Happy July 4th, everyone. I hope everyone enjoys the holiday today. I’m in Vegas to blow off some steam after the USMNT exit from Copa América, so before I get after it, here’s a couple of news items:
DC United couldn’t get a result against Cincinnati at home, losing 3-2. They are now last in the Eastern Conference.
Some damning allegations of an unsafe and hostile work environment under Jill Ellis at San Diego Wave came down yesterday. The NWSL needs to do right by these employees and take some swift action.
Willow Bay, Disney CEO Iger near deal for Angel City (ESPN)
Sounds like the Iger-Bays are about to buy enough of Angel City FC to value them at $250 million. Wow, that’s a lot of scratch.
NWSL announces 2024 championship to be held at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City (NWSL)
The newest stadium in the league will be the hosts of the 2024 NWSL Final. Get ready for some BBQ!
After Copa América exit, U.S. fan group calls for Gregg Berhalter’s job (WaPo)
Each of the three US Soccer supporters groups – American Outlaws, Sammers SC, and Barra 76 – have called either for Gregg Berhalter to be replaced as USMNT head coach or for an expedited review of the program. Sounds like the writing’s on the wall.
Be safe today y’all, and enjoy!
Some people hate Berhalter. I actually think he did a good job coming in. But as others have phrased it, I think he’s reached his ceiling. I think some of the comments (like Carli Lloyd’s inane comment about “we hated some of our coaches”) are just stupid. I don’t think I’m over-rating our talent base when I say we should be better offensively. I’m in favor of replacing Berhalter because I think he’s shown that he’s capable of putting a team together that has a great esprit de corps, strong work ethnic, good teamwork, commitment to possession and a willingness to attack rather than just defend and counter all the time or score only on set pieces. Those are all big steps from previous US teams. That said, we’re not taking the next steps of: being more flexible tactically against certain teams (so against a Brazil or a Uruguay, maybe we hunker back and defend and seek to counter) and developing the complexity and habits on offense so we create more danger in the box (more one-touch passing, better service to whomever our #9 in that game).
I’m right there with you. I’ve also started believing recently that his system is too complicated for the guys to execute consistently while also hustling and making on-field adjustments. That perhaps would explain some of the individual mistakes game-to-game (not the rash challenges though…). And it’s not a knock on them either – so many supposedly elite teams are playing really flat, boring soccer right now. Getting an effective international coach who will stick through a whole cycle is hard.
World Cup national team coaches just don’t do well over two cycles. It’s always asking for trouble to say a coach is the exception here rather than the rule.
Loudon won last night to extend their run to seven unbeaten. Good to see them doing well.
As for DC….they did about as well as we could expect. Cincinnati has a much better roster than us right now, especially with so many of our key players absent. Still not a ton of chance creation when Benteke is absent but Pirani showed a quick trigger at least.
https://www.dcunited.com/news/d-c-united-sign-austrian-defender-david-schnegg-from-sk-sturm-graz
Schnegg signing officially announced.
A shame the field conditions will be so poor. Injuries waiting to happen. Hopefully, Schenegg can avoid it.
Sorry to abandon the thread last night, I now have a regular Wednesday thing, and forgot to set up Apple TV Up Next. Maybe I could still watch the game, haven’t checked, but saw the highlights.
Too bad about Miller. Good for Pirani, if finishing off a strong dribble is suddenly in his locker, his whole passing game will open up, as well- though I fear it may be a flash in the pan. Rodriguez also finished quite well. Murrell has to be better in the air, if he’s not so good with his feet typically.
So we’re now at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Never has a wooden spoon contender been so entertaining to watch.
I continue to be impressed with Martin Rodriguez. A deft dribbler, very lively and had a goal and assist last night.
And Pirani showed eye-opening skill on his Buzzard Point. Believe it or not, after Benteke (7), Pirani is second on the squad in Buzzard Points (2).
Rodriguez and Pirani were a revelation for me last night. They both played with a confidence and great determination that I haven’t seen from them before. Each also showed more quality than they’ve shown before in the DC United stints.
A shame that Miller and the defense were so mistake-prone.
Badji signing is official and he counts as a domestic not international: https://www.dcunited.com/news/d-c-united-sign-forward-dominique-badji-as-a-free-agent
Oh, wow, the domestic thing obviously clutch
Typical Kasper nonsense. Why is Badji getting a deal guaranteed thru 2026 (plus on option for ’27) when he’s 32 now? We were hoping that they would be in a position to build a strong new roster next year, free of leftover high-priced contracts for guys whose contributions certainly don’t deserve those deals. More of the same.
Some thoughts: I actually have no major complaint about how this team has played the last two matches. They fought, were competitive, were the better team for stretches of both games. All of that with the limited roster that they have. The underlying problem that this team/organization has rests on ownership and sadly that one is hard to overcome. And it isn’t necessarily that the owners are cheap, though they are, the major issue is that they are not sound decision makers, so much so that they don’t know what they don’t know and that is always a recipe for disaster. Hopefully, they will now allow Mackay to do his job.
