Monday, August 4, 2008

DCU Does it Again

Another grand and glorious win for DC United.

Both DCU goals were just exquisite. You will not find better highlight-reel goals in any league anywhere in the world. Check out the video highlights at mlsnet.com.

Our new flank player, Guerrero, is a fine pickup. Thank you, San Jose. The guy was a monster on the flank, both offensively and defensively, all night long. He wins a 50-50 ball. in the air, from a taller player, feeds Jaime, who in turn threads a gorgeous diagonal ball to Emilio for the money and a 1-0 scoreline for the good guys.

Joe Vide, former UVA man returned from exile, played great, I thought. He played with heart, and fought to the end for the shirt. In his *first game* for the Black and Red. Was a bit lucky not to see red on his second half challenge. But hey, that kind of thing is avoidable with some coaching, which he will get under Tommy.

Zach Wells. What can I say, other than I like my crow with salt, pepper, AND ketchup. And, of course, a Diet Coke to wash it down and make the calories go away. I was a harsh critic of Zach wells in the early going of this campaign, but the guy gets better each game. He got his clean sheet, having come up with some game-saving stops.

Speaking of eating crow, I have got to say Tommy did a nice job of coaching. He has the team well-prepared, even in the face of several core starters being out.

Jaime Moreno. What can I say. This guy is the king of calcio-coolness. He has got soccer-mojo and massive futbol gravitas in spades. What he has lost in pace he has more than made up for in craftiness. KC made the mistake of marking him with a single player early in the game. I remember commenting directly to my TV set early in the match, (the TV of course agreed completely with my analysis) that KC was in trouble if they didn't put more defenders on him. Then comes the nice assist to Emilio. Not coincidentally KC double and triple teamed Moreno the rest of the night. No matter, Jaime later scores on a lovely header, and almost had another off a through-ball in the box.

I am a bit suprised by KC's form of the last several weeks. Here is a team that does not have a single bad player in its first 11 (I hate using Roman numerals). They are very fit, and they have good chemistry. They are just not scoring. They were a bit unlucky against us. Onalfo needs to turn things around.

For more on DCU and MLS, you can't miss Steve Goff's blog.