As has been widely reported in the futbol blogosphere, the Galaxy made a trade today with Chivas USA, sending a conditional 2010 draft pick and allocation money down the hall in return for striker Alecko Eskandarian. To make space on the roster, the team cut holding midfielder Josh Tudela on the day his 2009 contract was to be guaranteed.

Ah, the season home opener! Plenty of California sunshine (with the occasional cloud and rain shower), a full stadium (well, 18,000 announced attendance), a team fresh off pre-season (except for injuries to the starting keeper, starting forward, starting left back/midfielder, and possible starting holding midfielder plus the absence of the team's highest paid player) ready to redeem itself for the last two years.

D.C. United 1: 0 Columbus Crew
Six Word Novel Recap A decent team, with terrible supporters.
Let me just start by saying that Steve Cronin impressed the hell out of me last night. He played confidently, and he did not hesitate to come off of his line or even out of the box. At one point last night, he ran almost to the corner flag to shield a Crew player off the ball until it ran out for a goal kick.

New York Red Bulls 2 : 3 D.C. UnitedSix Word Novel Recap

Good day for DC in Nuyawk.

Media, Traditional and OtherwiseThe New York Post, Brian Lewis: "The Red Bulls _ and the MetroStars before them _ have specialized in heartbreaking defeats in their history, but few have been as stunning or as maddening as today's collapse"
The Washington Post, Steve Goff: "A 90-degree afternoon on unforgiving artificial turf had taken its toll on mind, body and soul, and considering United's futility on the road the past year, a draw with the New York Red Bulls might have been sufficient.

I gave myself the better part of two days before committing this Galaxy-FCD postmortem to the foreverness of the internets because I wanted to get past the bitter taste of frustration lingering in my mouth after Saturday's excursion to Frisco. I wanted to see if that would change what I had to say.

The year is over half over already, and that means time to look at my Wishes for 2009 and how they've done so far.
1. Ground breaking on the stadium - The mall is down now and we actually have some renderings, but we still have not seen an official ground breaking for the building of the stadium.

I just watched the 11+ minute video of all of the GOTY nominees. I noticed that no GOTY nominees were scored against DC United. On the face of it, that makes me happy. It is good to know that DC United didn't get poster-ized to wide renown this season.
Thinking about it more, however, one may be able to make an argument that for keepers like Rimando or Reis, who seemed to figure prominently in these highlights, if the only goals that they are giving up are the fantastical, flooky goals or the once-in-a-career one-timers out of midair, maybe that's not so bad.

You're here? Quick, inside. Shut the door. Quick! Now down the stairs. Turn on the light. It's just us here, right? Did you bring it? Good, good. Let's see it then, open the bag.

Ahhhh, and it is ours now. What do you mean, what do we say to people? We'll say we earned it. If we all back each other up, no one will give us away.

I have generally been impressed by the jobs of the center officials in MLS this season. While there have been quibbles and complaints, for the most part the officiating has been iffy at worst, and more often than not decent.

Which is why I hope that Hilario Grajeda was misled by his AR on an atrocious penalty kick decision.

Call it the opposite of last week. This was a more entertaining match, with United having stretches of strong possession and creative attacks. At the same time, Real Salt Lake had the edge over the course of all ninety minutes, and the result is a fair reflection of a game where RSL was one goal better than United.

Real Salt Lake 2 : 1 D.C. United
Six Word Novel Recap

United plays to not win. Doesn't.

Media, Traditional and Otherwise
The Washington Post, The Goffather: "United showed promising signs again Saturday, going ahead for the fourth straight game, but by halftime the lead was gone, and when Javier Morales scored in the 80th minute, D.

Serious question: If New York were to win the Atlantic Cup one year, would they know what it looks like? I mean, we could give them used Big Gulp with the remains of a red slushy in it, and would they know it wasn't the real thing?

Immature trash talking aside, this was a nice night where D.C.

h3Los Angeles Galaxy 2 : 2 D.C. United/h3h3Six Word Novel Recap/h3 pTwo heads not better than one.br //ph3Media, Traditional and Otherwisespan style="text-decoration: underline;"/span/h3a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/22/AR2009032201434.html?hpid=moreheadlines"span style="font-style: italic;"The Washington Post/span, Steven Goff/a: "D.

