Confident.

What an absolute pleasure of was it watch D.C United get there first back to back win against Houston Dynamo Saturday night.

Maicon Santos early goal was the one and only of the first half. United struggled to regroup after center back Emiliano Dudar went off with what appeared to be a pulled hamstring. Robbie Russell moved to center back , Perry Kitchen move to right back and Marcelo Saragosa stepped in to the defensive midfielder role.

While the Black and Red struggled to find their feet, Houston found the back off the net in the 50th minute. United stayed composed and Dwayne De Rosario broke his scoring drought with a goal in the 54th. Was it a shot or was it a cross? Who knows, who cares.

Houston also stayed composed and came back to make it 2-2 in the 59th. Last years United would have packed it in at this point, found some way to squander the single point that was left, but that was last year. In the 70 minute Daniel Woolard, Dero And Santos combine to find the 3rd and final goal of the night.

Confident.

Confident they could make something happen to regain the lead. So confident they continued to attack for most of the last 25 minutes. I’ve never understood attempts to hunker down for 25 minutes with a one goal lead. Attack and force the ball away from your own goal.

United won back to back games for the first time since 2009. They fought for this one and deserved it. When asked about it after the game, Olsen said it was a huge relief.

Ben Olsen has convinced Santos to continue to work hard, at least for now. I won’t pretend that I wasn’t part of the peanut gallery calling for his head after his poor performance early in the season. I’m hopeful that his attitude won’t wilt after a bad performance or two this summer.
Andy Najar, just because you came on as a sub doesn’t mean you can’t hold on to the ball. We know what you can do, have a shot! Believe me, everyone wants to worry about weather it should be you or Danny Cruz in there. Don’t lose the swagger.

Dudar is a heavy loss, He has been a rock, winning everything in the air, calmly passing out of the back while MacDonald runs around causing trouble. They are like an Abbot and Costello routine, in a good way. I hope Olsen can find a solution that doesn’t involve Kitchen at right back. How about Najar at right back with a defensive minded right midfielder, Lewis Neal maybe?

The pink elephant on the bench is the million dollar Eastern European duo. For Hamdi Salihi to score, he needs games, in order to get games he needs to score. Branko Boskovic needs games to prove himself. He’s not going to find games when the starting 11 on the field is playing with the confidence they have right now. Branko’s contract is up this summer, and I just don’t see how United can keep him around. His 500,000 salary goes a long way toward depth in MLS. Give Salihi reserve games and hope when the Santos’ well drys up, in the summer the Salihi spring will flow.

Wednesday United embarked on a three game road trip starting at the west conference leader, San Jose Earthquakes. Last year Steven Lenhart served up a Hat-trick at RFK last year. After his recent antics with Marc Burch in Seattle, and Jamison Olave in Salt Lake followed by two goals this past weekend against the Philadelphia Union. United needs to be smart about marking him and not getting sucked into his nonsense, and there’s that other guy, the goal scoring machine know as Chris Wondolowski. Next up, the lack luster Toronto FC, who are dangerous because they have to win sometime right? The Black and Red finish the road trip in a sea of Orange at the opening of a Houston Dynamo’s new stadium. With the taste of this past weekend defeat still fresh, the Dynamo will not want to lose this one.

United sits just under Sporting Kansas City in the standings in second place. United is building some momentum… some confidence. With it comes what might appear to be luck. But is it luck? It’s rare that a team in poor form is lucky. United us making it’s own luck.

MLS Soap Box #1

In a shocking act of kindness Toronto FC gave Chicago Fire a goal Saturday afternoon. Toronto coach Aron Winter said “We decided just before kick off that we had a chance of not losing this game, we felt we better nip this in the bud.” 26 seconds into the game the Toronto keeper rolled the ball out to Chicago forward Dominic Oduro who put the ball in the back of the net. Oduro said “Without that first goal they gave us, this game could have been a draw, and no one wanted that.”

