(I was going to title this "Friendly Farewell to Birnbaum" but since the Washington Post used the "friendly farewell" phrase in their headline I went with Plan B...)
Yesterday (Saturday, July 20) DC United played an international friendly against Celtic FC from Glasgow, Scotland. Earlier this week 11 year veteran Steve Birnbaum, who has been plagued by injuries the last few years, announced his retirement. He is facing possible knee and hip replacements, so it is definitely time. The Celtic game gave him a perfect venue to be recognized by the club and fans.
Birnbaum was in uniform, and before the game was signing autographs along the side of the field.
He started (as captain, which he had been whenever he played recently), but it was ceremonial. The ball went out of bounds soon after the opening kickoff and he was subbed out, taking time to thank the fans.
There was also a personal and video presentation at halftime, which he came out in street clothes to participate in.
Celtic is just starting a US preseason tour, playing Manchester City and Chelsea next week. DC has a break before the Leagues Cup starts next week and MLS' resumption on August 24. Both teams started lineups to indicate this, especially DC. The new DC signings, defender David Schnegg and forward Dominique Badji, both played the first 60 minutes. In the net was not Bono or Miller, but Luis Zamudio. Peltola was the only regular who started, although many came on in the second half. Zamudio was replaced in the second half by Nathan Crockford, a rookie drafted last winter.
Both goalies played well; Zamudio made several acrobatic saves, and Crockford had a brilliant penalty save and a one-on-one goal-saving block. Celtic dominated the game, winning 4-0. No one seemed too serious; even the referees missed obvious offside calls, out-of-bounds calls, and yellow card fouls. There was no second half stoppage time despite several breaks in play. Just a pleasant night out (a little humid, but the temperature was not oppressive) at Audi Field, which still badly needs resurfacing (despite some emergency patches).
All the best, Steve. As a knee replacement person myself, best of luck with that if you go that route.
Next up: Leagues Cup game, in Atlanta, this Friday (July 26).
Comments