American Soccer News

Ben Olsen struggled to find a positive note on Saturday night and it took a direct question from the press to get him to cite the only real joy from the nightmare season that he is living through. Andy Najar, the seventeen year old prodigy who now wears his number 14 continues to amaze.

“I feel like a kid like Andy, he could step into the World Cup and play the way he plays. He just doesn’t care where he’s at. He loves to play the game and he plays it in the proper way. And not just the goals, all the other little stuff, the way he tackles, the way he runs up and down the field. It’s wonderful to watch. It really has been a huge bright spot this year.”

For his part, Najar was only marginally positive, “I think we had a good game, we gave it all, and we hoped for things to improve, we hoped for things to go our way, but we lacked concentration at key times, and we lost, unfortunately.” He was more insightful than he realized.

He scored his fifth goal of the season with brilliant and cool-headed footwork, tying him with Santino Quaranta and Freddy Adu for the most goals by a DC United rookie. Quaranta, now United’s captain, provided him a fine crossing pass to set up the series of quick moves that saw him put the ball in the net for an early DC lead.

The captain was still not satisfied, “Any stat that anybody gets, you can throw that down the toilet. To be honest with you, I want to win games. Good for him for scoring goals, but we’re just not good enough as a team.”

Despite a growing sense of DC United’s control, Houston scored, in Quaranta’s words, “Out of nowhere—that’s when the game changed. The ‘Here we go again’ thing, same story all year. I don’t know what else to say.”

Bereft of solutions, reporters turned to Jed Zayner, fresh off some winning years with the Columbus Crew. He admitted befuddlement, but volunteered that, “If you’re not detailed every minute of the game, it’s gonna bite you in the butt.”

He partially agreed with Quaranta about the deflating effect of the Dynamo comeback, but placed the full effect later, “I think heads down on the third goal. The second goal I think we were still fighting.”

He also offered that good things have been happening under the new interim coach’s tutelage, “I feel bad for Ben, because he’s an awesome coach. We all love him. We all know that there’s a better feeling out here. We’re playing better, we’re fighting harder. We’re getting goals and that’s been rare this year.”

Zayner also holds out hope for the future, “You look at Columbus. I was there when we were the worst team in the league. Three years later, the best team in the league. It takes that core, the building. Diamonds have to be built. They have to be rough and have to be smoothed. That’s what our team has to do. We have to be smooth.

“These last two games were the toughest to deal with. — We had a statistic before LA that if we scored the first goal we were 2 and 0 or 3 and 0. It’s a stinger when you go up and then give goals away. We’re not defending well and then countering well.”

His final comment touched ironically on one of the evening’s more telling moments, “It’s tough to teach details in the game. It’s tough to teach a detailed mentality sometimes.” That is especially true for younger players.

United’s staff have rightly allowed Andy Najar to attack in his own aggressive manner. He has responded well, showing great wisdom and a reading of the game far beyond his years. Olsen’s praise has been well earned.

He has done especially well in working hard at both ends of the field, developing his defensive mindset more slowly, but nonetheless steadily improving in support of his backs. However, he lost track of Brad Davis during the buildup to the Dynamo’s first goal.

From above, it was clear that Davis was slipping in behind him and Najar was cheating quite a bit up the field and too far inside. When the cross came through from the right, the rookie’s mark had an unimpeded shot. The fact that it went in off Devin McTavish did not make it any less a product of Davis’ freedom from pressure.

Failure to attend to detail doesn’t plague only rookies. Canadian international Dejan Jakovic had an uncharacteristic slip up earlier in the season and Clyde Simms, usually reliable and steady with the ball, hesitated an instant too much to allow Landon Donovan to slip past him and Jakovic to score in Los Angeles.

Now it’s off to Colorado next weekend with the added element of altitude to sap concentration. Olsen’s baptism of fire continues.

Scoring Summary:

DC — Andy Najar 5 (Santino Quaranta 2) 29
HOU — own goal (Devon McTavish) 66
HOU — Geoff Cameron 2 (Brad Davis 9) 70
HOU — Dominic Oduro 4 (Brian Ching 3, Lovel Palmer 1) 100+

Houston Dynamo — Pat Onstad, Richard Mulrooney (Danny Cruz 69), Adrian Serioux, Ryan Cochrane (Eddie Robinson 63), Andrew Hainault, Corey Ashe, Lovel Palmer, Geoff Cameron, Brad Davis, Brian Ching, Joseph Ngwenya (Dominic Oduro 59).

