A marketing study found Major League Soccer’s “customer experience” to be “less than stellar,” ranking at the bottom of a list of 25 companies reviewed (ASN, Sept. 30, 2008).

MLS fans continue to have mixed experiences, as this recent First Touch Online article documents. At least it’s not all of MLS though. The Seattle Sounders have been received almost unbelievably well by the local fanbase, due in no small part to the efforts of its front office. Elsewhere (New York and New England come to mind) fans feel disenfranchised, apathetic or downright hostile by the efforts (or lack thereof) of their local clubs. The signs from the Pacific Northwest may be promising, but the league clearly has its work cut out for it.

“It’s really hard to comment on a game like this because I thought that we were the better team the whole 90 minutes.”–Chivas USA head coach Preki, after his team drew the lowly New York Red Bulls 1-1 at the Home Depot Center Saturday night. The tie keeps Chivas in a tie for fourth place in the Western Conference.

DC United’s playoff hopes took a severe blow Sunday with a 2-1 loss to San Jose at RFK Stadium. Despite taking a lead through Jaime Moreno and controlling possession through most of the match, mental lapses and an overall flat second stanza doomed the home side, which has fallen for the second consecutive time in an MLS game in their once friendly confines.

Chris Snear reports from the nation's capital.

DC United’s playoff hopes took a severe blow Sunday with a 2-1 loss to San Jose at RFK Stadium. Despite taking a lead and controlling possession through most of the match, mental lapses and an overall flat second stanza doomed the home side, which has fallen for the second consecutive time in an MLS game in their once friendly confines.

The win was the Quakes first away from home this season and snapped a 20-game road losing streak dating back to June 7, 2008, a 2-0 result over Columbus.

Jaime Moreno gave United the lead in the 26th minute but United were lucky to go into the halftime break with the lead after a goal by Ryan Johnson was disallowed for a questionable offside call.

Johnson put the ball in the net again at the start of the second half but the play was blown down by referee Baldomero Toledo so an obviously injured Josh Wicks could be immediately attended to by United staff. Wicks dislocated his left shoulder on the perilous sequence and was replaced by Milos Kocic. Wicks could miss 1-3 weeks.

“We had every opportunity to run away with the game in the first half. We were unable to put our chances away and any team you keep around it’s going to come back to haunt you,” said United Head Coach Tom Soehn.

“We came out flat in the second half, on a day – any day you can’t afford it – but on a day when we’re trying to make the playoffs, it’s thoroughly disappointing. I have to go back and evaluate whether I had the right blend of guys on the field.”

Soehn chose not to start Christian Gomez but brought the playmaker on in the 76th minute, just four minutes after United fell behind.

The personnel move that changed the match however was San Jose coach Frank Yallop’s decision to insert Arturo Alvarez at the start of the second half. The quick and crafty Alvarez changed the tempo of the match and earned the Earthquakes some long needed possession and a threatening presence in the attacking third of the field.

“Putting Arturo on made a big difference to our team. He’s dynamic, he’s quick; it gave Ryan Johnson a bit more space to run around,” said Yallop. “At halftime we have made some adjustments before and they have really worked and today was the same thing. We went out trying to make sure were nice and solid defensively and see how the game pans out.”

“I think the game looked so easy to us the first 45 minutes of the game, the first half, that I think that we thought we were just going to go out and keep doing what we were doing,” said United midfielder Santino Quaranta.

“It seemed like they didn’t touch the ball in the first half and we could do whatever we wanted. We come out in the second half and they had Alvarez who changed the game. It just wasn’t good enough and that’s devastating, this loss.”

United had no answer for the sturdy Johnson the entire match and he became even more effective, along with running mate Chris Wondolowski, once Alvarez put his stamp on the match.

Luciano Emilio should have put United in front in the 18th minute but his uncontested header off a Quaranta corner kick bounced over the crossbar in front of goalkeeper Andrew Weber.

Moreno’s goal was indicative of the action at that time of the match, as the league’s all time leading scorer stepped in front of Daniel Hernandez to collect a Chris Pontius cross from the left flank near the tip left corner of the 6-yard box, turned and powered a left footed shot through Weber to give United a 1-0 lead.

Ben Olsen had sprung Pontius with a simple ball out of midfield with the West Covina, CA native playing a low cross into Moreno, who had darted to the spot with a slashing run from the top of the penalty area.

As rain finally broke through the ominously dark clouds that enveloped the Washington area all day, the Quakes fortunes turned clear and bright as the whistle blew to start the second half with the Wicks injury being the only sour moment.

Wicks jettisoned his goal to contest a high, floating corner from Simon Elliott, and as Johnson was doing the same, the two rose up, Wick’s extended left arm got caught under Johnson body as the rest of his body went forward and the keeper fell to the turf in obvious pain.

Johnson collected the rebound and banged a shot that deflected high off a United defender but the rightfully cautious Toledo blew the play down before the ball bounced inside the right post in the 49th minute.

Nine minutes later, Julius James took down Johnson in a plum location some 26-yards from goal straight on and Ramon Sanchez made United pay. The Salvadoran’s curving left footer over the wall drifted away from Kocic who barely made a stab at the equalizer.

