Hottest WPS Player Poll: Preliminary Round

After being prodded to revisit a hottest women’s soccer player poll I did a few years ago (won by Heather Mitts), I decided to give it another go, this time limiting things to WPS players (sorry, Ali Krieger.) The preliminary round will include 20 players, organized into four groups of five. You’ll have until Thursday to vote for the hottest player in each group, and the top two in each group will go to the final round of 8. Each player will have two photos from which you’ll have to judge, one headshot and one sort of action shot. Clicking some pictures will get them to enlarge. Let’s do it.

GROUP A:

Heather Mitts

Team: Atlanta Beat
Age: 32
Height: 5’5
Currently injured and missing the Women’s World Cup, Mitts has long been considered the hottest female soccer player around. Can anyone unseat her?

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Lauren Cheney

Team: Boston Breakers
Age: 23
Height: 5’8
A dangerous forward, Cheney will be looking to help the US win the Women’s World Cup in Germany this summer.

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Lauren Sesselmann

Team: Atlanta Beat
Age: 27
Height: 5’8
Twitter: @lsesselmann
Sesselmann lists “model” as part of her Twitter bio. Yeah, I’m good with that.

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Keeley Dowling

Team: Atlanta Beat
Age: 28
Height: 5’7
Dowling is a University of Tennessee graduate and a fringe member of the National Team pool. She’s not going to Germany, but that means we get to see more of her here.

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Becky Sauerbrunn

Team: magicJack
Age: 25
Height: 5’7
Her play in WPS has led to inclusion in the World Cup team. Even though they’re not the Freedom anymore, Sauerbrunn has the distinction of having scored the franchise’s first WPS goal.

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GROUP B:

Hope Solo

Team: magicJack
Age: 29
Height: 5’9
Twitter: @hopesolo
Solo gets more press for what she says than what she does on the field. That’s a shame, as her talents need no description.

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Taryn Hemmings

Team: Boston Breakers
Age: 25
Height: 5’7
Twitter: @tarynbell
I don’t really know much about her, other than that she’s a 2nd year player from the University of Denver. Also, wow.

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Bianca D’Agostino

Team: Atlanta Beat
Age: 22
Height: 5’3
Twitter: @BiancaDAgostino [protected]
She hasn’t gotten much time on the field in WPS, so I’ve had to give you a picture from her time with the US U-23 team. Seeing more of her would be nice.

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Kelley O’Hara

Team: Boston Breakers
Age: 22
Height: 5’5
O’Hara broke Kristine Lilly’s beep test record with the National Team, which means she’s got to be the fittest player on the team. That’s not the only superlative I’d bestow.

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Carli Lloyd

Team: Atlanta Beat
Age: 28
Height: 5’8
Twitter: @carlilloyd
Lloyd is a polarizing player in WNT fan circles, and then she puts a rocket into the upper 90 from 30 yards and all is forgiven.

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GROUP C:

Amy Rodriguez

Team: Philadelphia Independence
Age: 24
Height: 5’4
Fast, skilled, and for my money one of the keys to the success of the World Cup team. Also, she looks great in HD.

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Leslie Osborne

Team: Boston Breakers
Age: 28
Height: 5’7
Twitter: @LeslieOsborne12
Osborne came closest to defeating Heather Mitts in the first poll. You can see why.

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Ashlyn Harris

Team: Western New York Flash
Age: 5’9
Height: 25
Harris was the odd woman out as far as World Cup goalkeepers go, and the second and final goalkeeper in the poll. Is she #1 overall?

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Meghan Schnur

Team: magicJack
Age: 26
Height: 5’6
Another fringe National Teamer, Schnur will be called upon to step up in the World Cup absence of many magicJack players. Can she step up here?

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Katherine Reynolds

Team: Atlanta Beat
Age: 23
Height: 5’8
Twitter: @KReynolds16
I don’t know much about her. I do know that Reynolds is the 7th of 8 Atlanta Beat players in the poll, but she’s the only one in this group.

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GROUP D:

Alex Morgan

Team: Western New York Flash
Age: 21
Height: 5’8
Twitter: @alexmorgan13
Morgan got a lot of support on Twitter when I solicited suggestions for candidates in the poll. Of course I was already going to include her. Oh, and she scored the most important US goal in World Cup qualifying.

