The win, make no mistake, is a surprising one. And yet, I don't quite feel like this is the continuation of a corner somehow being turned. Just as Chicago's goal in the first half arguable came against the run of play, so certainly did the goal that put United ahead in the second half.

What's more, to extent that United was playing well, it was when the attacking players had space, time, and could play the equivalent of a high-level pick-up game.

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Really cool of Comcast to showcase DC United Championship Week in primetime all this week. I missed the 1996 MLS Cup yesterday because I got caught up in the hockey match, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching the 1997 match tonight.
It's hard to compare these classic teams with the teams of today when you're trying to do it just by memory. Click to continue reading...

Good game. But then again, games between these two rivals usually are.
I think I lost a bit of respect for New England tonight though. It was as if Nicol told a couple chumps like Larentowicz, Cristman, and Smith at half time: "Just throw your bodies around. Hack some dudes! The ref won't call it. Click to continue reading...

This has been reported earlier in other places, but like most United fans should, I tend not to believe anything I read until I read it here. After five seasons playing for Fulham in the EPL, Brian McBride has announced his intentions of returning home to play in the MLS.
Here's where I'm confused though, and maybe one of my intelligent readers (HA! Click to continue reading...

I'm not going to write an introduction, because D already wrote the intro I wanted to write, and did so probably much more eloquently than I would have:

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No, it doesn't make things better, but it does start to make things better. If United was truly to start reassembling this season, this is the kind of game they needed. Not a competent 1-nil victory, not a 5-2 thrashing of someone, both of those would lend themselves far too easy a comfort to a team to fall into self-delusion, to dismiss the first third of the season as just a bad dream.

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Am I the only one who feels like watching that game was a waste of my time? Really an ugly match, with a lot of giveaways by each team. Neither team looked like they should be in the playoff hunt, save for maybe Toronto's defensive unit. At least last week at Chivas it appeared that both teams really wanted to win. Click to continue reading...

A school of fish.

A parliament of owls.

A murder of crows.

An embarrassment of United?

Objectively, I know this game was an improvement over the last three, but the entire flavor of this game was ruined by two things. First, the fact that L.A. made me sick during my plane flight home.

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Chivas USA 3 : 1 D.C. United
Six Word Novel Recap

Early goal... late defeat... final accounting?

Media, Traditional and OtherwiseThe LA Times, Grahame Jones: "D.C. United rode the talents of former Argentine World Cup midfielder Marcelo Gallardo to a 1-0 halftime lead over Chivas USA. Click to continue reading...

From the Fullback Files:
Photoshopping opportunities like these don't come around very often, so I just couldn't help myself. Click to continue reading...

It's late, and I've had 45 minutes driving north from the Home Depot Center to think on things, but I'll say this: Tom Soehn is right - This team lacks toughness. But toughness isn't fouls. It isn't yellow cards. It's mental toughness, the courage and precision to execute a turn and clearance as an attacked barrels down on you.

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I'm slowly starting to calm down enough to admit that that was a pretty exciting and fast-paced game. But for United it was again a tale of two very different halves. Or maybe I should say a tale of the first 30 minutes and the last 60 minutes. Preki made tactical changes at halftime that clearly worked. Click to continue reading...

With the MLS Season 1/4 over, my domination of the "DCU Bloggers Unite" fantasy league continues! Actually, I lie. The Decimators started the year in sixth place out of seven when the seventh place team has yet to earn any points, and I've been in second place to our pal Six Yards North up until just this weekend. Click to continue reading...

I am actually in L.A., and let me say this: It's not all that. The weather has not been particularly stunning (yesterday was cold and grey, today is chilly but sunny). The scenery is not inspiring. The hills are splotchy messes of beige, green, and burgundy, as if a frog on an acid trip had painted the landscape in acrylics.

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On an ugly rainy day, the DC United reserves suffered their first loss of the season to a Chicago team that was able to keep the ball in United's half for probably about 65% of what I saw. I only caught the last 30 minutes or so. Better turn out of fans than I was expecting with all the rain and the lack of confidence in the first team. Click to continue reading...

DC United suffered its first back-to-back shutouts since *gasp* the 2005 Eastern Conference semi-finals. Talk about bad memories. Let's get this over with.
No one really stood out to me actually. Even the beautifully consistent Bryan Namoff seemed pretty pedestrian.
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...and it wasn't even the worst game we've played this season.

Here's the thing. I'm used to United defenses giving up goals because of bad plays in the back. Facundo Erpen, Bobby Boswell, Brandon Prideaux, Bryan Namoff, Brian Carroll... over the past few seasons, they've all commited some horrible blunders that led to opposing team goals.

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Or, It Could Be a Multi-Level Marketing Scheme, So Be Thankful It's a Real Company At Least

The news this morning is of United's forthcoming announcement of VW as the official jersey insignia. By, I'm sure, complete coincidence, last night I was watching a rerun of Top Gear and there was a review of the Volkswagen Golf GTI W12.

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Colorado Rapids 2 : 0 D.C. United
Six Word Novel Recap

Gomez-Gallardo. Clavijo-Soehn. Lost Both.

