Paris Saint-Germain’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a big, big man. In more ways than one. At 6-feet-5-inches, he towers over nearly everyone on the pitch, and the expectations that follow the Swede are nearly as large. Heading into his debut with les rouge et bleu, many D.C. area soccer fans were eager to see if he could live up to the hype.
It took the former A.C. Milan star just 131 seconds to show the world why Paris Saint-Germain paid an estimated $25 million to obtain his services this summer. Running onto a through ball from teammate Jeremy Menez, PSG’s newly acquired marquee man took a quick back-heeled touch, moved to his left and struck a venonmous, curling ball around a fully-extended Bill Hamid. For Ibrahimovic, it was a moment of brilliance during a 40-minute shift that, more than anything, demonstrated his lack of match fitness.
“I feel good, very good,” he said after the match. “I mean I scored a goal, and my condition is not 100 percent. I’m still working hard to reach 100% and I’ve been training with the team for 3-4 days. So, it’s important for me to play today; I played 40 minutes, and next game hopefully I’ll play more and get in better shape.”
The goal left the 13,176 in attendance at RFK Stadium with their mouths agape. It’s not often that soccer fans in the District get to see a player like Ibrahimovic, who somehow possesses both the stature and brawn of an action hero while maintaining the ball-controlling abilities of a much smaller forward. With every attacking touch, Ibrahimovic brought most of the stadium to their feet.
D.C. United, for its part, did its best to impress the home crowd, weathering the early barrage and nearly tying the game in the 20th minute. United Captain Dwayne De Rosario played a cheeky ball over the top to Chris Pontius, whose one-timed effort found the crossbar instead of the net. Just two minutes later, United forward Long Tan—who was making his RFK stadium debut—found himself on the end of a Chris Korb cross, which he headed just wide of the far post.
United seemed to have seized control of the match, but Mother Nature had other plans, as an ominous line of yellow-gray clouds descended over the stadium and the skies opened up. After a 45-minute lightning delay, the teams re-emerged from their respective locker rooms and the black and red showed they were still eager to be in the driver’s seat. A Daniel Woolard cross into the box would deflect off of the outstretched arm of PSG defender Milan Biševac, and United were in turn awarded a penalty kick. De Rosario cooly finished the play and United found itself in a 1-1 tie. It would be the final goal of the game.
The visitors made wholesale changes at halftime, subbing out eight of their players. United would also make its share of substitutions—but the pace and quality of the match seemed to suffer very little, as the second half was full of chances for both sides.
United backup keeper Joe Willis proved to be the man of the match, in my mind. In the waning moments of the match, he twice preserved the draw for United, denying PSG’s Kevin Gameira with a fully-outstreched, fingertip save, and then stopping a series of shots from Christophe Jallet and Mamadou Sakho.
The respectable 1-1 result and the the accompanying media swarm that followed PSG to RFK capped what’s been a good week for Major League Soccer in the international press. Between a victory over Chelsea in the All-Star Game, David Beckham zipping down the River Thames in a speedboat during the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics and the New York Red Bulls acquiring well-respected Australian player Tim Cahill, the league has continued to take baby steps towards being taken a bit more seriously on the international stage.
The encounter was a good fit for both sides. United, badly in need of a tune-up after two lackluster performances against Columbus and Houston, looked sharp and cohesive. PSG, clearly in pre-season form, got a game in against an opponent with a much higher level of match sharpness and fitness.
“D.C. United played a tough game,” PSG head coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “This team is very dynamic, they show good football because they played from the back, showing a good ability. Played good organization. I think it was a good game for us, for our preparation. Was interesting game for us and I think that this game helped us to improve.“
Added De Rosario: “I think by the way we played this is a boost of confidence. If we can play with teams like PSG, then we can play with any team. We just have to show up and play with that same confidence.”
The quote of the night, however, belonged to Ibrahimovic. Ibrahimovic, who arrived at PSG as part of a deal that also brought his A.C. Milan teammate Thiago Silva to the French club, was asked whether his current team would fare better than his former one this year. Without hesitation, he replied, “Yes.” When asked why, he stated simply, “Because they lost their two best players.”
Team Notes With United out of league play for the weekend, fans of the black and red turned their attention to other results, all of which fell in United’s favor—first-place New York and third-place Kansas City both lost their matches, while fifth-place Chicago drew their encounter with San Jose … United’s Andy Najar has seen action in both of Honduras’ Olympic soccer matches, including yesterday’s shock upset of tournament favorite Spain, which was eliminated with the loss. Honduras will need at least a tie in their final group match against Japan to secure their place in the quarterfinals. Najar was one of four MLS players in Honduras’ lineup for the Spain match … The front office at RFK was burning the midnight oil on Friday evening, acquiring Brazilian midfielder Raphael Augusto on loan from Brazilian team Fluminense. Here, enjoy this techno-laden highlight reel I found on YouTube. The move was made possible because forward Maicon Santos was able to acquire his Green Card, freeing up an international roster spot. The club thanked Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) for aiding Santos in that endeavor … Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner sat down with new United owner Jason Levien and discussed Levien’s first meeting with Mayor Vincent Gray. Levien had this to say: “The goal of the meeting was to talk about where our head is at about wanting a stadium, wanting to get there soon and wanting to work with him and the city council and District on doing that. I thought it was a very positive meeting. He was very supportive, and we want to strategize over how to get it done and how to get it done the right way. I came out of the meeting excited and energized because I thought the interaction was very positive. It was not just meeting with the Mayor but several members of the City Council. You can tell they’re behind us. You can tell they want to collaborate on getting somewhere.”