Substitutes Not Used: Samuel Appiah, Mike Chabala, Cam Weaver, Tyler Deric.

D.C. United — Troy Perkins, Devon McTavish (Junior Carreiro 83), Julius James, Dejan Jakovic, Jed Zayner, Andy Najar, Branko Boskovic, Kurt Morsink, Santino Quaranta, Danny Allsopp (Carlos Varela 74), Pablo Hernandez.

Substitutes Not Used: Jordan Graye, Stephen King, Jaime Moreno, Clyde Simms, Chase Harrison.

Misconduct Summary:

HOU — Ryan Cochrane (caution; Dissent) 29
DC — Andy Najar (caution; Reckless Tackle) 69
DC — Jed Zayner (caution; Reckless Foul) 79
HOU — Brad Davis (caution; Delaying a Restart) 82
DC — Julius James (caution; Reckless Tackle) 89
HOU — Geoff Cameron (caution; Reckless Foul) 93+

Referee: Alex Prus
Referee’s Assistants: -George Gansner; Adam Wienckowski
4th Official: Landis Wiley

Attendance: 13,828
Time of Game: 1:58

Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-85-degrees

As the profoundly disappointing 2010 season has dragged on, DC United has never quite fully settled on a consistent roster. However, the team as a whole has matured significantly. With a mere sixth of the season remaining and too many defenders injured, United still appears to have put almost all the pieces together.

Tino Quaranta has been trying to understand it and draws real hope from the most recent performance against the LA Galaxy, “Continue to play like that and we’ll win games. It’s kind of been a theme all year, but they’re the best team in our league and I think we should have won this game tonight. Our record and our points don’t show what kind of team we are.”

Recovery began with the realization that United was inflexibly focused on central attack. Curt Onalfo emphasized wing play and saw some success. However, with the absence of Bryan Namoff and a constant series of injuries to defenders, he was forced to restrain his wide attackers to support those behind them.

Against the stronger United teams of old opponents were often forced into a counterattacking mode.
They would absorb United’s pressure and strike on the counter. If other teams are so superior to United this year, one might expect them to fight for midfield control. After all, a weakened defense gives opponents both options.

Yet, they win off the counter more often than not. Quaranta is correct in his assessment, “We’ve been creating a lot of chances. If you look around the league in that position, in the [wide] positions, I feel like this team is one of the best teams in those positions.”

Throughout the season, United has steadily improved in maintaining its overall shape while gradually improving in off the ball supporting runs, first on defense, and only very recently on attack. That can be laid to too intense a desire to carry the team to victory with individual effort.

The team has no pure speed player to keep an opponent off balance, but does have enough strong attackers to create and finish chances. Of late, Pablo Hernandez has gradually adjusted to the physicality of MLS play and has begun to interact better with his teammates.

With his arrival, the central attack has gradually improved as Danny Allsopp has begun to work a more effective partnership up front. Quaranta has been able to see players closer than Andy Najar as viable passing options.

Until recently, players would drive at and take on multiple defenders while teammates watched. In the last three games, against Columbus, Toronto, and LA, the attack has finally achieved effective support with good offensive runs and quicker recognition by of opportunity by those with the ball and those in support.

Hernandez had shared a tendency with Najar to hold the ball a bit too long. In both cases, teammates were partially to blame. The single most significant element that DC United’s coaches have instilled is the need for constant movement off the ball to support these two particular players when they get the ball.

The same lack of effective supporting movement has combined with his own age degraded skills to render Jaime Moreno no longer the game changer that he once was. Time and again, DC United players have emphasized that they play for one another. In fact, they have, but almost always in focusing on defense.

With the emergence of more active offensive interaction, the elements are now in place, just in time for some new actors to join in the play. Both Carlos Varela and Junior Carreiro give Coach Ben Olsen still more midfield support. Junior has been with the side long enough to have bought into the doctrine and Varela is experienced enough to figure it out quickly.

After strong performances in close losses against two of the league’s leaders, DC now gets a shot at a struggling Houston Dynamo squad whose fans must be as baffled United’s. The game is at 7:30 at RFK.

Julius James-the man who got the entire Toronto FC technical staff sacked with one swing of his left foot. James’ goal in the 81st minute propelled DC United past Toronto last weekend effectively ending the tenures of coach Preki Radosavljevic and Soccer Director Mo Johnston.

Not only was it a good win for struggling United, the goal added a nice sprinkle of sugar on an otherwise tumultuous season for the team and himself. While he didn’t want to admit that the goal was a touch satisfying on a personal level, his face and smile said otherwise.

