Been Here Before
With the exception of the big fancy underwear salesman, Sunday’s defeat over LA felt a whole lot like a July day waaaaay back in 1998 (also a nationally televised game) where a hot LA team swaggered into RFK only to get smacked around by United (3-0 then…..back when United got shutouts, and the game was at night, and it wasn’t really hot). 
Only seriously committed naysayers can really find anything wrong with United’s performance in some really ridiculous heat.
Even the much maligned Zack Wells came up with some excellent and timely saves. Sure,you maybe can fault some technicalities, but when United needed Wells to step up and save them he came up with what was needed. What would the result have been in Landon prima-Donovan had scored on that header that Wells reached up and backwards to parry away? That could have been a back breaking goal, but Wells came through with what was needed. Hopefully, this will be a big confidence booster, both for him and in his teammates faith in him.
Honestly, the Dutch definition of ‘Sexy Football’ must mean something different than it does in English…..or it means to have the most dysfunctional defense ever. Hopefully, while the United offense was clicking well, they don’t learn any bad habits or laziness due to the lack of marking. A favorite moment was in the second half when Burch had the ball at midfield in front of the Nest and Gallardo was all by himself in the middle. Burch attempted to slot in a through ball, but mishit it. The pass was lacking both the needed velocity and didn’t lead the intended target. So Gallardo was forced to backpedal through the LA defense until he received the ball. Neither central back bothered to try to close in on him until well after he received the ball. Several front row Screaming Eagles could have hopped the fence and gotten to Gallardo before the ball did. But the big X apparently couldn’t be bothered.
Haven’t seen him before Sunday, but could Alvaro Pires (LA’s #15) be less mobile? He barely left the center circle all game, actually, he did leave the center circle, twice. Once at halftime and the other when he was pulled out of the game. The last man to move so little at RFK was El Pibe….at least he could distribute the ball.
Marc Burch and Gonzalo Martinez OWNED the left side of the field. In short, our #23 was better than their #23.
Getting It
Yeah, it’s easy to hate David Beckham because he plays for the Galaxy. But credit where credit is due, he’s established this new wave of European stars finding their way to MLS. He’s not here to ride out his last couple of seasons with a paycheck, he’s here to help grow the sport, and he’s doing it with class. Notice that after he nailed Martinez in the, uh, ‘delicate region’? After play was stopped, Beckham went 20+ yards out of his way to go to a writhing Gonzalo (the magic water bottle had yet to be applied), Beckham also greeted Martinez when he returned to the field. It’s an excellent lesson in sportsmanship that Landon Donovan apparently missed. There’s also two mentions of the post game press conference segment with a tape recorder (SportsBog, and Booked for Dissent), they were there, read their bits of it…..but you likely won’t hear of another big time sports athlete doing this for the media.
Ben Olsen Comback #2
There’s not really much to be said about this. Ben skipped surgery this week to give it a go, and wound up on the bench, and the opportunity arose for his season debut. One of the more emotional moments at RFK, maybe even more than his last comeback appearance. There’s been good press about his comeback in the press, but the SportsBog had a great writeup and the Barra Brava’s very timely salute:
Olsen: “You know, I just don’t understand it. I really don’t. These people here, they’re just so supportive. I mean, all I do, I play hard, but it’s not because I have this great heart. I just like to play soccer, I like to play for this team and I guess they appreciate it.”
Yes we do Ben, yes we do. And your statement is precisely why we do.