It turns out Jason Kreis doesn’t like the way Sporting Kansas City play. I think he meant to say he doesn’t like losing. If only they would give his players the time they need to be fancy. I wonder if MLS is considering fining Kreis for dogging another team’s style. A couple years back, Kevin Payne was fined for comments about New England’s “10 behind the ball tactics.” Kreis said that their style wasn’t attractive. I beg to differ. Last year after Sporting Kansas City beat D.C. United (not that beating D.C. was any great feat last year) I was really impressed with their speed and desire to go straight for the goal. The tactic is simple, when they don’t have the ball, they go get it. Once they have it, head straight to goal. They remind me of Tottenham Hot Spur…except they are winning.

Speaking of winning, Portland Timbers won a game. Only they didn’t score, which means Kansas City beat themselves, and gave the points to Portland. I bet Peter Vermes doesn’t like John Spencer’s style this week.

Steven Lenhart, you are a tricky bastard. When you retire people will not say “he was one of the good guys.” I hope the disciplinary committee rescinds Jámison Olave’s red card and gives it to Lenhart. He didn’t foul him so much as try to keep him on his feet as Lenhart tried to pull his shorts down.  Which if he stayed on his feet, he might score some goals. I know he is capable of it.

Chris Rolfe recently returned to the Chicago Fire after a two year stint in Denmark with Aalborg. In an interview on Extra Time Radio Simon Borg pressed Rolfe for answers as to why he did not resign to Aalborg. Do we really need to ask why he came home? He was living in a city of just over 100,000 in a country where he didn’t speak the language. I’m sure Rolfe didn’t go the Denmark to settle down and have a long career. He had hoped it to be a stepping stone to a better league in Europe. That didn’t happen, so what. Welcome home Rolfe. I’m sure Chicago is thrilled to have you back.

And finally Rafa Márquez deserves at least 5 games for INTENTIONALLY KICKING ANOTHER PLAYER AND BREAKING HIS CLAVICLE. The guy is a dirt bag and needs to go.

D.C United-4 New York Red Bulls-1

My 7 year old daughter asked if the Statue of Liberty was sad because NY Red Bulls were losing. We told her maybe, but Lady Freedom, a top of the Capital building in Washington D.C, was singing in the rain. She also asked why I talk to the T.V.  “They can’t hear you dad.” she said.

I’ve heard discussions about Chris Pontius being a forward, not a winger, and never understood. I’ve never thought of him as a forward. I see him cutting in to the top corner of the 18 yard box or taking it to the endline and crossing, and right before he got hurt he was doing his part on defense.

I was wrong about him not being a forward and being a one trick pony. While it was a good trick , still just the one I thought. Top corner of the 18 yard box fake left and go right to gain a few feet of space and unleash… It worked for his first of the four he scored recently.

I didn’t except the other three classic striker’s goals he scored Sunday night. One, stripping the ball from none other then Thiery Henry, and ripping one from the top of the box. The second, a poachers goal, right place at the right time, and most importantly the finish! How many of the these did Allsopp, Cristman and Ngwenya miss over the past few years? DCU hasn’t had the guy who puts those away consistently since Luciano Emilio stopped scoring.

Ben Olsen said this after the game  “He (Pontius) still doesn’t know how to play forward though. And that’s a scary thing. He’s still new at the position, and some of his movements can get a lot better.”

I also thought Dwayne De Rosario could not be effective in the attacking midfield role but that is working too.  The goals are being scored without the weight falling on Dero’s shoulders. Don’t worry, your time will come this season I assure you.

DCU was in the right place at the right time over and over against the Red Bulls Sunday night.  Overlapping runs from Pontius and Deleon. Kitchen was there for the outlet pass when some one needed it. The stragglers that popped lose from tackles were collected quickly. DC was able to play their game.