The Johnson and Alvarez tandem combined to surge the Quakes ahead in the 72nd minute. Alvarez scooped up a poor United clearance and stumbled briefly but got off a shot that was deflected onto the crossbar by Clyde Simms.

The ball caromed directly to Johnson and with Kocic out to cut down the angle for the original shot, his diving header from some 11-yards out bounced into the vacated net for his 9th goal of the season.

“I kind of anticipated that the ball was going to hit the post and when it did, it came to me pretty fast but where the ball landed I saw an opportunity for a diving header,” said Johnson.

With their fading playoff hopes staring them squarely in the face, United did have a late resurgence but could not finish.

James rose well above the crowd to get his head onto a Moreno corner in the 74th minute but his attempt missed just wide of the right post.

Eight minutes later, Corrales swept a superb Pontius bicycle kick off the line from 10-yards out and Boyzz Khumalo’s left footed effort from the top of the penalty as the match went into stoppage time skimmed the top of the crossbar.

“We addressed a lot at halftime, talked about shoring up our shape a little bit better and I thought our energy was terrible in the second half. They came out with a little bit of bite and we didn’t adjust to it. We kind of just stayed in a lull,” said Soehn.

“It wasn’t until after they scored that we put in some legs and realized we had to get back in the game. It’s disappointing [because] it comes at a time when we’re desperate for points to get in the playoffs and we sure didn’t show that urgency.”

“It’s devastating but in the end we didn’t finish the game well,” added Quaranta. “We came out in the second half and it was a letdown and for the first 15-minutes we let them back in the game. It just wasn’t good, it’s not good.”

Scoring Summary:
DC — Jaime Moreno 8 (Chris Pontius 3, Ben Olsen 1) 26
SJ — Ramon Sanchez 2 (unassisted) 58
SJ — Ryan Johnson 9 (unassisted) 73

Lineups:
San Jose Earthquakes — Andrew Weber, Chris Leitch, Bobby Burling (Arturo Alvarez 46), Brandon McDonald, Jason Hernandez, Ramon Sanchez, Ramiro Corrales, Simon Elliott, Bobby Convey, Ryan Johnson, Chris Wondolowski,

Substitutes Not Used: Quincy Amarikwa, Mike Graczyk, Aaron Pitchkolan, Antonio Ribeiro, Michael Zaher

D.C. United — Josh Wicks (Milos Kocic 52), Lawson Vaughn, Julius James, Marc Burch (Christian Gomez 76), Santino Quaranta, Ben Olsen, Clyde Simms, Rodney Wallace, Chris Pontius, Luciano Emilio, Jaime Moreno (Thabiso Khumalo 78),

Substitutes Not Used: Fred, Dejan Jakovic, Avery John, Devon McTavish

Statistical Summary:
D.C. United / San Jose Earthquakes
Total shots: 18 (4 tied with 3) 11 (Ryan Johnson 3)
Shots on goal: 4 (Jaime Moreno 2) 4 (4 tied with 1)
Fouls: 9 (Julius James 3,
Chris Pontius 3) 8 (Bobby Convey 2,
Simon Elliott 2)
Offsides: 3 (Chris Pontius 2) 3 (Ryan Johnson 3)
Corner kicks: 8 (Jaime Moreno 3) 3 (3 tied with 1)
Saves: 2 (Josh Wicks 2) 3 (Andrew Weber 3)

Misconduct Summary:
SJ — Brandon McDonald (caution; Reckless Foul) 28
DC — Rodney Wallace (caution; Reckless Foul) 54
DC — Chris Pontius (caution; Simulation) 68

Referee: Baldomero Toledo
Referee’s Assistants: C.J. Morgante; James Conlee
4th official: Jeff Gontarek
Time of game: 1:51
Attendance: 14,375
Weather: Cloudy -and- 72 degrees

Sacha Kljestan missed an injury time penalty and Chivas USA missed out on three points as they tied 1-1 against the New York Red Bulls, Saturday night at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

ASN's Tony Bruce attended the game and filed the following report.

The New England Revolution got a pair of goals by Shalrie Joseph, one in the waning moments of the game to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat Saturday night at Gillette Stadium. The victory moves the Revs into third place in the Eastern Conference.

Check out Mark Claypool's match report or skip right to the Revs player ratings.

The German U-20 national team easily defeated their American counterparts 3-0 in the first match for both teams at the FIFA World Cup in Egypt Saturday.

The U.S. started auspiciously, with sloppy defensive errors, briefly regained their balance then gave up a penalty kick that was easily converted by Semih Aydilek. Germany doubled its lead two minutes later after more suspect defending by the Yanks. Behind Brek Shea (here in the colors of his club team, FC Dallas), one of the team’s best player on the day, the U.S. tried to put the German goal under pressure in the second half. Around the hour mark they made some real progress in this regard, with Jared Jeffrey hitting a long range shot off the crossbar on 67 minutes. Five minutes later, a pair of German substitutes combined for Germany’s third goal, sealing the match. Thomas Rongen’s side now has a lot to think about ahead of their second game, against Cameroon Tuesday.

