Matchnight: D.C. United at Seattle

Burn Notice at 9, DCU at 10. Only in America on a Thursday night!

Boyzzz should get the start tonight - just for the tribute.

""an opportunity tonight to go into the World Cup break "

World Cup break, I like the sound of that. Finally, MLS wakes up!

Are the players given a break or will they continue to train?

I was about to start complaining about not being able to watch this but I see it's listed on ESPN360.

I'm still a fan of Boyzz, just wish he'd step up. Hope the WC gives him inspiration tonight if he's on the field.

This news on Wallace bums me out.

DC-Seattle tonite, then bed, then World Cup when I wake up!

Vamoes United!

*Vamos

You know spies...

Nice WC preview on ESPN, obviously live (late night!).

VAMOS UNITED!!!

I hate dem Seattle Flounders. Seattle smells like stinky flounder. I used to like Drew Carry but now I hate him...he smells like an old smelly flounder.

Hey Dad. Do you hate dem flounders?

What a slap in the face to us that WaPo wouldn't pay for a reporter to go to Seattle to cover the team. Geez.

Very nice ESPN 3 hour preview, but I don't think it's live, as they are teasing the concert I watched online this afternoon.

Still, their talking heads who aren't soccer specific have clearly done their homework, and they've paid good coin for real soccer talking heads, so good for them.

Vamos United!

interesting to see both Cristman & Allsopp on the bench

interesting to see both Cristman & Allsopp on the bench

I guess it was live at some point -- I saw someone stumbling around 9:15.

I think it was live in the morning and rebroadcast this evening.

No Talley in the 18? Still with the concussion? We've only got one spare defender in there.

James Riley is still a thug

What a ridiculous challenge by Riley on SQ, without a card. Beautiful game my arse...

why won't we shoot. for years this has been a problem. shooooooot...

has there ever been a more ignorant color commentator than Martino? He clearly hasn't seen Najar play before.

Shoot? At what?? A bad shot is a turnover, and I haven't seen anyone pass up a good shot, unless I was typing... :)

I am abroad at the moment. Does anyone know a streaming website at which I can watch the match?

http://www.atdhe.net/

try espn3.com

how is that a caution but Riley crushing Tino isn't?

Tino tried to chip in to Emilio in the 18 when he could have put his foot through it. Granted, the ball got farther to his left than he'd wanted, but I wouldn't have been upset at a shot attempt.

Wrong legged from 20+ yards with the angle is meat and gravy for even a fossil like Keller.

nice work troy!

Unbelievable that Tino didn't pass through to Emilio. That was one of the best runs he's made in years and Tino ignored it.

Troy's looking good tonight

Guys, it's on ESPN2 so stop trying to find streams or watch on espn3...unless you are overseas. if so, always check justin.tv or atdhe.net or channelsurfing.net you'll find it

GGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLL!

YESSS!!!!!!!!!!!

Guys, it's on ESPN2 so stop trying to find streams or watch on espn3...unless you are overseas. if so, always check justin.tv or atdhe.net or channelsurfing.net you'll find it

Nothing to add other than GOD I HATE SEATTLE. Smug F%(k$...

(edit..... GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Lucky deflection, but well-earned by Pontius with the best move I've ever seen him make.

Guys, it's on ESPN2 so stop trying to find streams or watch on espn3...unless you are overseas. if so, always check justin.tv or atdhe.net or channelsurfing.net you'll find it

Goal DCU...but I missed it.

Guys, it's on ESPN2 so stop trying to find streams or watch on espn3...unless you are overseas. if so, always check justin.tv or atdhe.net or channelsurfing.net you'll find it

Well, that wrong footed, 20+ yarder worked out. I stand corrected...happily so!

haha Ljunberg really drawn into that yellow

yeah Perkins has got some tude tonight Go Troy!

Thanks, JkR!! Got a good stream now. JustinTV kept cutting me off. Missed the goal, but will catch the replay. VAMOS UNITED!!

JkR

See, that's kinda why I like the shots. Anything can happen if you take a shot. You can't score if you don't/

AND AGAIN!!

Pontius is rocking the house!

GGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!

Awesome awesome awesome by Pontius!!!

PARTY BOY GOAL # 2!!!!

What a CLANGER!!

what a rip by pontius.

YEAHHHHH! You go Party Boy!

