Goff, do you know if Moreno played at all in the Bolivia/Ireland game?

Yes, he apparently started and was replaced at halftime. 1-1, final.

Is it me, or did United really seem to drop off in the second half? It was not the heat, as it was much nicer as the evening wore on. Olsen and Gomez maintained their work rate. I guess perhaps effort did diminish so much as quality. First touches for some guys got rough.

The rating for the subs are a bit generous...Simms looked out of his element, indeed he looked to even whiff a clearance near the six (either that or it was a cheeky dummy header. I might have blinked and missed it, but did he serve a single ball while on the pitch (I saw one attempt that his a defender in the chest or leg)? I would rather see Casal on the left - his service seems to be of better quality.

BTW, Gros was lucky not to get ejected. A blatant handball to prevent a goal scoring opportunity. That is a red card per the rules, no?

Troy is back in his groove...much better than Sala in Dallas. About 20 minutes ago, in the 90th min of the Chivas vs Dallas match, Razov caught Sala about 45 yards off his line and made him pay for it. Freaking training ground goal.

Josh would not have been ejected. The ball was curling away from the goal when it stuuck Josh's hand. Not an obvious goal scoring opportunity. Yellow card, yes. Red card, no. I saw that goal against Sala. What the heck was he doing that far away from his net?!? Idiot move by Sala IMO.

"I saw that goal against Sala. What the heck was he doing that far away from his net?!? Idiot move by Sala IMO."

Umm ... Dallas was down 0-1 in the 92nd minute. He was pushing up to help support a potential equalizer. Hardly an idiot move. Doesn't matter if you lose 1-0 or 2-0.

Erick, I don't think Simms was on to serve crosses. He was in to harrass Houston's midfielders and clog up passing lanes. Casal is an exciting young player, but his main weakness is defending; not exactly what you want to add to a team that was struggling to hold onto a 1 goal lead.

We started really well on the attack (probably the best we've done in the league), but our 2nd half play in that respect was not good at all. We stopped trying to find Gomez, and our first touches as a group were poor. Once again, there's something that we got away with, as Gros probably should have been sent off for the handball. The trajectory of the ball doesn't matter in this case; what matters is that Ching was about to head the ball on goal from point blank range, when Gros slapped the ball away. If it had happened at the other end and Houston still had 11 men, I would have rightly been livid. Tough luck for the Dynamo.

It's good to see us keep digging out wins in these tough games, but I'm waiting for this very talented group to put together one complete, strong outing. Half an hour into tonight's game, I thought this was it. The way we had looked to that point, I figured we should try to pinch a goal before halftime and really make the 2nd half elementary. Instead, we didn't get the 3rd goal and still came out after halftime as if the game was over. Where's the game where we're up 3-0 and the opponent just gives up around the 70th minute because we've been making them chase ghosts for 15 minutes? I'd settle for the ability to relax in stoppage time at this point.

Great free kick by Christian for the first DCU goal. Unfortunately I had to see it via the replay screen since the beer man stepped right in front of me when Christian struck the ball!

Goff - did not agree with your ratings on the subs. Dyachenko looked fabulous, even if only for a few minutes - good to have him back. He made a few runs that single handedly stemmed the late game momentum shift to Houston. Can't say the same for Adderly. He needs to learn that if he comes in as a sub to preserve a lead, he has three responsibilities up top: run, pressure, and run. He didn't do any of that.

All told the guys looked good. Emilio didn't score but he had a lot of good play, Olson seems to have refound his home on the flank, even without the pace that made him special there early in his career, and Gomez seems to have refound his form. Now if Burch can step up to replace Erpen . . .

Make that Burch to replace Gros. Unfortunately for Josh, he is the defensive liability out there, not Erpen. Not even close.

Anybody complaining about Simms does not realize he was brought it for one thing. To shut down the service from the right wing. Gros was getting burned all night and letting in cross after cross. Then Ching and Clark were constantly getting free in the 18 for headers. That's why we saw Perkins having to come out many, many times to punch the ball out. There was not a lot of confidence in the backline to beat their man to the ball.

Great assessment on the season Goff.

Agree for the most part on the ratings, but I thought Gros had a nightmare.

Goff-

In regards to your opening statement: do you THINK that DCU can be the team that we all (most?) were expecting? the way we played against olimpia and chivas (for the most part) showed a team that would shoot to the top of the table fast.

i don't know what happened in the meantime, but i still feel we could be that team. i'm just curious as to what you think. what do you expect from the latter part of the season?