ASN’s Adam Rozsa filed the following match report and supplied player ratings for the U.S.

The pivotal CONCACAF Champions League match at RFK Stadium Thursday demonstrated the value of training time for DC United and the helpful contrast of their unusual rest break with their opponent’s travel travails.

Coach Tom Soehn used the 10 day break to drive home the importance of wide play through consistent training and was fortunate to have an opponent well suited to allow his players to grow comfortable with it. His youngsters executed the plan with discipline and effectiveness to pull out a 3-0 victory which gives United the tiebreaking edge over Marathon.

Over the past several months DC United has very slowly improved its use of the flanks to build its attacks. While Tino Quaranta and Fred showed increasing discipline to stay wide as August and September slid by, and Bryan Namoff began more frequent overlaps down the sideline, their teammates seemed not to reward their efforts with proper service.

Then on Thursday night a Marathon team, wearied by long travel from troubled Honduras, provided a perfect foil to test United’s willingness to work the entire field. DC’s Coach Tom Soehn played a young and energetic lineup which provided the rapid transition to force Marathon to constantly adjust to a multifaceted attack.

Soehn admitted the previous problem with a predictable central attacking mindset, “Over this course of so many games, we’ve created some bad habits, where we haven’t been using the width. And not being able to work on it in training, or not having the time to do it, makes it difficult.

“We had a week to really focus on the strength to stretch the field to change the point of attack, and today I saw a real difference in that.”

As United chose to attack by encouraging both wings to play forward, Marathon chose to defend what amounted to their two goal lead in the important head-to-head tiebreaker. Both group dynamics and their travel fatigue drove the decision by Marathon’s coach to absorb pressure in their end, hoping to exploit United’s depleted defense with counterstrikes.

He pointed out that his team had taken an eight hour bus trip to fly out of Guatemala, only arriving at 1:30 on Thursday morning. Both coaches based their strategies on sound grounds, but the confluence of fatigue, several key first half saves by Josh Wicks, and the first strong sign of total team play by United gave the home side a 3-0 victory.

Ben Olsen was understanding, but willing to exploit the convenient reality, “They had a long couple of days getting here and unfortunately for them, they weren’t 100 percent. But we’ve played teams that weren’t 100 percent in the past and we haven’t taken advantage of them.

“It’s important when you do get these chances, when you play a team that’s down on their luck a little bit, you have to punish them and we did that tonight.”

Quaranta shared his teammates’ pleasure with DC’s performance, “With four (defenders) we have to get our outside backs involved and use the width. We did that tonight. We were smart. We were disciplined going forward and kept a good shape. We will break teams down here no matter who we play.”

He volunteered that there was room for improvement in exploiting the full width of the field,
“Absolutely. We can only get better. The guys who stepped in tonight did well. You can build off these types of performances. It’s very positive in the locker room right now. We put ourselves in a position to do what we need to do to advance.”

The squad has three days to rest up for Sunday’s clash against San Jose at RFK on Sunday at 3:00 PM. Advancement in another competition, the MLS playoffs, hinges on United’s continued improvement in understanding the value of full width play and applying it throughout a contest.

Scoring:
DC — Luciano Emilio 1 (Avery John ) 47
DC — Jaime Moreno 1 (Santino Quaranta ) 55
DC — Luciano Emilio 2 (Ben Olsen ) 71

Discipline:
DC — Avery John (caution; Reckless Tackle) 26
MAR — Mario Beata (caution; Reckless Foul) 82
MAR — Mario Berrios (caution; Reckless Foul) 83
DC — Dejan Jakovic (caution; Dissent) 88
DC — Jaime Moreno (caution; Reckless Foul) 90
DC — Jaime Moreno (ejection; Second Caution) 91+
MAR — Glen Brown (caution; Dissent) 91+

Game Stats
CD Marathon / D.C. United
Total Shots: 9 20
Shots on Goal: 5 9
Total Saves: 6 5
Fouls: 18 12
Offsides: 4 2
Corner Kicks: 7 9

Referee: Silviu Petrescu
Referee’s Assistants: Darren Clark; Daniel Belleau
4th Official: Baldomero Toledo
Time of Game: 90:00
Weather: Cloudy -and- 80 degrees
Attendance: 5,280

The pivotal CONCACAF Champions League match at RFK Stadium Thursday demonstrated the value of training time for DC United and the helpful contrast of their unusual rest break with their opponent’s travel travails. Coach Tom Soehn used the 10 day break to drive home the importance of wide play through consistent training and was fortunate to have an opponent well suited to allow his players to grow comfortable with it. His youngsters executed the plan with discipline and effectiveness to pull out a 3-0 victory which gives United the tiebreaking edge over Marathon.

Steve Long reports from the nation's capital.

The extent of Jacob Peterson's injury is worse than anticipated, as the Colorado Rapids midfielder has torn his ACL and will need to undergo surgery, according to an individual familiar with the matter. Peterson injured his knee in the 12th minute of Wednesday's game with the San Jose Earthquakes.

ASN's Rapids site has the full scoop.