Party Boy!

And they were doing everything to take him down, including putting a hand on his shoulder to pull him...

keller's getting old. he should hang 'em up.

Um...maybe time for Kasey to hang up his cleats? Anyone else loving C.P. today? Love the crowd shots - the locals are in utter disbelief. VAMOS UNITED!!!

Well, until Pontius stepped it up, I was going to write that I hope the USA - England match wouldn't be so one-sided, or it would be ugly for the red-white-and-blue -- but if it can turn like that, I'll take the hairy moments.

Keller missed it, but it was a well-struck shot. Keller probably didn't anticipate such a powerful shot.

I really hope it was an oversight starting Pontius on the flank and Santino in the middle. Over and over again, it's been shown that Santino plays better on the wing. Glad Pontius came down the middle to score those 2 goals.

Now if we can just hold on. And perhaps get Freddie another card. Gosh, those darn front-running Seattle fans drive me nuts.

'Bout time Party Boy stepped up! Niice.

ESPN announcer . . . "It's like a morgue here at Qwest Field"

Before our 2nd goal . . paraphrased "DC United trying to just get into the locker room 1-0."

@tundey -- if you haven't noticed, Quaranta and Emilio are now DCU's starting forward tandem. Q has not been very effective on the wing and Pontius hasn't been able to finish up front. The thinking was probably that Pontius might make more decisive contributions from the wing. Occasionally, we might see both Q and Pontius on the wing, but more often than not you can expect Q to be up top...especially if Najar is healthy.

Man, Emilio looks slooow. Our fullbacks are getting toasted to a crisp by Ljungberg and Zakuani, we have a Seattle reject starting at d-mid and a 17-year old as our creative spark on offense.

We're winning 2-0?!!!

FEAR THE PONTIUS!!!

It feels good to feel good about Keller making a mistake. Unlike all those years ago when he made the mistake of clearing the ball into Hermosillo's face in Foxboro.

Let's put in Cristman and Allsop and pound them a bit, establish the running game, so to speak...

USMNT on Daily Show now

Tino's playing up top with Emilio. Pontius and Najar on the flanks.

Say what you will, but it's working.

I was more concerned about our flank defense, as everyone is getting burned, Graye, Tino, McTavish, Najar. Burnt Toast several times, but the center has stayed solid, Simms, Jakovic, James

the only thing worse than Max Bretos on FSC is Max Bretos on ESPN

Yeah, Emilio has to sit. He made a pass to no one, but didn't even bother to keep playing D. He threw his hands up in the air. 5 yards from the ball.

Thanks for the effort! See you when your contract is up . . . maybe you can join Gomez in the USL.

the best part about the second goal was the replay of keller's dome caught in the net.

Ianni's foul = Yellow, minimum.

Ljundberg's out of bounds, double handed push on James? Red.

Ianni needs to be booked for that.

Graye down?? WTF????

Rice in for Graye. Not really sure who Rice is, baby.

if this is another hammy I will scream

i just missed that was he given a yellow? replay looked brutal

There's no blog screaming....

who is rice?

Best cross I've seen, from Najar...

I saw red that there was no yellow for Ianni. And Barry Rice is our huge undrafted rookie defender who had a good game against RSL

Best cross I've seen, from Najar...

Posted by: Reignking | June 10, 2010 11:25 PM

Ya know, I didn't think he was sharp tonight, but that cross show'd you kinda have to keep him in there because of his potential to create fertilizer out of dung.

Barry Rice -- Univ. of Kentucky. His claim to fame was winning something like 95% of headers he went for. A little undersized for a centerback but it hasn't seemed to matter. A lot of folks thought he'd go in the first round of the draft -- third round at the latest -- but he went undrafted.

Anyone else annoyed by Freddie Ljundberg's hairstyle?

Rice made a spectacular play last week clearing the ball off the goal line, late in the USOC game vs. RSL

I have never seen a team with such brittle defenders. Loving the Onalfo fitness plan.

How that wasn't a card on Ianni is mystifying.

Anyone else annoyed by Freddie Ljundberg?
Posted by: Konoha7 | June 10, 2010 11:29 PM

Yes. :)

okay, so Rice isn't as big on tv as he looks from the sideline. he could still play football, though.