Media, Traditional and OtherwiseThe Denver Post, Brian Forbes: "By the time Gomez was replaced to a standing ovation in the second half, having outplayed United's No. 10 — and Gomez's replacement — Marcelo Gallardo, the Rapids had sealed their 2-0 victory to give them 10 goals this season from 10 players. Click to continue reading...

In the first match between the two players who will be linked in the minds of DC fans for the rest of their MLS careers, Christian Gomez dominated United and Gallardo with two assists. Even Facundo Erpen scored a revenge goal, in a match where he had shockingly zero bicycle kicks.
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That D.C. United lost in Colorado is not much of a surprise, as United has done little else but that for the better part of a decade. That we looked so bad doing it is perhaps something of a surprise. Colorado deserved the win, and deserved the margin. The natural focus of any post-game write-up will be to cast this match as "Gallardo vs.

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I'm not concerned with the fact that DC United finds themselves in last place in the Eastern Conference after 5 weeks. Because as others have pointed out, the MLS Regular Season is long and forgiving. Nor am I concerned with the team being in the bottom third of the league in goals against, despite having played against some pretty weak opponents. Click to continue reading...

(Summary is not available.) Click to continue reading...

I was really surprised to see United's players so happy after this match. Earlier in the year, the team was knocked out in the home leg of the Champions Cup after a victory that wasn't enough to earn them the aggregrate win. And the same thing happened tonight, as United falls 5-4 on aggregrate goals in the 2008 Ben Cup. Click to continue reading...

So I spent a week away on business, and cruising the college bars at IU (Has anyone else played "Sink the Biz"? Great fun. And probably the easiest way to get random girls to come over and drink with you.) In anticipation of tonight's home leg of the Ben Cup against RSL, I figured I'd take a quick chance to review what I missed while I was away. Click to continue reading...

This weekend begins DC United's one-week break from official matches, and with the team, DCUMD will be taking a break as well. United played 6 matches in 20 days. Well I typed 92 posts in 6 months. Who do you think had the tougher schedule?!
My disappearance though will be mostly attributable to being sent to the midwest for a week on a work assignment. Click to continue reading...

D.C. United 1 : 2 Columbus Crew
Six Word Novel Recap

Never understood why Goldilocks preferred lukewarm.

Media, Traditional and OtherwiseThe Washington Times, John Haydon: "Even with the strongest lineup coach Tom Soehn could use, D.C. United fell short last night at RFK Stadium. United lost 2-1 to the Columbus Crew before a crowd of 13,329. Click to continue reading...

It was better than the match against Real Salt Lake. Then again, having my testicles eaten by fire ants would have been better than the game in Salt Lake.

First, let's address the key thing: I have no issues with the formation, the substitutions, or much of the reasoning behind this match. Certain players played very well (Gonzalo Martinez, Gallardo) and others did not (Wells, McTavish, and Emilio).

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A 2-1 loss at home on national television? Not the result any of us were really anticipating. Especially playing against a back line that included Chad Marshall and Danny O'Rourke in the center. We've really got to do better on offense.
1. Bryan Namoff - He's having maybe the best season of his career so far. Click to continue reading...

Answer: Friday April 18 at 10:00 am and Friday October 17 at 10:00 am
Question: What are the dates and times of two DC United Reserve Division matches?
That's true, but not quite the answer we were looking for.
Question: What are two days that I will be telling my boss that I have a "meeting" with some "customers" down at the "jobsite". Click to continue reading...

Real Salt Lake 4 : 0 D.C. United
Six Word Novel Recap

It's as bad as it looked.

Media, Traditional and OtherwiseThe Washington Post, Steve Goff: "...instead of showing depth and versatility, United offered another dreary performance at Rice-Eccles Stadium and was embarrassed by Real Salt Lake, 4-0, in front of 13,193 observers. Click to continue reading...

After such a tiring and emotionally draining match just three days earlier, I guess it was pretty easy to see this coming. Especially once you saw the starting lineup. Gallardo, Martinez, and Wells deserved the rest, so I won't complain about the lineup, especially since I don't think that starting our true top XI would have even really made a big difference in this game. Click to continue reading...

Remember what we said last week? The job of a manager is to put his team in the best position to win. And in that job, Tom Soehn failed this week. Against Pachuca, down two goals, he had to press to get goals. Playing three in the back made sense as a tactical change.

Against RSL, Tom Soehn makes a perfectly legitimate decision to give Gallardo and Martinez and Wells a break.

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

A classic match that United lost.

Media, Traditional and OtherwiseThe Washington Times, John Haydon: "United earned a 2-1 victory on goals from substitutes Rod Dyachenko and Franco Niell in the last five minutes last night at RFK Stadium, but Pachuca claimed the series 3-2 on aggregate after beating United 2-0 at home last week. Click to continue reading...

Aggregate - D.C. United 2 : 3 Pachuca C.F.
DC United Eliminated from CONCACAF Champion's Cup

That was easily one of the most entertaining and fun matches I have seen in a long time. It was a game that managed to be wonderfully entertaining for all 90 minutes, that had chances for both teams, that had key defensive plays from both back lines, that had midfield combinations that made you smile with all being right in the world.

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