We could go into the problems with Branko Boskovic and Hamdi Salihi, blame the win on the soap opera known as NY Red Bulls, and the lack of quality they had on the field Sunday. We could dwell on the fact that this is only one win in a long season, but I’d rather sit back and enjoy sending the Red Bulls packing back to New York because it just feels good…

And I leave you with this:

http://youtu.be/6IeyleM8diM

Did you do your best?

DC scored in the 28th minute… then the gaff by Dudar… of course they found a way to foul it up…

And the blog writes itself.

“Once again DC found a way to squander a lead, blah, blah, blah”

And then they scored.. and another… no, it couldn’t be another… Yes it is. 4 goals and 3 Points!

The air smelled a little sweeter this morning. My coffee tasted better and my kids were a bit better looking. DC United took 3 points at R.F.K for the first time since late September. Hell of a way to start a week end…

I’m a father and soccer coach. There is a line I use on my kids and my pops used it on me. “Did you do your best?” My daughter rolled her eyes today when I asked after her soccer game. I hated the question as a kid, but how could I answer yes if I hadn’t? Dad was at the game, he knew, and I knew.

Ben Olsen knows. His line up speaks volumes. If you work your tail off you will play, if you don’t you’ll go play for New England or Seattle or the Indian premier league.

What may someday prove to be Ben Olsen’s strength is his “heart” and realistic knowledge of the parity in MLS. Even LA can not rest it’s hopes on 3 or 4 high paid players. More than other leagues around the world, any team can win any game in MLS. If Olsen can get a few wins under his belt and convince this squad to buy in, the points will start to rack up. With the depth beginning to show itself, convincing the squad will be easier.

It takes a group of guys willing to play hard for 90 minutes to win games. Neither MLS nor DC United is stocked with natural, god given talent. Guys like Danny Cruz and Daniel Woolard make their luck with sheer tenacity, energy and hard work. It’s inspiring to watch players like Cruz win a ball in the mid field, fumble through a challenge or two, carrying the ball toward goal, and make a quick pass to Dwayne De Rosario for a perfectly placed cross to the head of Maicon Santos.

I want to wrap my arm around D.C. Untied’s proverbial shoulder, smile and use my second Dad/coach line, ” See, all that hard work is paying off!”

Where to draw the line?

Recently Collin Clark, Houston Dynamo Mid-fielder, call a ball boy a “F#@king f$%got” on national television because the ball boy dropped the ball at his feet, rather then putting it in his hands.

Really Mr. Clark? Classy. Forget the fact that the cameras were on to catch the slur for the moment: You need to scream at a teenage kid on the sidelines? Grow up.

On the latest episode of Extra Time Radio, Simon Borg claim that is was no big deal… Give him a small fine, a slap on the wrist… No suspension. This doesn’t surprise me a bit. Mr. Borg also didn’t think that Luis Suarez’s Racially abusive comments warranted much of a response. Borg claims that people say all kinds of mean and nasty things to each other on the field. He claims it is a commonly used tactic to get your opponent off their game. He asks the question where should we draw the line? How about we draw the line right between F#@king and f$%got? It’s not the f bomb that is the problem, it’s the homophobic slur.

I’m thrilled MLS has decided to give Clark a 3 game suspension. I’m proud to support a league that doesn’t put up with such ridiculousness.

Unacceptable, plain and simple.

Say something nice…

As a kid I was told If you don’ t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all… so here goes.

Joe Willis is a good back up keeper.

Hamdi Salihi scored lots of goals in Austria.

Robbie Russel’s wife is a lawyer in D.C, maybe she can give him a job at her office.

Emilliano Dudar (6′ 4″)is much taller than Robbie Kean (5′ 9″).

DC only plays LA once this year.

Portland Timbers are fun to watch.

Nick Deleon has the potential to have hair like Carlos Valderrma. MLS need more of this.

   

And he did that classy thing where you score a beautiful, yet pointless goal, quickly grab the ball and bring it to mid field.

There were moments, brief and fleeting as they were, that this attack looked like something…

This is only the second game of the season. I believe it will get better…