Now that the Islanders amazing CCL run is finished, lets get back to business and finish off what we left undone.

On April 18th the Islanders will play the Vancouver Whitecaps in the 2nd Leg of the 2008 USL-1 Final at Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium in Bayamón. Vancouver leads the series 2-1 after their 1st leg win last October.

There is no better way to start off this post than letting SoCal's dean of futbol reporters say a few words about the refereeing. Here's Grahame Jones from Sunday's Los Angeles Times.

But it was referee Tim Weyland's performance that drew all the attention. Referees are meant to be invisible.

March 2009: 0-0-2 (2pts, 1p/g, 3GF, 3GA, 0GD, 1.5 gf/g, 1.5ga/g)
April 2009: 2-1-1 (7pts, 1.75p/g, 6GF, 5GA, +1GD, 1.5 gf/g, 1.25ga/g)

We're going to chunk every month of the MLS Season, to see what, if any, insight we can derive from examining a series of games rather than focusing on an individual game.

D.C. United 2 : 1 F.C. Dallas
Six Word Novel Recap

Ponce de Leon should check Bolivia.

Media, Traditional and OtherwiseThe Dallas Morning News, Frank Servalli: "Despite being outshot, outmuscled and outplayed, FC Dallas somehow managed to escape the first half Saturday night against D.

Every time I watch Seattle, I'm entertained. Seattle is essentially an ADHD afflicted six year old, dosed with caffeine and sugar, put on the tea cup ride at Disney World. Then you hand him a morning star and tell him to run around in traffic. It's not beautiful soccer, though at times it approximates beauty the way a swarm of wasps approximate ballet.

Picture by Saed Hindash from the Star Ledger

And those words are: Don't get cocky.

That's 4 wins in a row for the Galaxy, which is not the longest win streak since 2006. (The dismal 2007 season featured a 5 game winning streak from September through October.) All of a sudden the team is tied for third in the West and sitting pretty in a playoff spot (granted it has still played a game more than most of the West) and it is surging rather than falling.

I know this isn't how D does it. He races home from the match and types 5 thick paragraphs of analysis about how United performed and why the outcome was the way it was. He probably begins his compositions on his Blackberry while walking along E. Capital on his way to the Metro. It is very impressive.

CSN is letting me down. My wife and I are on a reduced entertainment budget, so we can't necessarily afford the trip to RFK and the inevitable beers cotton candy. And we have Comcast basic cable... I guess we are grandfathered in on that; is that even offered to new subscribers anymore?
Subsequently I don't get Fox Soccer Channel.

Photo by Getty Images
And those words are: Not the time to tinker.

Let me be clear at the beginning. I'm not a coach, I've never been a coach, and I don't have access to the kinds and amounts of information an MLS coach has at his disposal, nor the skills to interpret it. But, having said that, I just plain didn't understand Bruce Arena's starting lineup yesterday.

One of America's more perceptive futbol journalists. Beau Dure, has a lengthy profile of Landon Donovan in yesterday's USA Today. (No comments on our speed of motion please.)

Aside from the a vintage shot of Donovan with blond hair, I actually learned a couple of things about the front-runner for the Honda Player of the Year award.

Steve Goff at the Washington Post drops this whisper of a rumor on us via his excellent Soccer Insider blog:

.....according to MLS sources, USA defender Gregg Berhalter is close to being released by 1860 Munich, which would clear the way for the New Jersey native to sign with the U.

That the Puerto Rico Islanders are one of the hottest teams in the CONCACAF is a fact! But the new USL-1 team Austin Aztex recognizes the Islanders as one of the hottest teams in the world!

In fact the Aztex will face the strong Puerto Rican contingent in a friendly game tomorrow April 3rd in Austin.

Tonight the Puerto Rico Islanders and the Austin Aztex finished their scrimmage friendly scoreless after regulation time.

Everyone of the reported 1,125 fans in the stands thought the game was over, when they realized they were going to be treated to a penalty shootout. And to the delight of the local fans, Austin came on top 3-0.

This is how my viewing went (via MLSnet's $20 internet viewing package while I was stuck in suburban Chicagoland hotel hell during a 4 day staff meeting).

Wow. Josh Saunders and Omar Gonzalez look horrible!

Wow. Landon Donovan connecting with Gonzalez!