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Carrie Dew

Team: Sky Blue FC
Age: 24
Height: 5’9
Twitter: @CarrieDew19
Dew is the lone Sky Blue FC representative. What’s not to like about tall and blonde?

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Tina DiMartino

Team: Philadelphia Independence
Age: 24
Height: 5’2
DiMartino is the shortest player in the poll, but I’ve always contended that short = cute…

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Marian Dalmy

Team: magicJack
Age: 26
Height: 5’9
It really is a shame that so many media restrictions are in place at magicJack. How are we supposed to see more of her?

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Cat Whitehill

Team: Atlanta Beat
Age: 29
Height: 5’7
Twitter: @catwhitehill4
The final Beat player and final entrant, Whitehill also has sports broadcasting aspirations. Plus she has the distinction of being the only player in the poll that I’ve actually met.

D.C. United Women fall in season opener

D.C. United women fell 1-0 to the New Jersey Wildcats in their inaugural W-League match last night. The New Jersey goal came late in the game on an 88th minute strike by University of Tennessee alumna Kylee Rossi.

Two United players, Christie Welsh and Hayley Siegel, were not cleared to play by the USSF prior to the match. Siegel, currently a Volunteer Assistant for Georgetown University women’s soccer, was awaiting release paperwork from Sindelfingen, her German 2.Bundesliga side in 2010. Welsh is still considered a professional from her time in WPS.

United have one more road match, Sunday June 5th at the New York Magic, before making their home debut on Thursday June 9th against last night’s foe, New Jersey.

D.C. United starting lineup and (subs) [4-4-2]
GK: Didi Haracic
D: Brittany Cummins, Megan Watson, Marisa Abegg, Bri Hovington
M: Christy Bush (Jerica Dewolfe), Christine Nairn, Danielle Malagari (Jill Porto), Katie Menzie
F: Katie Watson (Katie Cramp), Tiffany Brown

D.C. United Women set to open their season tonight

At this moment, D.C. United Women are heading north to face the New Jersey Wildcats at 7:30pm tonight. The team recently posted its roster (below), and more additions can be expected soon, pending league approval. Recognizable signings include Marisa Abegg (previous member of the Washington Freedom), Kerri Butler (former Northern Virginia Majestics goalkeeper), Katie Menzie (former Majestics midfielder), and Jill Porto (another former Freedom player).

The Wildcats are offering a stream of tonight’s match through their website. You can reach the stream page directly here.

D.C. United Women sign four

D.C. United women have signed their first four players, Tiffany Brown, Jerica DeWolfe, Christine Nairn, and Danielle Malagari. The latter two, Nairn and Malagari, were involved in the Washington Freedom family of clubs, Malagari having played with the Freedom in the W-League, and Nairn with Washington Freedom Futures. Nairn has also played for multiple U.S. youth national teams.

Tryouts for the team continue this Saturday, May 7th, and Saturday, May 14th. The team plays its first game on Wednesday, May 25th.

Four Fs: D.C. United v. New York Red Bulls

D.C. United are still licking their wounds after a 4-0 home defeat at the hands of their arch rivals. The Four Fs examines.

Forward
My goodness, the defending was abysmal. On goals one and two, Thierry Henry was so unmarked I couldn’t tell who was actually responsible for him. On goal two, Jan Gunnar Solli brushed a wrong-sided Marc Burch aside on his way through the area to square the ball that eventually resulted in the goal. On goal three, Joel Lindpere could have ran backwards through the midfield on his way to scoring and still nobody would have been near him. And it appears that Juan Agudelo out-muscled Dejan Jakovic to score the fourth goal. Bill Hamid made just one save on five New York shots on goal, but I can’t find a single instance where I thought “he should still have saved that.” You could see the frustration in his body language, which I interpreted to mean that he felt he should have made this save or that, but I’m not sure he could have been expected to make any of them.

The performance should be a bit of a reality check for the team and its fans, especially after the comprehensive defeat of Toronto last weekend. This team has come a long way from last year’s wretched run, but still has a ways to go to be an elite team.