Rice is like 5'10" or 5'11". He's anything but huge, especially for a defender -- but he's got an amazing vertical leap.

i feel like we're sitting a little too deep. 30 more minutes of this pressure is likely too much. we need to possess the ball some

If you are talking about the opening Ianni foul, it looked worse than I thought at first. I think his foot just got caught going the wrong way (Pontius w/ the good change in direction)

Can we get anyone to hold some possession and give our d a break?

The ship is rocking back and forth, creaking, we're taking on water.

Seattle is putting too much pressure on...looks like delantero agrees w/ me...

@Konoha7,

It's not just that it looks silly, it's poor craftsmanship.

Anyone else annoyed by Freddie Ljundberg?
Posted by: Konoha7 | June 10, 2010 11:29 PM

Yes. :)Posted by: JkR-

+2 He looks foolish.

Colbert making fun of Rooney (and soccer):)

Actually, last week, Graye had a very similar illegal throw like Pontius' --- basically dropping the ball in front,. For some reason I couldn't figure out, the ref had him throw it in again....like it was some U9 game.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Mark Fisher on Colbert to make fun of soccer!?!!!!?!?!?!?!@#!@#!@#!@

Wow did this James come from? And how much did we miss Jakovic all of those games. They have both been great.

Dudes -- there's a soccer game on.

Julius James for MNT!!!

(He's playing well)

That's what God invented espn3 for.

lazy Party Boy there

Julius James for MNT!!!

(He's playing well)

Posted by: JkR- | June 10, 2010 11:44 PM
-----------------------------------------------------

If you mean the T&T MNT, I believe he's already suited up before.

Wow. 71:00 minute, and now a shoulder charge is a foul. In the first half, a first degree assault was a finger wag...

NNNNNNN.....NOONAN

Eu sou Emilio

Wow, what happened to Pat Noonan? he's rubbish, and now he's off.

How are they not scoring?

TRRRROOOOOYYYYYY!

If you mean the T&T MNT, I believe he's already suited up before.

Posted by: fischy | June 10, 2010 11:46 PM

T&T, T&M, S&M, whatever it takes...

He's having a good game...

I think Troy just nailed down the no. 1 job....

HAT TRICK!

YYYYEAAAHHHHHHHH!

Party wears a hat!!

Sucks having Troy back

hahhhhhhhhhaaaa....gooooooooooooaaaaaaaaal.

Where's Jaime? He'd bring some calm to this madness.

GGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!

I just threw my hat onto the floor! Hat trick for me!

Where the hell was this DC United for the first eleven games (or last year)? I *like* this DC United.

Yeah, babyyyyy!! 3 Pontius, Keller 0.

DCU get your Party hats on!! Yeah!

VAMOS UNITED!!

Woot! Hat Trick for Party Boy!

Refund time.

PARTY BOY HAT TRICK!!!

Refund the tickets tonight Flounders cause Pontius just worked you !!!!! Highlight of the season!!!

Now viva URUGUAY!!!

confidence time this game will build confidence

The back four has been outstanding all game long??? Martino suffering from amnesia? He was the one pointing out how Graye was being abused by Ljunberg on the left and McTavish was being abused by Zakuani on the right.

Julius James was BEAST tonight!! DC United have battled hard and battled well. We got some luck but we were due.

VAMOS UNITED!!

Pontius gets credit, but was Cristman the actual scorer? Unbelievable result in Washington State tonight!

Very encouraging result, and the importance of the timing probably can't be overstated. They needed some wins/points coming into the break, if they're going to convince some Eurostars or top South Americans to come play for DC.

"It's like a morgue here at Qwest Field."

Not even a double latte's going to help them now.

With the lights out it’s less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
A mulatto
An albino
A mosquito
My Libido
Yay, a denial

Ug own goal on Rice...but the real play was when DCU was too tired to trail the give and go.

damn. that sucks

Kudos to Curt Onolfo, who put out a team that was well prepared to deal with any good fortune they were due. They all played with focus, and for the shirt.

Shame they won't get a shutout....

Too bad it wasn't a header.

That's it, the Rook cleans the toilets for a month!

oh my

let's don't count our chickens yet

WTF?!?!

"It's a slow, comfortable kill from DC United at Qwest Field" ESPN Announcer.

Man o' the Match for me is Julius James. I know Pontius had a hat, but James kept us going.

Nice cross by Evans

"Are you kidding?" ESPN announcer.

