Chivas Aftermath
Not to kill that previous thread, but I wanted to throw some notes and quotes up here.
Namoff was visibly limping afterward. He said the injury came on the collision right before he exited, when a knee went into his left thigh. He described it as a left thigh contusion, and said he'd have to see how it felt Thursday morning before speculating on his availability.
Arsenal did indeed draw with Goias EC 1-1, and advanced on 4-3 aggregate. Gomez, who made 30 appearances with Arsenal the year before joining DCU, was reportedly watching the Arsenal game in the locker room before his game began.
Burch will indeed miss the return leg due to the red card. "I thought the red card was a bit soft, but it was a situation Burch should have never gotten into," Soehn said. "[Referee Hector Baldaffi] made the decision, and we have to live with that, but overall I thought he called a reasonable game."
One possible lineup for Tuesday would be Boswell in the middle and McTavish on the left. One player I spoke with speculated that would be the choice. Vanney and Gros are also options at left back. If Namoff's injury proves serious, who knows? If I came up with 131 options, Soehn would choose the 132nd. By the way, does anyone have suggestions for a quiet place to watch Tuesday's return leg? Much more after jump. No, I don't get paid by the word.
I ran into some mates coming onto the concourse; "it was ugly on the quiet side tonight," they said. From where we sit, it was hard to get an accurate gauge on the crowd mix. From noise, it seemed about 50-50, maybe a bit more for Chivas, but we're on the quiet side. The announced crowd was 21,022.
I taped Chivas Coach Jose Manuel de La Torre's press conference, but I'll have to get it translated. From what I'm told, his answers were curt. "We were getting chances but we weren't scoring goals, it's that simple," was the one quote I got.
Gonzalo Pineda's silver hair was, if I do say so, tremendous.
Several players also said how important it was not to take a defensive mentality into Tuesday's game. So did Soehn.
"We go out and expect to win our home games. Now we've got to do a good job of taking it to them at their place," he said. "We're not going to go into a bunker; we're going to play our game."
The consensus from talking to several players was that United played far from its best soccer, was dominated in possession early in the first half, created several nice chances at the end of the half, and then held on down the stretch, aided a bit by Chivas failing to put away its chances. From my vantage point, Fred's creativity on the left jumpstarted United's spell of dangerous possession in the first half, and Gomez's two runs (one that set up Olsen's right-place right-time bomb, and one that created the free kick) saved the offense.
The defense looked Jarlsberg-like in the opening minutes (I hate the use of "Swiss" to describe cheese with holes, most cheese from Switzerland do not have those bubbles, and most cheese from Switzerland is far more interesting than the blah American-style "Swiss") against the electric speed Chivas was deploying, but there were enough bodies in the right places to get a result a man down.
By Dan Steinberg |
September 27, 2007; 1:00 AM ET
D.C. United
Previous: Matchday Sudamericana I: Chivas at DCU |
Next: Chivas Aftermath: Mo Quotes
Posted by: Chief Clancy Wiggum | September 27, 2007 2:01 AM
So, does this mean that the real Chivas is not as good as Chivas USA?
Posted by: JJH | September 27, 2007 2:08 AM
And can we get a huge headline in the dead-tree edition to inform readers that contrary to popular belief, RFK Stadium is alive and rocking... just not for boreball.
Posted by: AlecW81 | September 27, 2007 2:35 AM
Link to Dan's dead-tree story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/26/AR2007092602842.html
Posted by: Throwin | September 27, 2007 2:52 AM
I'm glad that our locker room knows this wasn't the best performance. We will have to step up and play as well as we have all season to make sure this 1 goal lead stands up. Personally, I think Chivas is better now than they were in the CONCACAF Cup. With noted jerk Bautista, they had less speed up front. Tonight, with Medina in particular, we had no answer on the wings. Luckily, most of the crosses were not that great (usually either missing teammates or leaving the target with more work to do beyond shooting). We struggled with the fact that they move the ball more quickly than anyone in MLS and that they move and switch so well.
As for the hole at left back in Guadalajara, I would say we should use McTavish there. Gros is still only an emergency defender, and Vanney is simply too slow to play on the outside. Personally, I think the loss of Burch is big enough that we might consider starting Gros at left midfield to give additional help to the backline, with Fred coming on if we need a goal. On the other hand, I don't know if Magallon is so much of a threat offensively that Fred can't do the job (obviously giving us more skill in the process).