First off the bench
As a Branko Boskovic advocate, I may need some other opinions on this to make sure that my views are not clouded by that advocating, but from the moment Boskovic entered, I felt like the offense was different. They moved the ball better and more quickly, and Boskovic himself had three very good chances to score, twice hitting the bar and once forcing a save out of goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul. I watched Boskovic carefully after he came in, and it appears to me that he knows what he wants to do with the ball before he gets it. He receives it and either plays it along on his first touch, or takes a touch and then gets rid of it. He doesn’t dally over the ball, and more often than not goes forward with it. Conversely, it seems to me that the man he’s replaced in matches recently, Dax McCarty, gets caught in possession too often, and is slow to move the ball along.

While it’s clear to me that in the advanced or attacking midfielder position in this team Boskovic is a better fit for the role than McCarty, it isn’t clear to me why McCarty is often the one who makes way for Boskovic. It’s as if Olsen is punishing Dax for not succeeding in that position, which would be an action that fails to account for the fact that it isn’t Dax’s actual position. McCarty is not an attacking midfielder. How can he be punished for not doing well at something he doesn’t actually do? I like Clyde Simms, but I would rather see Boskovic playing slightly in front of McCarty right now.

Flank play
While the scoreboard is indicative of an ass whipping (and it was,) I was surprised to see that New York did not dramatically outshoot D.C. United. In fact, each team generated nine shots. Of course United’s three shots on goal were all saved, but the offensive side of the ball did not turn in the stinker that the defense did. Did New York allow us possession a little more possession with a 2-0 lead? I don’t know. I just wish we had tested Coundoul a little more.

Final score
It stings. You have to figure it doesn’t get much worse than this. I hope this is something that spurs this team on to better things. I realize that this team is somewhere between the world beating team that won both 3-1 on opening night and 3-0 last weekend, and the team that just got drilled 4-0. You win this time, New York. Savor the flavor.

Four Fs: Toronto v. D.C. United

D.C. United journeyed to Toronto and came away with a resounding 3-0 win. The Four Fs has a look.

Forward
This was essentially a complete performance, and definitely the kind of thing we hadn’t seen in some time, even including the 3-1 season opening win over Columbus. D.C. jumped on top of Toronto from the get go, punishing Toronto for their mistakes to go up 2-0, adding the game killing goal after Toronto went down a man, and not conceding many chances to the opposition. They were opportunistic and ruthless in finishing, and I never for a moment felt like Toronto was in it. Yes, it is tempered by the fact that it was against a Toronto team that has not been the most solid side in the league, but it was still a road game against a conference opponent, and our first win since the season opener.

The only complaint I really have is that we have seen six goals from open play, and still have yet to have a single assist from our central midfield. In fact, three of the four assists for this team have come from defenders (Marc Burch, Chris Korb, Jed Zayner), and the fourth came from Fred. The best pass any central midfielder has made was Branko Boskovic’s pass to Charlie Davies that set up the penalty against Los Angeles, and Boskovic can barely get on the field. I may sound like a broken record here, but for a team that’s supposed to have creative influences, this should be better. That Ben Olsen justified his substitution of Boskovic for McCarty by saying that he wanted more possession might signal that Olsen is ready to start using him more because he is recognizing what he brings to the table.

First off the bench
I can’t begin to list the players who stood out with good performances, so I’ll just give you two in particular. Chris Pontius showed so much, weaving through the defense and finishing left footed to the far post, and later cutting back onto his stronger right foot and bending one around the goalkeeper. In between, he was consistently effective, and easily the man of the match. Ethan White seemingly is becoming more confident by the half, and was again in the right place at the right time to clear a would-be goal off the line, this time after a fine point blank save from Bill Hamid. White has great soccer smarts, and he’s showing them each time he steps onto the field. Also of note was Hamid himself for the first clean sheet of the season.

Flank play
If you’re on Twitter and you’re a D.C. United fan, you probably caught a whiff of the whining by Toronto fans over Charlie Davies celebrating in front of them after scoring. They called it classless, arrogant, and taunting, and one fan in particular suggested that Charlie Davies should rent a car and drive home (no doubt a reference to the accident that claimed a life, nearly took his, and ruined a third person’s.) Not only do I take from that that it’s evidently verboten for a striker to celebrate on the road, but I also find it funny that a Toronto fan thinks it’s form to taunt the opposing fans after scoring, but it somehow is also okay for Toronto fans to taunt opposing fans after winning a game. In 2009 when D.C. United lost away to Toronto, BMO Field security kept us in the stadium until everyone else filtered out. Toronto supporters sought us out and sang “Who Are Ya” and “Can You Hear United Sing” at us from behind a fence. Want proof?