3-2. Crap.

Ok, we can rest easy now.

Sigi the Hutt.....waaaahh! waaaahh! waaahh!

PHEW!! We don't suck as much as Philly does!

Wow, this ref.... 2 goals after he's announced his time, and he still blows at 3??

Yikes, he's been awful...

If there ever was an illustration for "Pear Shaped" then those final few minutes were it. Holy Smokes guys! Thanks for the 3 but could you have made it anymore interesting? One goal goes in and the great D loses it's composure.

We'll take the 3, but...

VAMOS UNITED!

Don't need to see Sigi crying to the refs there. It clearly was a goal kick.

A few too many palpitations there at the end, but a very nice 3 points on the road.

I said it during his hamstring header at the end of last season, James is a soldier. Welcome back Party Boy and well done to Dejan and Troy.

10 Points! We're out of the cellar!

Far too exciting at the end but I think the experience from the AC Milan friendly (where shorthanded DC pulled out the win in spite of being a man down for 30 minutes) yielded the good result tonight.

Plus guys like Barry Rice have gotten experience from that game and the Open Cup qualifier so they're not quite as raw and untested as Shep Messing seems to think.

DC's defense really came through tonight. My only gripe: they kept giving away the ball on long clearances, especially after we were 2 goals up. You can't keep giving a team that many chances to come at you. I wished Curt had brought Moreno in sooner to control the game better. All those giveaways just gave Seattle more chances to hammer at the defense. Still can't look a gift horse in the mouth: 3 points is 3 points.

Great way to go into the WC break. It was nice to humor the Seattle fans there at the end, but remember us DC fans were watching too, and that was too stressful. Pontius, and team D, thanks for making it a fun one.

DC played well. But these last minute break downs of United should really cement the fact they need a CAM to control the tempo. Help in the D and advance in the offense.
I would say that United should consider themselves lucky on the third goal because without it would have ended in a tie.
But its a win and thats what counts.

Wow! That was a real nail bitter at the end, but perhaps a gem for the neutral fan. I feel like this was one of the most entertaining MLS games ESPN has had lately. The game was entertaining, there were good performances, and good crowd support; three things ESPN telecasts have been lacking.

I wished Curt had brought Moreno in sooner to control the game better. All those giveaways just gave Seattle more chances to hammer at the defense.

Posted by: tundey | June 11, 2010 12:15 AM
-----------------------------------------------------------

Ummmm....Did you not see Moreno needlessly get stripped off the ball because of his indecisiveness and slow feet, leading to Ljunberg's breakaway and almost the tying goal? Jaime has been absolutely horrible this year.

This just in: Seattle sucks!! Dadryan, where are you? James is indeed MOTM. This was also Simms' best match of the season. Unless we bring in a snake-handling miracle worker during the WC break to "heal" Burch, Namoff, Graye and Wallace, we better bring in some defenders from far and wide--we are truly rolling the dice here.

We were maybe a bit lucky with the way we got goals tonight, but It don't matter how you get em' as long as you get em'!!
If we continue to get 2 or 3 goals a game I have faith that the D will get better through the return of injured players, as well as some adjustments in the center mids defending.
DC United...We win 3-2...in weeknight games.

amazing the difference a healthy James and DJak make. CO has done a great job of keeping this team together. Vamos United!

James was great tonight, but I'd really like to see him work on his distribution out of the back. He'd break up a play and then punt it all the way to Seattle's back line or Keller every time -- I know Rice and McTavish were doing the same thing (I'd really like to not see McTavish playing wide again if we can get away with it).

Call me crazy, but I think we're a good right back and creative central midfielder away from having something (oh, and a second striker who can finish consistently). Let's let Emilio's 3 month contract expire and say our good-byes. He really doesn't bring anything that Allsop or Cristman don't already. If we need to clear some more roster space, I think Shipalane should be on the chopping block.

So to recap -- way to go Partyboy!

James, Jakovic and co. did a great job tonight -- too bad those last second goals were let in.

Let's find the right central midfielder, right defenseman and possibly another striker with speed and finishing touch in the summer transfer window.

Oh, and another thought...I really do not like Qwest Field's surface. The announcers said they actually spray the turf with water before the games, is this idiocy true?