The Trinidad & Tobago international was traded to Houston in December 2008 for Dwayne DeRosario and some allocation money after a moderately successful rookie season. Though Toronto in some ways gave up on him despite getting an MLS MVP in return, it was nothing like how former United coach Curt Onalfo did early this season.

“The former coach, he didn’t have too much confidence in me, you know,” said James. “He brought in two different center backs, three actually [Juan Manuel Pena, Carey Talley, Barry Rice], and they all got a chance before I did. I worked my [male genitalia] off, man, and I kept my head down. Thank god I had the opportunity to play, and I thank god for good health.”

Onalfo favored the veteran Pena to play alongside Dejan Jakovic in the center of United’s defense, and with his quality and experience that was a fair assessment. After Pena went down with his lingering quad injury, Onalfo pushed Talley inside, although he was originally slated to play on the flank.

With injuries along the way to Jakovic, he then turned to the less experienced Rice, who was pedestrian at best and finally slid James into the starting central role more or less by default.

“I spoke to him at the beginning of the season,” said James regarding a meeting he set up with the former coach. “I told him, ‘I’m a guy who wants to be here. I’m going to fight, scrap, do whatever is necessary to help the team,’ and I guess my little speech wasn’t good enough. I never had anything easy, and it has made me a stronger person.”

Though 6-feet tall and a sturdy 180 lbs, his relative shortness may not be the typical or perhaps preferred stature of the “put him in there and forget about it” central defender. He thinks he can get the job done in this league and on a team that has been as dreadful as this, why not find out if he actually can?

Pontius officially shelved for the season; Simms not quite yet

Chris Pontius will have surgery this Friday in California on his ailing hamstring effectively ending his frustrating sophomore season. After meeting with multiple doctors over the past three weeks, they finally concluded this past weekend that surgery was the best solution to completely heal the hamstring and give him any hope of returning to the promising form that got him a U.S, National Team camp invite during the off season.

Pontius, who was also a rookie of the year finalist, will be out 4-6 months. In a bit of irony, MLS also announced on Tuesday that the 2011 season will start on March 19, which is exactly 6 months from this Sunday.

“I just kind of want this thing to be over with. I don’t want to have to deal with this hamstring again,” said the obviously frustrated 23 year old midfielder.

Pontius has been working with Randy Rocha, United Strength and Conditioning Coach, to strengthen the hamstring and the muscles around along with extensive gait training to effectively change his running technique. Rocha had said earlier in the season that the gait training was to get him to run a bit lower and “attack the ground” with more power.

“We thought there would be a chance I would be able to avoid it so that’s why we did all the strengthening. It’s the same thing that happened in April; my body is healed from it but it’s still torn off the bone so if I ever want to run at the pace I know I can run at, I need to get this.

Pontius will stay at home in Los Angeles for 6-weeks and work out with Athletes Performance at the Home Depot Center. He will then return to Washington in November before finishing the off season back in Los Angeles.

Former United star Ryan Nelsen has successfully returned from this type of surgery as has another former United player and current New York Red Bull Chris Albright and Los Angeles defender Sean Franklin.

“Mentally I got to be stable with this whole thing,” said Pontius. “I know it’s going to be frustrating not being able to play, not being able to move for a while but I have to see the light at the end of the tunnel…I wanted to come in and have a good second year in the league and live up to some of the expectations and I know I that I can so it’s frustrating especially when you see the team struggling as much as it is. I always want to be out on the field. I have never dealt with anything like this before in my career.”

On the flip side, Clyde Simms will stay put, but perhaps not a minute longer than the end of the season. A probable sports hernia, also an injury Nelsen recovered from during his time with United, kept him out of the 1-0 win at Toronto last weekend.

“It’s the same symptoms I dealt with last season,” said Simms, who went through full training on Tuesday. “Last season when I went to Germany they examined both sides and said they saw where it started, but didn’t recommend surgery. We just have to have good communication.”

The problem is on the left side this year following surgery on the right side last year.

“Obviously it’s a wear-and-tear type of deal. The more I’m doing in training, I am going to have to find that fine line where you train enough to stay fit but at the same time, not too much to aggravate it. Today felt great and I was glad I was able to get through a tough training so that is a positive.”

NOTES:

United traded defender Carey Talley, 34, to New York for a conditional second round pick in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft. Talley returned to United this season where he started his career in 1998 and played in 15 matches (13 starts, 1,141 minutes).

