Shellacked in San Jose
- Jim Shine
- Apr 7
- 4 min read
DC United's game yesterday (April 5) at San Jose was a 6-1 disaster, but let's focus on the fun part first.
Thomas Rongen (former DC coach from 1999-2001 among other soccer gigs) has a great expression about soccer; he called it "the silly little game we all love so much". Along similar lines, the great philosopher Mick Jagger once said (actually he said it many times over the years) "I know it's only rock n roll but I like it." Well, I know they're only soccer games but I like them. It's a lot more fun when your team wins, but it's still fun regardless. In addition to my DC United season tickets, I love to travel to other stadiums, in and out of the US.
So I flew out to San Jose from Washington for a long weekend and was rewarded with a beautiful April day and some great conversations with other soccer fans. San Jose has a tailgate lot and I was barely 10 yards from my rental car when I ran into a group with DC United jerseys (see photo above). I didn't catch their names but the seated woman lives in the area, and her father (holding the beer) and other family members traveled to see her and catch the game. The gentleman 4th from the left was at his first tailgate since a football game in Notre Dame in the 1980s. Food and beverages outdoors on a sunny day in the 70s; not so bad. I have to admit it's been great to be out of Washington for a couple of days, and not just for the sunny weather.
I liked San Jose's stadium, PayPal Park (I miss the days when stadiums were not named for corporations). It is simple and only has stands on 3 sides but the concourses are roomy and there is a long open bar under the scoreboard on the open side (as well as a wide array of food trucks). Capacity is 18,000. There was a brisk business in hot dogs (and they looked good!) on the way to the parking lot after the game. California mellow I guess, with a heavy dose of Latin culture. Some stadium pictures are at the bottom of the blog.
I sat at the game with a DC expat, Eric Holloman, who was a well-informed seatmate. His knowledge of the current status of DC players from the 2000s (Josh Gros, Bryan Namoff, Troy Perkins, etc) was amazing. I also met another former DC resident, Jonathan Smith, who was active in the Barra Brava and District Ultras before moving to California. Eric is on the left with sunglasses and DC scarf in the photo below; Jonathan has the long beard in the middle. Very much enjoyed your company, guys.
The game was held 29 years after the very first MLS game, which was between these two two teams in 1996. San Jose won, 1-0, on a late goal by Eric Wynalda. Pennants were distributed and players from both teams at the time were honored at halftime (Wynalda, Jeff Agoos, John Harkes, Marco Etcheverry and others). Interestingly, Bruce Arena was a head coach in both games; for DC in 1996 and as the new San Jose coach for this game.
As far as the game itself: the less said, the better. Herrera and Stroud did not start as usual; Herrera is carrying an injury, not sure about Stroud. So the starting lineup was
Kim in goal
Schnegg, Rowles, Bartlett, Dodson on defense
Peltola, Kijima in defensive midfield
Peglow, Pirani, Badji in midfield
Benteke at forward
Zouhir for Kijima (halftime), Herrera for Dodson (57th), Murrell for Badji (64th), Stroud for Peglow (64th), Randall Leal for Peltola (73rd).
San Jose's Christian Arango scored a header off a corner kick in the 8th minute; Benteke tried to head it over but was just able to redirect it higher into the net. It was going in anyway. Josef Martinez scored in the 16th minute as he got behind the defense and easily slotted it past Kim, who was halfway out of his goal. Peltola had a silly kick on Beau Leroux in the box in the 18th minute, and Cristian Espinoza easily converted the resulting penalty. 3-0 after 20 minutes. The rest of the half was better, and Benteke put a header in off the right post in stoppage time to make it 3-1 at the half.
Most of the second half was uneventful. Benteke tried several headers but none got past San Jose keeper Daniel. Then DC's defensive dam burst wide open in the last 10 minutes. Martinez broke through again in the 81st minute, outrunning the defense and making it 4-1. In the 89th minute Amahl Pellegrino scored from inside the 6 yard box on a great assist from Jamar Rickets. 5-1. Martinez finished a hat trick in stoppage time with a beautiful chip to make it 6-1.
San Jose actually could have scored one or two more at the end. It's the first time I've seen a Lesesne-coached team fall apart at the end. Let's hope it's new San Jose coach Bruce Arena building another good team rather than something darker on the DC end.
DC had 56% possession, but since it was 3-0 after 20 minutes, no real surprise. Each side had 10 shots on goal.
DC's next game is this coming Saturday, April 12, against FC Cincinnati at Audi Field.
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