Goff-

In regards to your opening statement: do you THINK that DCU can be the team that we all (most?) were expecting? the way we played against olimpia and chivas (for the most part) showed a team that would shoot to the top of the table fast.

i don't know what happened in the meantime, but i still feel we could be that team. i'm just curious as to what you think. what do you expect from the latter part of the season?

Yeah, my man Josh Gros is a bit overwhelmed at outside back. He gives up the endline too much, gets drawn from his position too often while chasing down more central attackers, and was beaten badly by De Ro for the goal---not to mention the hand ball!!

I hoped he would have learned the position by now but feel he's not an option there anymore . . . Moose? McTavish? Cannavaro?

Too bad we can't clone Bryan Namoff . . .

Goff - a '5' for Addlery is much too high. He was completely ineffective which rendered his mere presence on the field a liability when the team is trying to protect a 2-0 lead.

Why did Soehn bring on a F for Kpene in the first place? The pace was still going good and Ashe was blowing by everyone (well, Gros anyway) on the right side. Bringing in Simms for Kpene and converting to a 4-5-1 would have made good sense to me.

Great game by Guy though - if only he had 20 more pounds to work with!

Uh, Ashe was blowing by Namoff... Gros didn't play well, but he was not playing well on the other side of the field.

Has anyone else noticed how eloquent Gomez always seems in his game quotes? I've been thinking this for awhile, and today just blatantly reminded me.

I know he talks through an interpreter, but "tranquility" and "mystique" don't really just come through the interpreter.

Just wondered if anyone had any thoughts on this and/or has taken notice to it before.

Re: The non penalty in the first half. I have heard the excuses about the defnder knocking off Kpene legally because it was 'shoulder to shoulder'. But he made no attempt to play the ball at all, not was the ball with in range of his feet. That was my view live, and also this morning on DVR.

Balboa of course is claiming you can do anything you want as long as it's 'shoulder to shoulder'.

I thought it was a penalty, much like Jaime's v TFC. You can't touch shoulders then flatten the dude when the ball is 5 yards away.

What say all?

i agree that kpene should have gotten a penalty, and dyachenko should have as well (although i couldn't really tell if he was taken down inside the box or not).

what aggravated me the most was how for every header houston jumped off our guys (particularly emilio) and doubled over them to get headers and the ref didn't call it once. waibel in particular mauled emilio all game with no calls.

I'd call that a penalty. Shoulder to shoulder does not include throwing out an arm to finish the body check.

definitely should have been a PK for the foul on Kpene. The Dyachenko thing was outside the penalty area.

But Houston should have had a PK when Erpen kicked Ching in the head with his bicycle kick, so I guess we were even.

Houston was winning virtually every DCU punt and goal kick at midfield. Why not keep it simple and pass it out wide to the defensive backs some of the time? Even if they have to dump it long, it takes more time off the clock. By the end of the game 20 players were clustered in the center of midfield waiting for DCU punts and goal kicks.
Any insights?

Any highlights of this game online?

I thought Erpen was better than a 5 last night. Gomez was so back last night it has me rather excited.

"Any highlights of this game online?"

Only the goal of the week candidate from Gomez. Ironic that this poor quality highlight came from a match that was broadcast on HDNet.

Saw this in the Boston Globe:

"D.C. United's Jaime Moreno, who joined Bolivia's national team for the first time since 2002, departed at halftime with a back strain."

Fred a 5? I didn't even think he played or at least I never saw him with the ball!

After all the Fred hype I have yet to see any value in his acquisition. Gros is quickly falling and I would say that this was his third god awful game this season.

Lots and lots of credit to Perkins, Gomez and Kpene. Those three really played with heart and really wanted to win it. I also thought Erpen showed some strenght and did a good job helping shut down DeRo and Ching, I would actually give him a 6 or 7.

Goff is EJ really back or is this a fluke?

It looks like he found his MOJO and is playing some great soccer this season. It almost appears he is back in pre-WC form. Is he looking for a trade? Did he finally realize he has to play well to get interest from Europe?

Steve - I'm not sure why Simms is on the roster. He is a classic American player. Lots of potential. Good physical tools. Poor technical ability. Poor touch. Naive positioning. Lots of heart. Unfortunately, that makes for a midfielder in a pinch. Surely, DC reserves have better quality players? If not, then hope we don't get an injury bug because half these subs wouldn't get on a Sunday morning park league.

odd comments about simms dr. techie. you think he is far worse than carrol or gros or boswell, or the other americans on the team. i understand your comments about the 'american player' and their short comings, but simms to me seems to have good touch, cover a lot of ground and play d-mid roll pretty well. if he wasnt always jerked in and out of the lineup maybe he would even be better.

uh, addlery belongs on a PDL team. could we possibly be any weaker up top? Kpene is the only bright star.