A few weeks ago, I sat in my basement, drinking a beer and watching D.C. United play. I don’t know which game it was because they have pretty much all melded into one great big ball of suck at this point. I looked at the TV and said, to no one because I was all alone, “we suck.”
I wish this thought has snuck up on me. I wish I didn’t come to grips with that reality less than 10 games into the MLS season. But after seven losses in nine games and pretty much no hope to make the MLS playoffs before we even hit freaking Memorial Day, I can say that my earlier assessment is official.
Even though it will make some people feel good, I’m not going to go on a rant about how Dave Kaspar and Tom Soehn suck and deserve to die and everything will be OK if we just fire the GM and coach. I won’t do that because I’m trying not to succumb to emotions, plus I realize that will be – as a good friend used to put it – like putting whipped cream on dog shit.
Sure, it will look nice to blame someone, but that will hardly change the basic fact that DCU is simply a bad soccer team. Firing Tom and Dave might make supporters and ownership feel good, but it won’t make Zach Wells less jumpy. Cleaning house at the top might show accountability, but it won’t make Franco Niell a good fit for the team. Dropping the hammer might show that everyone hopes the season is salvageable, but won’t heal Ben Olsen’s ankle.
I’m not saying those guys should keep their jobs. I just don’t have any hope that it will make the situation better, except from a visceral level. This isn’t a good team with bad leadership. This is just a bad team.
You usually need 40 points to get into the MLS playoffs. DCU has six points with 21 games remaining. If 40 is the magic number in 2008, United will have to average 1.7 points per game the rest of the way. That means, they almost need to not lose again (getting a win and a tie from each pair of matches is an average of two points a game).
The good news is that the Open Cup winner now gets into next year’s Champion’s League and we still have the opening stages of the Champion’s League this summer to try and qualify for the World Club Cup in 2009. To me, the league is toast, but those tournaments as well as the SuperLiga cash grab, still lie out there.
That’s the best I can do – hope this team can come together for short tournaments because anything resembling a cohesive effort over many months just seems out of the question, regardless of who is in charge.
At this point, Bill, 3-12 when the LALA Gals rolling to town seems optimistic. 🙁
Still, I’ll be going to the games when I’m not in my replica Brian basement watching each match. My team is my team, for betterer or worser.
Missing Ben Olsen, I remain,
dadman
I think trying Carvallo and anyone else is a good idea. Putting Martinez out wide was a good start, but they need new ideas. I just don’t know if ideas are enough.
Forgot to add I still think they can get this right for the USOC and SuperDuper Liga or whatever it’s called. I’ve pretty much given up on the MLS part of the season.
I don’t think firing Soehn is the answer, let him learn along with the rest of this team about how to manage. This is only his second year as a head coach. Try to get something positive out of what is a crappy year. My opinion could change if the team is 3-12 when Beckham and the Gals come to RFK at the end of June.
One change needs to be made: I’d like to see Carvallo in goal. We’ve seen what Zach Wells can’t do and enough. United knows it erred on Gomez and Perkins. Once Olsen was lost, no one has been there to kick the teams tail on the field this season.
Used to be the Orioles were eliminated by Memorial Day, not United.
Times they are a changin’