Dissapointing

D.C. United 1 : 1 Harbour View

Well, that was pretty disappointing. We weren’t sharp enough in front of goal, stifled our attach through our traditional refusal to utilize the wings and allowed a stupid goal at the end.

What I liked:

• There were moments from Gallardo when it was clear how good he can be in the #10 role. His vision was great and certainly saw opportunities to get attacking players in good positions to attack.
• Nothing too scary happened with the new defenders, it looked to me like it was Burch and Namoff guilty of ball-watching on the HVFC goal. Overall the two Gonzalos played well and seemed to have a good sense of understanding

What I didn’t like:

• No wide play. United left Emilio fairly isolated with a lack of decent crosses. Yes, the goal was a result (indrectly of a cross) but the two wingers Fred and McTavish needed to be more involved and they weren’t
• Buck, Buck, BUCKAWK!* DC goes up 1-0 and then just slams “its foot on the break” in the second half and tries to squeak by with that scoreline. I thought the Stratford substitution was awful and reeked of fear. DC, with a more assertive second half approach breaks HVFC down and wraps up the quarterfinals right there. Instead, all United did was heap pressure on themselves going into the second leg.
• Christian Miles and Paul Caligiuri. Dave got to this before me, but those two did an absolutely terrible job. It’s one thing to be unsure of the Jamaican players, that’s fine. But to seemingly not be able to identify any of the United players is a joke. They’d seen this team play before, they had a roster in front of them, but no… they’d rather just be lazy and actually prepare before broadcasts. Never in my life have I yearned for Christopher Sullivan like I did last night. (Credit to Sullivan, who during his time at FSC, has progressed from a Caligiuri’esque disaster to a very insightful analyst.)
• The field. it was bad even for a third-world Concacaf venue. Municipal’s field in Guatemala City put it to shame
• Moreno going down hurt. I am reminded of the old gags Warner Wolf would do on radio, “If you had Jaime Moreno lasting more than 15 minutes in 2008 before getting hurt, YOU LOST!” Hopefully it’s not too bad.

* That’s supposed to be a chicken, by the way.