D.C. United 1 : 0 Houston Dynamo
Six Word Novel Recap

The answer, Mr. Webb, is "Undefeated."

Media, Traditional and OtherwiseThe Washington Post, Steve Goff: "Luciano Emilio scored less than two minutes into the second half and, despite playing short-handed for the final 19 minutes because of Jaime Moreno's red card, United upended the Houston Dynamo, 1-0, in an MLS game before just 12,594 at RFK Stadium.

C.D. Chivas USA 2 : 2 D.C. United
Six Word Novel Recap

"Way to avoid losing!" Now win.

Media, Traditional and OtherwiseThe Washington Post, Steve Goff: "United staged another stirring comeback Saturday night, scoring twice in the final 13 minutes to earn a 2-2 tie with Chivas USA and extend its unbeaten streak in league play to six.

They say some nil-nil draws can be exciting and dramatic as a scorefest. This was not of them. Tedium was an ever-present blanket at RFK, draping fans and players alike in a humid embrace. It was a game where even Clint Mathis running his mouth like a deranged poodle defending his turf from a mastiff was more a pleasant diversion than a source of interest.

And those words are: That was disappointing.

I admit that I was suckered by the recent 10 game non-losing streak into believing that the technical deficiencies of the team could be compensated for by heart and determination. Even as I wrote about the mediocrity of the midfield, the ability to gain points on the road and refuse to lose got me into the dangerous head space of thinking that the Galaxy could consistently compete with any team in the league.

The Puerto Rico Islanders came back in the 2nd half from a one goal deficit with two goals by Jamaican striker Sean Fraser to beat the Bulls from the University of South Florida with a score of 3-2.

The Islanders were first on the board with a penalty kick goal by Josh Hansen in the 17th minute.

blockquoteh2Dear United supporters,/h2 pEarlier this week, Kevin Payne asked for your support in e-mailing and calling state and county lawmakers with messages of support for our stadium proposal in Prince George's County. span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"You responded with a deluge of e-mails/span that has dwarfed anything Annapolis has ever witnessed.

pOkay, yes, I do plan on writing about the Freedom whenever I have a chance to observe their games. And let's set the ground rules on how covering women's soccer will be different than covering men's soccer -- there will be some differences based on media coverage and availability (Debriefings may not happen for that reason), but I intend to evaluate Freedom games with the same eye I use for United games.

h3D.C. United 1 : 1 Chicago Firebr //h3h3Six Word Novel Recap/h3 pIs "Nyarko!" a Three Stooges exclamation?br //ph3Media, Traditional and Otherwisespan style="text-decoration: underline;"/span/h3a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/29/goalies-mistake-leaves-united-tied-up-again/"span style="font-style: italic;"The Washington Times/span, John Haydon/a: "After taking an early lead and playing a strong first half, D.

What do I keep saying in each preview? "Hey! We can win this one!"

I'm beginning to think we're snatching draws from the jaws of victory. And that was definitely true for last week's Sounders match.

But as a lifelong L.A. Galaxy fan, only last year's season can make this year look so good!

This is officially ridiculous. United down two goals with 15 minutes remaining, and for the first time this season I actually am thinking "Yeah, but they've come back before from this." Which, if one believes in tempting fate and what not, is exactly when United shouldn't come back. Except, of course, Emilio flips one to the far post, then Tino screams one in from long distance, and United come out of L.

Hey, good news!

Wizards starting midfielder Santiago Hirsig and forward Josh Wolff won't be playing, having been sent off during last week's match against Chivas USA. Even the Wizards' own article admits the team is in trouble against L.A. They even say our record is "deceiving.

And that word is: Punchless.

One shot on goal, seven shots overall, despite controlling the game for decent stretches over the course of the afternoon. Punchless. One shot on goal despite fielding an "offensive-minded" lineup designed to counter the improved San Jose Earthquake defense and attempt to victimize the leakiest defense in the league.

I don't believe in the "win at home, draw on the road" theory, but that doesn't mean the idea doesn't have value. It has value, occasionally, it just shouldn't be a mantra. Columbus has come on recently, but the single significant win was a 2-1 victory over Chivas. The other four wins include 2 wins against Kansas City (including a nice 2-0 road win), a win at home against San Jose, and a win at home against New York.