So should fans really be casting stones at player who celebrates and assail it as taunting when they’ve done no better? Does that even need answering? No.

Shut up, Toronto whiners. You got whipped in your own building and you’re looking for a reason to complain. How about directing it at your own club? If you don’t want people celebrating in front of you, maybe you should stop them from scoring.

Final score
There isn’t much more that needs to be said that hasn’t already been said. The black and red went on the road, played very well, and won 3-0. It’s a good win, and a way to break a string of less than favorable results. But now? Roll on Thursday.

MLS Statistical Analysis 3.1b – Defense and Goalkeeping

We move on and look at the defense thus far in MLS (excepting last night’s Portland/Chicago match.) Just like with the offense, here’s the data used, with teams sorted alphabetically. Keep in mind that the numbers are reflective of what each team allowed last season (ie: this team allowed X shots on goal, and allowed opponents to win Y points against them)
(GP = games played / G = goals / S = shots / SOG = shots on goal — fouls removed because the data would be the same, just reversed)

Standing out is the big fat zero in the Real Salt Lake points allowed column, and their one goal allowed in four matches, a number met also by Philadelphia. On the other end of the spectrum, Vancouver is the only team thus far to allow 10 goals. Toronto’s 73 shots allowed looks pretty bad, but as you’ll see it’s not the worst in the league by average. Again, when the teams haven’t played the same amount of games, appearances can be deceptive. And now the percentages, arranged by points allowed per game…
(GPG = goals per game / SPG = shots per game / %SOG = percentage of shots that are on goal / %S=G = percentage of shots resulting in goals / %SOG=G = percentage of shots on goal resulting in goals / PPG = points per game)

Three teams are allowing one point per game or less (Real Salt Lake, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles) and two are allowing two or more per game (Chivas and Portland, though Portland’s average dropped below 2.0 after last night’s win over Chicago.) RSL have been most impressive, with a 100% record while balancing CONCACAF Champions League competition which sees them in the two-leg final against Mexican side Monterrey. It’s entirely conceivable that their run will continue with games away to Portland (which will be a tough test for anyone with that atmosphere), and home to Chivas next up on the schedule. Though the Salt Lake percentage of shots on goal resulting in goals is a miniscule 2.27% (perspective: slightly more than 2 of every 100 shots on Nick Rimando’s would go in the goal), Philadelphia’s 1.92% is even better. More on both of those teams shortly.

While Kansas City’s offense has been lighting the league afire with 2.67 goals per game, their defense has been putting that fire out by allowing the same. More on them in a moment as well, after we see the rankings…

Kansas City are simply atrocious when it comes to the defensive rankings. They’re obviously allowing goals, but they’re allowing just 1.33 more shots per game (14.33) than Philadelphia, who are allowing 2.42 less goals per game. Opponents are shooting often against Kansas City, and they’re also finding the frame (48.84% of shots on frame – 17th) and the net (18.60% of shots are goals – 17th). Only one team is worse than them in both of those categories, and we usually save them for last.

Back to Real Salt Lake and Philadelphia. Neither of them are doing a great job of stopping the opponent from shooting, with RSL 8th in shots allowed (11.00) and Philadelphia 13th (13.00), but those shots just aren’t going in, and in Philadelphia’s case specifically, those shots are rarely even on net (19.23%, 1st).

The aforementioned Toronto total of 73 shots allowed is good for an average of 14.60 per game, which is only eclipsed by the accommodating defense of Houston, who’ve allowed 60 shots in one less game than Toronto for an average of 15.00. Houston are still allowing just one goal per game, which says a lot about how Tally Hall’s been playing.

D.C. United’s seven points allowed in four matches for an average of 1.75 per game is not very good (tied for 15th.) The defense have not been allowing a lot of shots – just 10.25 per game, good for 5th – but those shots are often on goal (53.66%) and going in the net (19.51%), which are both last in the league. I have a funny feeling I know what’s to blame for those numbers as we look at goalkeeping, sorted by goals against average…

Before the season, I wrote this about Pat Onstad in relation to Houston’s goalkeeping stats last season:

Onstad is mostly responsible for these numbers, with 23 starts last season. His save percentage (54.44%) and GAA (1.74) were both worst than the Houston team average. It all adds up to me being worried about D.C. United’s goalkeeping until Hamid returns.

