D.C. United News & Notes
*Santino Quaranta (quadriceps) says he is fine and ready to play Thursday night against Marathon in the Champions League at RFK Stadium. Marc Burch (ankle) and Dejan Jakovic (hernia) continue to work on conditioning while Bryan Namoff (concussion) remains out.
*You might not recognize Devon McTavish tomorrow -- he shaved his head as part of a cancer fundraiser.
*Fred said he and his family had swine flu last week but everyone is okay and he'll be available tomorrow.
*Before training, the team discussed the importance of not only winning tomorrow, but winning by at least two goals. After head to head, the first tiebreaker is goal differential in the matches between the two clubs followed by away goals. Marathon won the first meeting at home, 3-1, so United's perfect result would be a 2-0 victory (even on goal differential, ahead on away goals).
"What it looks like it is going to come down to is us or Marathon," Coach Tom Soehn said. "Toluca [which hosts Jabloteh late tonight] has put itself in a spot where they are home free. Now we have to take care of business against Marathon. We need the result and we have to score some goals. We know what is at stake and what we have to do, and who the opponent is. The rest is up to us. ... There is a good chance this game will dictate who will come out of the group."
*Marathon is not only coming off a 7-0 embarrassment at Toluca and missing suspended forward Jerry Palacios, but political unrest led to the closure of major airports this week. Consequently, Marathon had to take an eight-hour bus ride to Guatemala for a flight to the States and is not expected to arrive in Washington until late tonight.
By
Steve Goff
|
September 23, 2009; 12:09 PM ET
Categories:
D.C. United
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Posted by: TheWashDipsSince88 | September 23, 2009 12:19 PM | Report abuse
McTavish loses his hair with Miss Virginia
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2009/09/rs-wheeler22.html
Posted by: I-270Exit1 | September 23, 2009 12:25 PM | Report abuse
England will face Brazil on a monster clash in Qatar on November 14. Possible 2010 World Cup final preview?
Posted by: JP-10 | September 23, 2009 12:30 PM | Report abuse
Breaking News:
When ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya learned that the World Cup qualifier against the United States (which had been slated for October 10) would be broadcast only in US bars that cater to a Latino clientele, he declared it "a poor business model" and decried the overt corruption of the new regime. He further decided to re-invade his home country to, in his words "watch the [expletive] game from the Brazilian embassy which ... is a place where they really [expletive] care about the things that matter most".
Posted by: WorldCup | September 23, 2009 12:35 PM | Report abuse
Hooray! Fred will be available....
Posted by: fischy | September 23, 2009 12:39 PM | Report abuse
Yes! Now Fred can dribble the ball 30 yards, fake out three defenders and then pass the ball to the other team.
Posted by: CYork1 | September 23, 2009 12:40 PM | Report abuse
It sounds like everyone is taking this game very seriously. I like to hear that. Other than the missing defenders, we should approach this game with a lineup of regulars. I'm not saying we'll play our very best available team in both games, but there's no reason we should be seeing starts for Allen or N'Silu tomorrow night either. There are a few older players that shouldn't play 90 in both, but other than that these guys are capable of doing it and not having their performance drop off.
Posted by: Chest_Rockwell | September 23, 2009 12:41 PM | Report abuse
re: "Yes! Now Fred can dribble the ball 30 yards, fake out three defenders and then pass the ball to the other team.
Posted by: CYork1 "
Problem is he can't even do that anymore. Too slow, and skills have declined too much. Now, he'll just whiff or be caught from behind and dispossessed.
As for taking this match seriously, even if DCU wins this whole CHampions League thing by 8 goals in the Final, if we crash out of the MLS playoffs or fail to even make them, everyone, Chang and Payne included, will consider this sseason an abject failure. And they'll be right.
Posted by: Ron16 | September 23, 2009 12:47 PM | Report abuse
Can't wait. It sounds as though they are taking this game very seriously. That's good. Hopefully their seriousness will match their play and have a strong showing.
Posted by: dogboy | September 23, 2009 12:54 PM | Report abuse
I'm not sure why I haven't seen this yet...
"All these roadblocks will make it seems like marathon for them to get to this game."
I guess it's a slow day.
Posted by: Kosh2 | September 23, 2009 12:55 PM | Report abuse
Kosh: too easy.
Excelsior!
Posted by: Reignking | September 23, 2009 1:00 PM | Report abuse
Marathon petitioned to have the game delayed/postponed because of their travel problems. Their request was denied. DC should take this game easily, playing a side that is exhausted from travel and missing key players.
Posted by: nico78 | September 23, 2009 1:01 PM | Report abuse
Ack! Look at these Athletic Bilbao Europa League jerseys:
http://caixapretafc.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/athletic_bilbao_camiseta_error.jpg
Posted by: Reignking | September 23, 2009 1:02 PM | Report abuse
England will face Brazil on a monster clash in Qatar on November 14. Possible 2010 World Cup final preview?
Posted by: JP-10 | September 23, 2009 12:30 PM |
I'll have one of whatever he's drinking.
Posted by: ncguy | September 23, 2009 1:05 PM | Report abuse
This is really great. We already have this match won! The other team will be tired from travel, blah, blah, blah. This sounds like my rec team when the opposition only have 4 players 15 minutes before kickoff but then the rest all show up one minute before kickoff and proceed to kick our butts. Given the struggle DCU have had pretty much all season this match is certainly no sure thing.
Posted by: fedssocr | September 23, 2009 1:06 PM | Report abuse
Senor Zelaya,
welcome to the Hotel Tegucigalpa
You check in any time you like
But you can never stay
Posted by: OWNTF | September 23, 2009 1:12 PM | Report abuse
What hotel are they staying at? I'm gonna set up my band across the street.
Posted by: UVAtoRFK | September 23, 2009 1:24 PM | Report abuse
Soehn apparently hasn't been notified that Chest is coaching tomorrow and the lineup has already been posted. Goff is slipping in his role as Minister of Propaganda!
Posted by: dcarmy | September 23, 2009 1:34 PM | Report abuse
Travel weariness or not, I have a feeling DC will lose the match. Or win 2-1.
Posted by: tundey | September 23, 2009 1:48 PM | Report abuse
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Posted by: no_recess | September 23, 2009 2:08 PM | Report abuse
Soehn knows that we have to win by 2 goals? I think I hear the 3-5-2 train approaching the station. At least maybe in the second half if its 0-0 after one.
Posted by: DCUMD | September 23, 2009 3:03 PM | Report abuse
Arrgh!! Those Jerseys!! I've seen better looking viruses.
Posted by: b18bolo | September 24, 2009 1:40 PM | Report abuse
The comments to this entry are closed.
sounds like Marathon will be tired and United should take advantage of that if they can!