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Fire at 17th and L NW Forces Evacuations
One wonders what DC United Coach Tom Soehn said to his team at halftime. Down 1-0 after dominating possession in the first half, without two banged up star midfielders, but at home against a tough but beatable Chicago Fire team, did he make tactical changes? Did he exhort the players to make the second half a turning point in the season? Did he pull misfiring forward (and reigning MVP) Luciano Emilio aside and give him a little confidence boost?
Whatever he said, it didn't work at all. United turned in a poor second half performance, mustering few scoring opportunities and committing turnover after turnover in its defensive half en route to a 2-0 home loss to the Fire. Where the first half contained some bright spells of possession, with Clyde Simms helping swing the ball from left to right and captain Jaime Moreno getting into some dangerous positions, but DC never forced Chicago keeper Jon Busch into a save. At the other end, the Fire had offered comparatively little in possession or creativity -- except a jinking run and low shot from former DCU youngster Justin Mapp -- but like most MLS teams, they just kind of wait around and take what you give them. In the 38th minute, United gave Chris Rolfe space to serve an accurate, deep ball into the box and then gave Mapp enough time to stop, look up, sip a cup of tea, and then fire his 15 yard shot past Zach Wells.
The rest of the half saw midfielder Rod Dyachenko and Franco Neill fly around aimlessly, launching themselves into tackles, while United passed the ball comfortably from left to right on their way to nowhere in particular and not in much of a hurry to get there anyway. Perhaps it was the goal that stunned them, but it was a different United after the halftime break. They were slow to every 50-50 ball and just could not penetrate the Chicago defense. When they did get a peak at goal, Emilio and Neill dithered on the ball in the penalty area and failed to test Busch.
The game was for all intents and purposes settled by the 62nd minute. Chicago's Mexican star Cuauhtemoc Blanco -- an easy target for DC fans with his absurd ref-baiting antics -- picked up another careless giveaway in DC's defensive third of the field, carried at the defense, and, spotting Wells off his line, lofted a high shot into the far corner. In truth, it was a sublime goal and the kind of inspired play United sorely lacked. The game petered out after that, with the exception of a late Moreno header that hit the crossbar.
Afterwards, Soehn was visibly frustrated when he said, "It's getting to a crucial time." At 2-5, with poor showings against all the decent teams they've faced this year, I'd say we're at that crucial time. But DC isn't the type of team to go on the road and grind out a draw or steal a 1-0 victory. They're the type of squad that rely so heavily on possession and scoring in the run of play that it may well take half the season before all the new signings completely gel. If that starts to happen in the next month, watch out. If not, Soehn may be the one looking over his shoulder.
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shitty thing is fire was slipping all over the place and we still couldnt pick the ball up enough to hit one in. blowwws. at least there was a fight at the end. did anyone see the united drummer guy in the stands get in a shouting match with a spectator? clASSic