In four games, the save percentage for D.C. United goalkeepers is 16th in the league, which is bad already until you remove the 6 shots faced and 4 saved by Bill Hamid in his one league match, which would drop the save percentage down to 50%, which is actually a decline for Onstad from last year. His GAA also got worse, allowing over two goals per game (7) in three matches.

At the top of the list are the already statistically dominant Salt Lake and Philadelphia. Both boast save percentages of 90% or better, with RSL’s numbers looking more impressive because understudy goalkeeper Kyle Reynish has made an appearance and logged a clean sheet. If this keeps up, these teams are going to be running away with their respective divisions.
While the D.C. United numbers are not good, the two teams with worse goalkeeping numbers, Chicago and Colorado, have been wretched. Colorado goalkeeper Matt Pickens has faced 13 shots in five games, which is less than three per game, but he’s only stopped seven of them. Chicago goalkeeper Sean Johnson faced nine shots in three games and only stopped four of them, and that was before he faced four shots last night in Portland and made just one save. For the season, Johnson has allowed more goals (9) than he has saves (5). His save percentage is 38.55%. My goodness.

That’s it for this edition of MLS Statistical Analysis. We’ll have another look in late May as trends become more clear with a few more games played, and we’ll get to see who’s getting better and who’s getting worse as the season progresses.

MLS Statistical Analysis 3.1a – Offense

With most of the teams in MLS having played 4 or more games, I think it’s a good time to dive into MLS Statistical Analysis for 2011 for the first time. I realize that it’s still very early to be looking at trends, but it’s enough of a sample size to start evaluating things. As usual, we start with offense, and here’s the data, with teams sorted alphabetically.
(GP = games played / G = goals / S = shots / SOG = shots on goal / FC = fouls committed / FS = fouls suffered)

With the number of games played not being equal, it’s going to be hard to tell too much from the initial set of data. The only thing that really jumps out at me is the fact that just four teams have multiple wins (Real Salt Lake, Philadelphia, Colorado, and Los Angeles.) The real interesting stuff comes out when my statistics are calculated (and then ranked), teams sorted by points per game.
(GPG = goals per game / SPG = shots per game / %SOG = percentage of shots that are on goal / %S=G = percentage of shots resulting in goals / %SOG=G = percentage of shots on goal resulting in goals / FD = foul differential, fouls suffered minus fouls committed)

New England’s -19 foul differential leads the league, and pretty much embodies what any non-Revolution fan thinks of them. I’m just going to leave that out there on its own.

Just as they did last season, Real Salt Lake has scored fairly prolifically, tallying 2 goals per game through their four matches, a number only bested by Kansas City’s 2.67 goals per game in three matches. Philadelphia and Los Angeles are scoring .75 and .83 goals per game respectively, yet they’re still 2nd and 4th in the points per game rankings. One would only think that they’ll show well when it comes to defensive statistics.

Now we get to the rankings, where again I’ve colored the top 3 in blue, and the bottom 3 in orange, or bottom two in cases when there’s a tie for a place above 16.

Standing out is New York for their terribleness. They’re 3rd in shots per game (14.50), but 17th or worse in goals per game (.50), percentage of shots on goal (31.03%), percentage of shots resulting in goals (3.45%), and percentage of shots on goal resulting in goals (11.11%). Last season they had a similar inaccuracy issue, shooting 3rd most in the league (12.17), with 14th best accuracy in relation to the goal (37.53% – which was also bottom 3 in what was then a 16 team league.) This year, their shots per game has gone up, but their accuracy has gone down. It isn’t any wonder why they have two goals in four games.

I’ve already mentioned the Kansas City offense’s league leading 2.67 goals per game, but what interests me about them is the fact that they’ve done it while having the 11th best shots on goal percentage (34.88%). When they do get it on frame, they score 53.33% of the time, tied for first with Real Salt Lake.

