July 14, 2008
Missed PK Haunts United in Loss
Down 2-1 with Jaime Moreno, the MLS all time scoring leader, coming to the line to take a penalty kick in the 78th minute of their SuperLiga match versus CD Guadalajara, D.C. United had to feel good about their chances of eking out a draw or maybe even a win. Moreno had buried his last 20 PK attempts, a streak lasting over four years, and is about as close to automatic as you can get from 12 yards out. Unfortunately, the odds caught up with Moreno, as Ernesto Michel made the save and preserved the 2-1 win for CD Guadalajara. "With all the penalties he has taken in his career, sooner or later he’s going to miss one," United coach Tom Soehn said after the game. "I like his percentages though."
United had plenty of chances throughout the match, however. Luciano Emilio hit the post early in the game, as did Devon McTavish in the second half. They were also hamstrung (no pun intended) in the midfield without the injured Marcello Gallardo, Santino Quaranta and of course, Ben Olsen. Rod Dyachenko (this year's Brian Carroll?) didn't do much in the playmaker role in the first half, so Soehn mercifully sat him in the second while bringing on Francis Doe up front.
Luciano Emilio was pulled down in the box, leading to Moreno's PK attempt. (Kyle Gustafson / www.photokyle.com)
Goalkeeper Zach Wells played one of his best matches of the season, but couldn't make up for the mistakes of his backline. Omar Arellano got behind the entire DCU backline in the 24th minute and scored after beating Wells in a one on one situation. Gonzalo Pineda's scoring strike on a masterful free kick in the 72nd minute proved to be the game winner. Emilio scored for United in the 76th minute to keep his goal scoring streak alive.
Moreno's missed PK wasn't the strangest event of the night, though; that would be the power outage in the 58th minute. Half of the stadium's lights went out, causing a 20 minute delay while the lighting system was rebooted. Soehn thought the break in the action was very fortuitous for the visitors.
"It was very disappointing when the lights went out because it gave them a chance to recuperate," he said. "Because I told the guys that after the second half they were going to lose their legs a little bit and I thought they didn’t. Our play got better. We made some adjustments late in the first half. Closed the middle up a little bit but we started to take it to them and unfortunately when the lights went out they recuperated a little bit."
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ugh...the lights going out was absolutely disgraceful. United has far greater cause to withhold rent than the Nationals do. Kudos to the PA announcer stating "Thank you for your patience, this is why we need a new stadium"
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You have to love the announcer! That was great!
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The game itself was pretty impressive, although United was just outplayed most of the match. The lighting fiasco was rather disappointing especially considering it was internationally televised. If anyone deserves a new stadium or to not pay rent, it's United!
As for the tournament itself, there are still 2 games in the group stage and we could easily take both of those (Tuesday vs. Alante and Saturday vs. Houston).
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I really thought that the missed PK was just the icing on the cake for a poor performance from Moreno. I love the guy, and think he's a total professional - but he looked completely lost at times out there in the first half. There were a couple points when he completely lost his mark, and other points when he was forcing passes into spots that even a world-class supplier would have difficulty with.
It's really obvious that he's gotten used to having the support of Gallardo's attacking midfielder mindset - against Chivas, he was trying to do both his and Gallardo's job, which just made things muddled.
To be fair, 2-1 was a fair scoreline. United was outplayed for the majority of the game. Although, it's fair to note that we did have two shots rattle the post and one missed PK - any of those go in, it's a completely different game. This was a match that United didn't "deserve" to win, but they could have (should have?) pulled out at least a draw.
Oh, and finally, if you haven't ever gone to a game when Chivas is in town, you're doing yourself a real disservice. Their fans are loud and bring the chants.