Four Fs: DC United v. Houston Dynamo

DC United earned their first win of the 2009 MLS season at home against Houston on Saturday night, 1-0, on a Luciano Emilio second half goal. The Four Fs take a closer look.

Forward
Despite adversity, that this team was able to cobble together a three point-winning effort was a pleasant surprise. I was fairly certain that the three points were gone when Jaime Moreno was sent off, and tremendously relieved when the final whistle blew. In between, goalkeeper Louis Crayton, making his first start of the year, was everywhere he needed to be, defenders were popping up everywhere to clear balls off of the line, Chris Pontius deputized in central midfield, and in the end it was three in the column that counts.

First Off The Bench
Even though the big board at RFK Stadium displayed Crayton, he of four saves and countless crosses collected, as the man of the match, I can’t think that the title belonged to anyone but Luciano Emilio. Not only did he score the lone goal of the contest, but he ran himself ragged pressuring the goalkeeper and every defender with the ball. This was especially important after Moreno’s ejection, as the only way the team was going to hold on was to out work Houston. Any look at him near the 90 minute mark saw him with his hands on his knees or hips, visibly exhausted. Yes, it should not be lost on anyone that the first win of the season came with Crayton returning to the lineup; that is no coincidence. However, without Emilio’s hard work on the offensive and defensive ends, the three points are probably not there.

Flank Play
The team is starting to get healthy. It wasn’t readily evident in the starting lineup, as Crayton was the only one who had been out to return, but as the game wore on we saw a couple more players come on who have been out. Fred saw his first action of the season, coming on for Christian Gomez 12 minutes into the second half, and Greg Janicki came on 11 minutes from time for Ben Olsen for the first time since the LA match. Santino Quaranta and Devon McTavish are not back yet, but that hopefully will come soon. I’m anxious to see what a full-strength DC United will look like (and who goes to the bench), but I get the feeling I’ll get that soon.

Final Score
If MLS matches were featured in one of those Nutri System I looked like this, but now on Nutri System I’ve lost 75 pounds and women are now all over me commercials, last night’s match looked a lot more like a “before” photo than an “after.” Simply put, DC United worked their collective ass off for 90 minutes, and that was good enough to earn them the points. I’m not going to say that the sending off of Moreno was entirely egregious, though at the time I was in disbelief that the color of the card was red, but I will say that it gave me a little more confidence in the team that it can succeed when it has to, and persevere through adversity. At least for the time being they’ve figured out how not to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory, and in the early going, when one game must be taken at a time, that’s the least I can ask for.