Wednesday, March 19, 2008
There is no safe Harbour
DC United could be a very, very good footie team in 2008. What we saw floating to the surface in flashes against Harbour View on Tuesday night could go on to become a truly dominant side in the MLS Eastern Conference and beyond, although the starters are, really, still just getting introduced to one another in terms of the anticipation, telepathic understanding and high-speed decision-making of game situations. But there is a frightening array of talent on offer for Tom Soehn.
It is wise to approach the game's last 25 minutes with a healthy dose of skepticism: HVFC were gashed badly at that point and seemed pretty shell-shocked about it. And why did it take so long for United to find that killer instinct, that cutthroat mentality? Didn't anyone tell them that they were fully capable of dominating the Jamaicans from the very beginning of the tie? (Similarly, Luciano Emilio in particular comes to mind as one whose final statistics may flatter his overall performance.)
I think it is safe to say that Soehn and co. surely DID suggest something to that effect, but the squad is perhaps only now getting wise to one another. It's ample fodder for those who (often in the context of criticizing the genial nature of the MLS regular season setup) contend that the thrill and pressure of meaningful matches simply cannot be replicated. Here we have a team which is gelling before our eyes, almost minute-by-minute. I would expect that a similar rate of improvement can continue over the next month or so as United settles into the metronomic routine of daily training and "normal" life around DC.
Gallardo looks class, as the English would say. He wants the ball -- all the time, as a #10 should -- and he knows how to get it almost anywhere on the field, and where and how to ping it elsewhere in pleasing ways. And I don't think he is as picky as Christian Gomez was/is about it: he'll drop back into his own team's box to snag possession, he'll buzz around opposing central midfielders to win it back, he doesn't seem to require any special circumstances to assert his influence on the match, and so forth.
Now the question is how he gets on in MLS action. Week in, week out, he's going to have to wrestle with pain-in-the-a$$ holding midfielders -- an MLS specialty, one type of player the league churns out with sweatshop efficiency -- and how will he deal with that? It starts in a minor-league baseball park outside Kansas City in 10 days or so; you can bet that Wizards Curt Onalfo will be telling Kerry Zavagnin to lace himself into Gallardo's shorts from minute 1 of the season opener on 29 March.
It is wise to approach the game's last 25 minutes with a healthy dose of skepticism: HVFC were gashed badly at that point and seemed pretty shell-shocked about it. And why did it take so long for United to find that killer instinct, that cutthroat mentality? Didn't anyone tell them that they were fully capable of dominating the Jamaicans from the very beginning of the tie? (Similarly, Luciano Emilio in particular comes to mind as one whose final statistics may flatter his overall performance.)
I think it is safe to say that Soehn and co. surely DID suggest something to that effect, but the squad is perhaps only now getting wise to one another. It's ample fodder for those who (often in the context of criticizing the genial nature of the MLS regular season setup) contend that the thrill and pressure of meaningful matches simply cannot be replicated. Here we have a team which is gelling before our eyes, almost minute-by-minute. I would expect that a similar rate of improvement can continue over the next month or so as United settles into the metronomic routine of daily training and "normal" life around DC.
Gallardo looks class, as the English would say. He wants the ball -- all the time, as a #10 should -- and he knows how to get it almost anywhere on the field, and where and how to ping it elsewhere in pleasing ways. And I don't think he is as picky as Christian Gomez was/is about it: he'll drop back into his own team's box to snag possession, he'll buzz around opposing central midfielders to win it back, he doesn't seem to require any special circumstances to assert his influence on the match, and so forth.
Now the question is how he gets on in MLS action. Week in, week out, he's going to have to wrestle with pain-in-the-a$$ holding midfielders -- an MLS specialty, one type of player the league churns out with sweatshop efficiency -- and how will he deal with that? It starts in a minor-league baseball park outside Kansas City in 10 days or so; you can bet that Wizards Curt Onalfo will be telling Kerry Zavagnin to lace himself into Gallardo's shorts from minute 1 of the season opener on 29 March.
Comment posted by Charles Boehm @ 1:46 AM 
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