Vancouver average a ranking of 4.6 in the offensive categories (excepting foul differential and points per game). Their goals per game average of 1.80 is good enough for 3rd, and they don’t rank worse than 6th in any of those categories. That Jay Nolly has figured so prominently for them in goal probably has something to do with their tie for 13th in points per game, but we’ll see for sure tomorrow when we look at defense and goalkeeping.

D.C. United’s 11.00 shots per game is actually a slight statistical decline from last year’s 11.23, but there have been improvements in goals per game (1.50 over .70), shots on goal percentage (43.18% over 39.76%), percentage of shots resulting in goals (13.64% over 6.23%) and percentage of shots on goal resulting in goals (31.58% over 16.57%). Of course that is skewed by the fact that 3 of the 6 United goals came on penalties, but even without the 3 shots, shots on goal and goals, the team still shows improvements in all of those categories. If anything, that tells me just how bad United were last year. Yeah, the team is going to have to get better in open play and from dead balls to score goals and win games consistently, but at least the numbers are nice for the time being.

Tomorrow comes the defense and goalkeeping.

Four Fs: D.C. United v. Los Angeles Galaxy

On Saturday night, D.C. United looked to be on the brink of a third consecutive loss, but rallied despite being down a man to salvage a point. The Four Fs looks closer.

Forward
In the brief moments between Charlie Davies going down in the area, and referee Abbey Okulaja’s whistle and point to the spot, I thought “there’s no way he’s going to give that.” I was wrong. There are Galaxy fans, especially on Twitter, that are all but calling for Davies’ head on a stick, claiming that he’s a disgrace to soccer, and warning him against trying that with the national team.

They sorely need some perspective.

First of all let’s look at the foul by Omar Gonzalez. There’s no arguing that Davies went down easily, but here’s the thing that anyone arguing that it was a “dive” is forgetting: Gonzalez pushed Davies with his forearm in the penalty area. A push is one of the seven things in the FIFA Laws of the Game that calls for a direct kick, or a penalty if in the area. The Laws are also extremely subjective, often using the phrase “in the opinion of the referee.” From Okulaja’s perspective, he saw Gonzalez’s arm get away from his body, make contact with Davies, and Davies went down. Had it been Gonzalez’s shoulder, there would have been no foul, but when you push with the arm, the referee has the option to call the foul if he views it to be “careless, reckless or using excessive force” as it says in the Laws of the Game. It certainly wasn’t reckless or excessive in force, but from the referee’s perspective, being beaten for pace and throwing your arm out at the attacker was certainly careless. If you want to say that Charlie Davies “embellished,” I’d say that is accurate, but if you’re shouting that it was a “dive,” you’re also claiming that Gonzalez did nothing to him, and that’s false.

Secondly, let’s look at two Okulaja decisions that preceded the penalty and went against D.C. United, namely the yellow card to Dunivant for his late and reckless tackle on Chris Korb, and the yellow card to David Beckham for his late scissors tackle against Josh Wolff. Many Galaxy fans on Twitter acknowledged that Beckham should have been sent off for that tackle, as virtually anyone on this planet would for a scissors tackle against an opponent. Many who watched Okulaja suggested that he was reaching for his back pocket and changed his mind once he arrived and saw Beckham was the culprit. I’m not ready to suggest a conspiracy along those lines, but he does appear to reach with his left hand for his back pocket initially. The Dunivant tackle against Korb was maybe not as bad, but from my vantage point he was not in the same zip code as the ball, showed his studs, and left the ground to tackle. Clear red. Now, I’m not positive that Juninho was guilty of deliberate handling of the ball, but there was arm/ball contact. As he was at such close range and his arm was not away from his body, I would not have called for the penalty as some others have. That said, the Galaxy could and should have been down two men before the end of the match.

Thirdly, and finally, no matter how dubious you may think the penalty against Gonzalez was, believers in karma will think that it was just to even things up for the penalty awarded in 2009 when Rodney Wallace trapped the ball with his thigh and was whistled for handling in the area at Home Depot Center against L.A.

First off the bench
While this space usually consists of one issue, I need to lump a few issues together under one heading: Personnel.