There’s so much crap going on in the world right now that getting negatively worked up about a futbol team is foolish. So I am now keeping that in mind when dealing with my DCU feelings, if DCU sucks it is not the end of the world. Some day we will be on top again because that is how it usually goes. I know that not everyone sees it that way but the negativity coming from the online fandom of DCU (not this forum) is often over the top and toxic.
Now my thoughts on Rodriguez and Pirani in particular. Rodriguez was always the player that he has shown to be in the past two games. But he was barely touching the field. How did any of you expect him to show anything if the coach only thought to bring him in for the last 10-15 of each game? Sure some players do show something in limited time but others, like midfielders, need to get in a flow to get their legs and mind in tune to the speed of the game. Not sure why Lesesne didn’t play him before but I have often observed that coaches suffer from an acute form of stubbornness that at times has negative effects on the team. With a limited roster, Lesesne could have chosen to play him earlier and more often. For whatever reason he didn’t.
Now I know that Pirani was given a lot of playing time at the beginning of the season and he didn’t produce as expected and fell out of favor. Yet, he’s 22, and clearly talented, to write him off as “useless” is rather shortsighted. And I’m not sure if it is a question of attitude, it may be, I’m not in the locker room, but part of being a good coach is being able to figure out and unlock players like Pirani. Unless they are super toxic and as far as I know that has never been said about the player. Can I remind the DCU fandom that Acosta did not arrive in DCU with the capacity to carry a team on his shoulders either. He was always someone who made us go uuuh, aahh, but until DCU brought him Rooney, Acosta was also simply a super talented player who often got frustrated because the rest of his teammates could not gel with him. Then Rooney happened and we saw what Acosta could become. AND yet, Acosta was not the “I’m going to carry this team on my shoulders” player he is today now at 28-30. Not saying Pirani is as good as Lucho but I am not ready to write him off. And to be fair, he’s not the only 22 year old in this team who is not producing as we expected. Yet Teddy still gets playing time and Pirani doesn’t. Regardless, I am still hoping both of them get unlocked.
Major respect for Pedro Santos, he makes mistakes in defense because his legs have a lot mileage, but the dude is a leader and plays with heart. I’m glad to have him on the team. Miller on the other hand, let’s just go with Bono, win or lose. I know that Miller needs playing time to get his groove back but his rustiness is really costing us.
I agree with most of this. Not sure about Miller v Bono. Last night’s giveaway goal was unforgivable, but also illustrates that bounces aren’t going DC’s way. Our keeper’s ball on foot gets blocked, pops up sky high and bounces into goal. Their keeper’s ball on foot gets blocked, pops up sky high and bounces out two yards to left of post.
Might be true but the second goal was also on Miller, he came out without any need to do so. Had he stay put, he would have been able to block the shot. And Miller’s strength as a keeper, which was his ability to distribute and be accurate with the long balls, has now practically disappeared. I simply feel more secure with Bono. Makes me miss Bill Hamid even more but of course those days are gone.
I agree that I do feel more secure with Bono.
That’s not actually a fair description — Miller carelessly lost control of the ball in front of his own net, and tried desperately to prevent the Cincinnati attacker from getting control himself. He lost that battle, and the ball was easily directed into the net. Should never happen.
Literally a minute before that play — after Miler made a nice play in beating an attacker to a loose ball with a sliding clearance — I was wondering why Miller has become Lesesne’s choice. I haven’t seen anything from him that makes me think he’s better in any way. And those horrendous goal kicks. Almost every one of his kicks sails out of bounds, and then he dramatically plays with the turf, as if that’s really the reason. He also slows down our attack far too much, holding on to the ball when teammates are getting into good positions to receive a quick pass and advance the ball. Only one time last night did I see him make a positive throw to a teammate.
With Celentano, Muller got a foot in to block his clearance, but both players were well wide of the goal, and Muller’s momentum was toward the corner. No chance of that ball going into the goal.
That brings to mind a related point. DC united is supposed to be the team taht presses upfield, but it was Cincinnati that repeatedly put DCU defenders (and Miller) under pressure when they had the ball. DCU’s press consisted of long runs at players after they had plent y of time to receive the ball and line up the next pass. Not good enough.
My only criticism is that these two players have been out of the lineup. I think the response by Lesesne at the press conference was weak. He basically indicated you have to be ready. But they seemed to be ready and were not playing significant enough minutes to be able to round into form. Perhaps you sit Pirani for a few games because of his lack of form earlier in the season. Rodriguez on the other hand was totally out of the lineup and only started to play limited minutes recently. Let’s see what happens going forward.