Hi there, things are apparently dour again!
Recaps of D.C. United’s 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Union by us and WaPo. Philly Soccer Now with the other end.
Recaps of the Washington Spirit’s 1-1 draw with the Portland Thorns by us and WaPo.
Michele Kang pursuing training centers for Washington Spirit, Lyon women (PSW): If there’s a constant between D.C. and the Spirit, it’s Kang’s quote about available land to purchase.
Ashley Sanchez: USWNT role ‘not what I had planned’ (PSW): That’s summing it up!
Back from Women’s World Cup, Marissa Sheva is ready to help Washington Spirit’s late-season push (WTOP): Very much here for soccer optimism by a D.C. team!
FIFA hands Spanish federation president Rubiales 90-day suspension (PSW): That it came to THAT, rather than human conscience, is sad.
Anyway, off you go for your day.
A 90 day suspension. Which means that FIFA is indirectly saying “let us look like we’re being tough. And in 90 days this will all blow over, you can issue a statement saying you’ve learned your lesson, and come back as head of the Spanish Federation.” It’s not a ban, it’s not a 1 year suspension, it’s a “provisional 90 day” suspension. Which means European soccer will be in the thick of things and FIFA is guessing this issue will be “behind” them and hard to generate outrage about. Boo!
All this man needs to do is find some oil and enslave some migrants, and he’s a shoe-in to get the next World Cup.
I read it as them sending a message to the Spanish Federation, “Get your act together or we will do it for you.” This isn’t going to blow over, but the real power is in the sponsors and they’re starting to make their positions known.
https://www.ft.com/content/3dd1caa6-9153-4738-a896-19435a1849b8
I hope you’re correct. My gut says you aren’t. I hope my gut is wrong. This is the same federation that let 15 players get angry enough to threaten to sit out–and then told 12 of them to take a hike.
Geez if only DCU could have owners as invested as Kang is in the Spirit.
Are we at the “Sell the team” stage yet?
Is it 2017 yet?
I think we’ve been there for a couple years now…they had some goodwill because they got the stadium built, but they’ve squandered it since.
I’ve said something complimentary about her on two other posts, but, seriously, I think Sam Coffey is the best pivot the USWNT has, I had to check, she did not make the World Cup roster. I’m a game where Sophia Smith got injured and Sinclair and Dunn were never on the field together, she almost won this for the team. They did not have as good of attacking talent, but she made decisions that made them get the ball far more consistently than Metayer and Sullivan did.
Coffey is probably the best defensive midfielder in the league right now and is on the list of players who should have gotten a longer look from Vlatko in the lead-up to this World Cup. I think she was only called up to one camp.
For Sullivan, I will say that I thought the Spirit looked a lot better with her on the field last night than in the past several weeks without her.
I’m not really trying to dunk on Sullivan, but it’s all relative whether she’s in the lineup or not. Of course the Spirit would struggle to maintain levels without her, that’s about the realities of salary, parity, and roster depth.
I think Parsons has got to find his shuttler, and his DM, they’re two separate roles.
KDP and Hatch tie Benteke for 2023 Buzzard Points in losing, drawing cause, respectively. Though, in actuality, Benteke scored a BP as well.
DCU tally to date:
Buzzard Points (home goals): Benteke & Ku-DiPietro (4); Dajome, Durkin, Fountas & Klich (2); Greene, Pines, Robertha, Santos & Williams
Talones (home assists): Benteke & Ruan (3); Klich & Ku-DiPietro (2); Canouse, Fletcher, Jeahze, O’Brien & Santos
Taloncitos (drew home penalty kick): Fountas
Spirit tally to date:
Buzzard Points (home goals): Hatch (4); Rodman & Sanchez (3); Metayer (2); Bielgalski, Ricketts, Sheva, Silano & Staab
Talones (home assists): Hatch (3); Bailey, Brooks, Metayer, Ricketts, Rodman, Silano & Tanner
That game for United was ROUGH, but at least I can go back and watch Teddy KDP’s goal over and over again. Wow! What a hit!
That, and Alex Bono not getting scored on are the two positive notes that I’m clinging to.
Two positive notes do not a symphony make….
No, but I hate feeling nothing but negative towards this club. It’s still mostly negative, but that’s a goal worth appreciating.
Indeed it was a cracker. Good on you! :^)
Honestly make Teddy captain, I’m not saying he’s the only one trying out there, but he’s the only one treating every game like it’s do-or-die.
United does seem to need some sort of field general. They have plenty of veterans, but nobody that seems to be particularly fiery or commanding. Birnbaum is the captain, and since he signed a contract extension he seems likely to remain captain. Birnbaum has plenty of qualities, but it’s always been a bit of a question how well he organizes the defense, let alone the rest of the field. Canouse might have that fire, but he hasn’t really shown a “leadership quality” in his time here. Benteke, Najar, Durkin, Williams, Santos… they all seem pretty soft-spoken. I like a professional player, but having somebody to kick some ass would be a pretty good thing too.