Haven't read any comments, but as I mentioned the last time Jordan left the field without being helped off: The guy is a p u s s y and has no business wasting space on a professional roster when he does that . You could see that Onalfo was pissed about it. there is no excuse. CUT HIM. There are plenty of players out there who want a spot in the starting line up of a MLS team.
If you're reading this kid! Grow a pair and man up, or quit your job.

OT:

Sad news from South Africa. Nelson Mandela's great-granddaughter was killed in a car accident coming back from the opening concert. She was 13 years old.

My thoughts and prayers go to the whole Mandela family.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/10290830.stm

Yes they spray the field before games. I'm a season ticket holder (and was probably the only DC fan there tonight)

MS77, every field in MLS is Sprayed down with water before the game starts, I am a season ticket holder for RFK and have seats about 30 yards behind the visitors bench. This is generally done about 20 minutes before kickoff, after both teams are done with warmups.

Why do they spray the field down, anyway?

Wow, that turned out to be a nailbiter !
I like McT, Graye, Jacko and James in the back. CO-- please keep them there. Let Pena and Talley take a LONG break. I thought Tino was awful with his passes and free kicks and Emilio was non-existent.
Jaime was equally ineffective, but PONTY was on fire!!

Dadryan, are you off you're meds? That's totally out of line, IMHO...

No not off my meds JkR. Maybe I worded it a little too harshly but I still don't think that Graye has what it takes. I don't ever want to see players quitting the game with an "injury" that allows them to walk off the field without help. The first time Jordan pulled that (which game it was is escaping me at the moment) he was replaced by James, and all I could wonder was if Jordan had seen United's last match of 09.

We need soldiers, not pansies. Just my Honest Opinion.

DadRyan, you're playing the angry fool. There are many injuries that can happen where the player can still walk off the field but would risk serious aggravation if he stayed out there playing.

Rodney Wallace was able to do some light jogging on the sideline last Saturday with what turned out to be a broken leg. By your logic he should have "grown a pair" and gone back out for a full-blown compound fracture.

"Jordan" was not on the team in '09.

?

And you know what happens when a "soldier" enters battle at less than full readiness? He AND his buddies get blown to pieces.

Graye's exit did hurt the team, obviously. And I'm sure Jakovic was dead on his feet for the last 20 minutes, probably James as well. Since players are most at risk when still recovering, can't argue with the conservative approach to guys' health, and should just be happy they built the cushion they did.

........

Like others here, however, I do hate the hot-potato approach to closing out games (looked like a tactical decision, not so much individual players deciding to just boom the ball downfield every time). In the end, the result was a 120-dB argument against that method.

And yeah, Jaime has been flat-out awful.

It's probably a re-aggravation of Graye's earlier hamstring injury. So I blame the training staff...and Jordan himself...for not getting this straightened out. But I won't call him a pussy that needs to quit the team. He's been a very consistent defender and he keeps on getting better. Frankly I think he is a fine replacement for Namoff, especially as he gains more experience. It's too bad we have to play him out of position now that Wallace is broken and will be out 3 months.

It's a shame we put ourselves in such a big hole with that start to the season. There are still a lot of teams to leap-frog if we hope to make the playoffs.

Dadryan: Out. Of. Line.

You guys are funny,
Joel, you called that light jogging? I could tell he was in trouble just watching the replay.

@ Godfather, I know he wasn't in the team. My point was that I thoughtt maybe Jordan should go back and watch J. James heroics in United's last game, last season, and do what he wants with it. I personally don't like what I saw in Graye's body language in his two recent instances of being subbed off for "injury".

That is all, re-aggravation or not I want to see him at least TRYING to give it a go. We won't really get the opportunity to see if he was hurt bad enough to not be able to play in a week.

Hey, gotta go the World Cup is starting.
:)

Dadryan: Out. Of. Line.

Posted by: JkR-

Great, give me my card and let's move on. ;)

Late coming on to the thread, but J James was MOTM notwithstanding the hat trick by party boy. I'll chalk the last 2 goals to a dead tired back line and leave it at that.

I'd be replaying the match tape to Najar for awhile. There were alot of "teaching" moments out there for him tonight where he made some good decisions and bad ones.

DCU playing much better.

I'll never compare Pontius to AJ Wood again. Quaranta is playing his best soccer. Kudos to him.

I take back my call to fire Onalfo.

Great job by the boys in black.