seen more often in more sports. Why do only quarterbacks and punters dive in the NFL? Had Josh Morgan took a dive on the final drive against the Cincinnati Bengals rather than throwing the ball at an opposing player, the Washington Redskins would've earned one more win last year.

But Ruiz isn't hated for his diving. If diving was his only sin, we'd all be able to overlook this minor transgression and provide Ruiz with all of our support.

Ruiz's nickname is El Pescadito. It literally translates to "little fish." That implies more than just diving. His nickname isn't El Buzo (the diver) or even El Delfinito (the little dolphin).

He's named after a fish. Why? Well just picture what would happen if you pulled a fish out of the water and dropped it immediately on a soccer field. What would it do? It would writhe in pain, flip this way and that, gasp for air, and eventually it would perish. This is also an accurate description of what happens whenever Ruiz wants you to think he's been fouled, short of his own demise of course (unfortunately, some might say).

We don't hate Ruiz just for diving. We hate him because his on-field antics serve to thoroughly embarass our sport. He feigns injury, flops at the first sign of contact, complains to the referee whether valid or not, and delivers off-the-ball shoves and elbows at every opportunity. Stephen Lenhart has carved out a nice little niche for himself as MLS's new villain with a similar playing style, and Ruiz is far worse. They're men that no one wants to play against, true. But they also give soccer a bad name.

Ruiz will give United a bad name too. But perhaps Ruiz is the logical next step for Olsen. He earned his reputation as a player who is pesky, physical, aggressive, and hard to play against. Our lovable Olsen's Army theme pushed the team in that direction, as our team legend continued to add intelligent hard-working players. Those were some of our favorites of Olsen's traits when he was a player. Ruiz may have those traits, but he also has other traits that might not benefit the team as positively.

In the last quarter of last season, Olsen led his Army on a journey to the Eastern Conference Final via a conservative style of play that values work ethic over attractive soccer. With Ruiz in the lineup this year, our team might work harder, but it will also be even less sexy.

This is troubling.

How do we wear the word Tradition on the back of our jerseys while also adapting a playing style that is such a distant departure from the playing style that earned us those four stars on the front? How much longer can we listen to Olsen talk about how he wants this team to play like they did in the 90s when none of our recent acquisitions bear any resemblance to Marco Etcheverry or Jaime Moreno? (aside from Nick DeLeon's bleached hair.)

At age 33 and without much playing time in the past year, it's hard to see how Ruiz will really help this team. It might also be hard to see how he'll really hurt it though. United didn't give up anything to get him. Ruiz doesn't take up an international spot, and doesn't make a huge salary. United has the cap space to make this move, and Ruiz is at worst a replacement for Maicon Santos. He probably won't start ahead of Lionard Pajoy unless he earns it. Ruiz is probably only here because Raphael Augusto isn't ready for major minutes, because Walter Martinez sucks, and because Dwayne De Rosario isn't immortal.

Ruiz might hurt the team in other ways though. He might hurt the team at the box office. And while I don't know if there's any current United fan that will decide to stop attending matches due to only to the Ruiz acquisition, he could cost the team on a more general level. Prior to this week, United was entering the MLS season with a level of excitement near an all-time peak. United was a few fewer injuries and a proper red card call away from the MLS Cup Final, with all the momentum in the world. The fanbase has grown closer to the team than ever before, epitomized by the players and staff climbing into the snowy stands of Red Bull Arena.

How close do you feel to your team right now? Just a bit more distant now, right? All that momentum is gone. The Ruiz acquisition now has fans questioning Dave Kasper again, with some even questioning Olsen too. Some fans are questioning their own loyalty.

Not all of us though. Despite our objections, the majority of United fans will remain loyal to Olsen and to his Army. And if Olsen thinks this is a good move, then in Olsen we trust.

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