It’s telling you didn’t mention or perhaps even think of Klich. He’ll get unnecessary yellows, never the one the team needed
Doyle doesn’t see DCU making the playoffs except maybe making an appearance in the first round: https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/what-is-your-team-s-outlook-mls-regular-season-enters-final-sprint
Yeah, no real surprises there. As we all know, they have a chance to add a new DP next year, but who’s going to be the one making the decision? Will it be Rooney? Will Kasper finally be held to account and a new GM brought in (ha ha ha ah ah ahahahahahahaha)? Will they target another 30+ Premier League veteran or will they go another way? Will it matter, given the number of high priced middling guys still on the roster, and seemingly a wasted year of youth development?
To quote Malcolm McDowell’s Bullshit CEO character from the surprisingly good In Good Company( and this is how I’m imagining Levien would respond):
You ask some excellent questions, excellent, excellent, excellent questions. I’m glad you asked them. And I’m leaving it to you, all of you… to answer them.
(Bullshit CEO leaves stage calmly in full retreat, leaving an empty podium).
Thumbs up to each of you for making me laugh at the theater of the absurd that is our beloved club….
Carl Robinson has a pre-Philadelpia press conference up on the DCU YouTube and the DCU website. He is pretty impressive and I expect he will be the next DCU coach.
In case you missed it, I posted this picture below (click on it) on the previous DCU game report post. It looks like Benteke scored the goal. Neither referee was in a position to know anything about it. VAR should have reviewed it but it is so close they probably would not be able to correct the decision on the field. Seems like a razor-thin goal. I put in some perspective lines (and vanishing point) for reference.
Why does MLS not have goal-line technology?
Doesn’t look like a razor-thin goal to me, it looks like a goal, all of the ball crossed the line. I was in section 210 right around the angle this photo was taken and I saw the ball cross the line. No doubts really. But can anyone tell me if the Hurtado goal was clearly off sides? I wasn’t paying attention to the lines during that goal.
It was Fajardo, and yes, it was offsides.
Thanks. I was thinking Fajardo and wrote Hurtado for some reason. But I echo folks who are blaming the loss mainly on Rooney. Unless he is hurt (and given that he came in as a sub, he isn’t) there was no reason not to play Davis instead of Santos. Santos didn’t have a good game against the Red Bulls, I don’t know why Rooney thought he would have a good game against Philly. Santos is a good player -at times- but from what I’ve seen he no longer has the touch to put balls where he needs to. Asad, Davis and Hopkins are much better at it at this point.
But it was very clear that team came out unprepared, with no intensity and gave away the game early and I had to not only survive the awful hot temperatures with no breeze but I also had to endure the Philly fans and their tiresome chants. They are way worse than NJ or NY fans. By a lot!
I also want to say (and idk if it was in the post/match thread or not) that if he was willing to sub out Miller in-game, he should’ve just started Bono. It’s not only humiliating as a keeper, it’s a sign that he had lost faith in Miller and just wanted an excuse to make the switch.
Reportedly, Miller had a rib injury.
Brendan’s right, he was offside when the initial shot he headed the rebound from came in.
Great contribution, DBU.
Toronto has hired John Herdman as their head coach. Carl Robinson remains in the DC United sphere for now.
This is quite a slam on the Canadian FA. You’re a highly regarded coach of a NT that will be a co-host of the WC in 3 years and instead you jump ship to coach a club. That tells you how fed up Herdsman is with the FA.
I think that’s a very big element, as you say, but I bet there’s another factor, as well. Herdman might well feel that he’s taken Canada as far as he can, and it’s time to cash out. Toronto will pay him well, maybe not EPL weol, but it’s a smart career move. Canada have three or four really good attacking players, and a hell of a lot of scrubs. He got them to a World Cup, maybe he doesn’t want that poison chalice in Canada.
Wiebe doesn’t cover the Benteke goal, but he does cover the Miller yellow and pk: https://youtu.be/jH2YGbBuIZU?si=ZieDtj1j6-STx6op
That was an easy call. And one replay does seem to show Fajardo offside. But, on Blake’s play — I was above behind the goal, off to the left (wet side). From my perch, it looked like the ball was over. Happened so quickly, but I thought I saw green. I don’t know if there are any replays that would have showed it, but man oh man does MLS need to invest in goal-line tech. Imagine if that happened in a game which mattered? If the league ever wants to host tournament matches regularly, they need that technology.
There weren’t any good angles from the broadcast.
If VAR doesn’t have a camera on the goal line they should.
*cough* goal line technology *cough*