To start things off, I think that Clyde Simms and Dax McCarty are fine players, but when they’re played together in central midfield there is very little linking to the forwards other than the long ball. This is troubling as we don’t have anything but short forwards who cannot consistently win those balls out of the back, and would do better with more passes to feet, or low through balls. Lightly used substitute Branko Boskovic came on for McCarty, and it wasn’t long before his through ball sent Davies on his run that resulted in the penalty. I don’t see McCarty or Simms making that pass in that spot. Rookie Ethan White had what seemed to be a fairly good debut. I don’t recall thinking about him very much, which is a good thing if you’re a center back, except for the moment that Bill Hamid came for and missed a cross, and White ran directly to the goal line and was there to clear away a shot.

While Boskovic and White were good, Santino Quaranta was terrible. I defy one D.C. United fan to tell me one thing he does consistently well. He rarely puts free kicks and corner kicks into dangerous areas (yet the team continues to allow him to take them), his crosses are routinely off target, and his shots more often find the wall behind either goal than the frame. Yes, he scored in Colorado, but that was more an aberration than an indication of consistency. Saturday night he was particularly bad, and that was before he was sent off for his second yellow card, showing his studs and going over the ball. It was a clear booking, and he deserved to go off.

Lastly, I found two of the three substitutions peculiar in nature. Davies entering for Brettschneider was fine, but I don’t understand why it happened just 7 minutes into the second half (unless Brettschneider picked up an injury.) Why bother waiting those 7 minutes instead of making the sub at halftime? The other peculiar sub was Najar for Korb in what turned out to be a straight swap. Down a goal, shouldn’t Najar have gone into the midfield, or even forward? How is having him out there, inexperienced at right back, better than having Korb there? Yes, Najar is far better in attack than Korb, but the advantage you get from that is minimal when he’s in the backline.

Flank play
While D.C. United should perhaps feel fortunate to have come away with a point, Olsen was not pleased with the way the team played, and he isn’t holding those cards close to his vest. His postgame comments mentioned, among other things, the need to know when to play to feet as opposed to just lumping balls forward, that the team was not good enough overall, and that they’ve got work to do. That sort of constructive criticism and leadership is what is going to help make this team better, and I think it’s fantastic.

Final score
Overall it was not a great performance for the team, but enough was done in the end to earn a point. Controversy is all over the game, with questionable refereeing decisions and an alleged dive, which certainly will overshadow everything that happened on the field. An away trip to Toronto is next, and I don’t want to say this is a must win, but it’s pretty close.

DCU Primer: Interstellar Invasion

D.C. United looks to break a two-game losing streak on Saturday at RFK Stadium against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Team News

D.C. United
Injured: M – Junior (ankle), G – Steve Cronin (wrist), Devon McTavish (concussion)
Probable: M – Clyde Simms (calf), D – Jed Zayner (hamstring)

Los Angeles Galaxy
Injured: D – Gregg Berhalter (MCL), F – Adam Cristman (knee)
Questionable: M – Hector Jimenez (wrist)

United returns home hoping to put their two road performances behind them. From a personnel standpoint, the team is starting to look more like it did in the opener, with the return of both Perry Kitchen from international duty with the U-20s, and Dejan Jakovic from red card suspension, as well as the recovery from injury by Jed Zayner, hopefully in time for selection tomorrow. The restoration of the backline could not have come at a better time, with the potent attacking triumverate of Landon Donovan, Juan Pablo Angel, and some English dude named David Beckham coming to town. The injury that kept Charlie Davies out of the lineup in Colorado seems to have healed, as he’s trained for the past two days.

Los Angeles recovered well from the 4-1 loss away to Real Salt Lake two weeks ago by beating Philadelphia 1-0 last weekend. They’re currently sandwiched between 1st place Colorado and 3rd place Real Salt Lake in the West, though that is somewhat misleading as they’ve played four games to Colorado’s three and RSL’s two. While the aforementioned attacking triumverate should not be taken lightly, their statistical impact remains to really be seen, as they’ve got just one goal and two assists to their collective name. The team as a whole has scored just one goal in each of their four matches, and that’s a run that can’t last forever.

Ticket sales for the match tomorrow have surpassed 21,000, and the crowd will be hoping to see a good show, even if an untold number will just be there to squeal at David Beckham. While imposing on paper, the Galaxy have yet to show it on the field thus far. Here’s hoping that our reassembled defense is up to the task.