Posted by: Chest Rockwell | September 27, 2007 2:53 AM
Burch's second yellow looks very much like a botched call to me, a dive by a sly player on a defender who he knew already had a yellow. Burch was behind him, but wasn't pushing into him; the guy backed up to Burch's leg, and then fell over, as if his legs had been cut out from under him. The ref bought it. That said, I think the ref did a good job, and hope Alex Prus learned something from the side line.
Olsen was really something. MOTM. Rating 9.9, only because nobody's perfect.
Posted by: Dave | September 27, 2007 7:26 AM
I would have to say Gomez or Perkins was the MOTM.
I'm still wondering why Gomez turned his back during the US National Anthem (or does he always do this?). But he came out on fire last night and I have never seen him so critical of his teammates for dropping good passes and when they blew good chances. He seemed to be more into coaching the team than Soehn.
Despite what has been said I think DCU looked great last night and playing a man down against Chivas and leaving with a "draw" is very respectable.
Where do I sign the petition to have Moreno back as #9?
Posted by: Southeasterner | September 27, 2007 7:48 AM
"By the way, does anyone have suggestions for a quiet place to watch Tuesday's return leg?"
Lucky Bar has been dead for the last few DC United games. On a Tuesday night you will have the big screen projector to yourself.
Posted by: Southeasterner | September 27, 2007 8:04 AM
Perkins, Olson easy MotM contenders, but for me the winner is Simms. In addition to the HUGE short sided goal, he was every where a d-mid was supposed to be all night.
Posted by: JkR | September 27, 2007 8:15 AM
I vote Olsen for MOTM. I was standing right in front of where he hit that monster goal. It was awesome. That guy is awefully humble too. It ain't just luck. He is taking his chances and finishing well. The second I saw the ball fall to him I knew it was going in. Awesome awesome golazo. It also helped quiet the group of 80 or so Chivas fans sitting right next to me (who were actually really cool, hats off to you guys, better that Club America fans). Perins had some nice saves, but Olsen was a menace anytime a Chivas player got the ball and his golazo (and Fred's fancy feet) helped fire up a tenative United.
Posted by: T. Henry | September 27, 2007 8:43 AM
Looked like they only sold upper deck tix to walk-ups, which left some empty spaces on the quiet side lower deck, and some on the loud side...but sections 401 through 444 (or so) were full. Given that most United fans bought their tix in advance, and most of the walk-ups were Chivas fans, that was probably a good way of preventing possible flare-ups between fans. So whomever came up with that idea, kudos. (Plus those midfield 400-level seats are actually better than the unsold lower-level corner seats, so the folks who bought 'em didn't exactly get shafted.)
Game was intense. Dug the Barra's new giant DC flags.
Hopefully United will roll over Chivas in el Jalisco like a giant wheel of well-aged Parmigiano-Reggiano...
Posted by: EdTheRed | September 27, 2007 8:57 AM
Chivas is going to fold like a quesadilla!
Posted by: garbaggio | September 27, 2007 9:51 AM
Summers bar in Arlington shows all the copa suramericana games its a good place
Posted by: Eric | September 27, 2007 10:02 AM
Just watched the highlights. Chivas could learn a lesson from last night's match: When you shoot, keep the ball on the ground!
Posted by: UVA to RFK | September 27, 2007 11:34 AM
If any of you have Fox Sports in Spanish, they showed the game live last night.
Posted by: Vic | September 27, 2007 12:19 PM
Jarlsberg is Norwegian, not Swiss. Or is that partly your point? :-)
Posted by: kmg | September 27, 2007 2:13 PM
That's precisely his point: the Norwegian Jarlsberg is more stereotypically "Swiss" than just about anything that is actually made in Switzerland.
Posted by: Section 410 | September 27, 2007 5:39 PM
Looked like they only sold upper deck tix to walk-ups....(Plus those midfield 400-level seats are actually better than the unsold lower-level corner seats, so the folks who bought 'em didn't exactly get shafted.)
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Actually, upper-deck seats were sold in advance, which I took advantage of (as you might have guessed, although I was in 409, not 410, on this occasion).
To say that people with midfield 400-level seats "didn't exactly get shafted" is an understatement. These seats give a view that is like watching on TV (after all, that is where the principal TV cameras are), but with the ability to take in the entire pitch, not just the part that a camera is focused on at any given moment.
Posted by: Section 410 | September 27, 2007 5:49 PM
I like cheese.
Posted by: Pete | September 27, 2007 8:14 PM
I REALLY LUV CHIVAS
Posted by: JACKY RANGEL | October 4, 2007 4:41 PM
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Can we get that stupid Washington Nationals clock taken down and replaced with the old DCU clock? RFK is the Nat's home no more. Screw it, lets just get rid of anything baseball related (foul poles, outfield wall, etc.)