United also signed Carlos Varela, 33, through December with team options following. The flank, attacking midfielder will be used primarily off the bench.

“He is a guy that can give a spark off the bench. He runs with the players very well,” said United coach Ben Olsen. “He is still adapting. It’s a good chance for us, for the rest of the year, to take a look at him to see if he is somebody that we want a part of this team in the future.”

Also this week, United signed 19 year old Junior Carriero, who has been training with the team all season and is the brother of former United standout, Fred.

Rookie Shawn Johnson has effectively ended Andrew Dykstra’s bid for a starting position in Chicago as he kept the Fire but it was another goalkeeper who stole the show in Week 22. Unlikely squads continue to roll – as in New England and Colorado – while familiar faces collect three points (Real Salt Lake and Columbus). Changes might be brewing in Philadelphia after another gaffe in goal. Regardless, a very quiet week on the offensive front but those that made noise, really turned up the volume.

Check out who took ASN’s Player of the Week honors over at ASN Philly.

It was a different day, same two teams with same result for DC United, just in less time.

After the heartbreaking overtime loss to Columbus in a U.S. Open Cup semifinal match on Wednesday that extinguished any possible salvation for this already dismal season, one critical mistake gifted Columbus a first half goal and the league leaders cruised to a 1-0 regulation win over downtrodden DC United.

Several tired players took the field for both teams and it showed in the overall quality and pace of the match despite the splendidly cool temperature and low humidity in the nation’s Capitol. United failed to record a shot on goal, with Columbus mustering only two, and the 15th shutout ties the league record for futility set by expansion Toronto in 2007.

“Yeah its better when they’re on goal isn’t it,” said a wry United coach Ben Olsen about his team’s inability to get a shot on frame. “It’s a bit of a broken record at this point. I mean you can sit here and ask me questions. Unfortunately we are not making big plays.”

“You have heard this before-this is who we are right now,” Olsen continued. “I am again proud of the effort. I think there is part of us that’s growing and there is part of us that is kind of staying the same and that part that is staying the same is costing us games. I don’t know what else to tell you.”

In what has become commonplace for this United team, a squandered opportunity of their own was punished shortly thereafter. With what is surely the biggest gaff of his rookie campaign, Bill Hamid’s fanned clearing attempt gave Guillermo Barros Schelotto one of the easier goals of his brilliant career in the 23rd minute.

Hamid’s left footed first touch on a rare poor back pass from Clyde Simms got away from him and when he drew air on his right footed half volley clearing attempt, the ball fell to the foot of the 2008 league MVP, who took one step to his left and pushed it easily under the scrambling keeper into the open net.

“We were unfortunate on the goal. The field is in bad condition and maybe it wasn’t smart to play back to the goalie on that play,” said Simms. “The first ball I played into Steve (King) started it off because I think it hopped up on him and he had to play a ball that kind of hopped on me and by the time I got it down there was pressure so I had to go back to Bill and there was a bad spot in front of him so that’s soccer and you have to play through the conditions and maybe it would have been smarter just to play it forward.”

“The field is not in good shape but at the same time there is no excuse for that mistake on my part,” said Hamid. “Maybe I could have one-timed it out, who knows. I didn’t feel the first touch was heavy but a little bit of wind may have caught the ball right before I swung but that is all excuses and when it boils down to it I shouldn’t have made that mistake.”

“Goalies have those every now and then. Unfortunately it wasn’t a great ball back to him,” added Olsen. “He’s a young goalkeeper, he’s going to have those instances and he’ll regroup from that just fine.”

United’s missed chance three minutes earlier was a bit unfortunate but in many ways has typified their anemic attack all season. A splendid but perhaps a touch heavy low cross by Andy Najar from a step inside the right side of the penalty area slid painfully out of the reach of a wide open Danny Allsopp in front of goal.

“Early there was some good attacking. I thought in the first half we had some good series and whether it was the final brawl or, maybe an extra runner in the box, a little extra commitment,” Olsen said.

The match capped a three match week for both sides with the Crew playing also travelling to Mexico for a mid-week CONCACAF Champions League match against Santos the week prior.

United suited up only 16 players with Juan Manuel Pena, who has been nursing a quad strain, getting a shirt for the first time since July 3 at San Jose. Chris Pontius was left off the roster with his nagging hamstring problems and Adam Cristman might require meniscus surgery which would leave him out 3-4 weeks.

United coach Ben Olsen decided to push Clyde Simms back to central defender in the absence of Dejan Jakovic who is on duty with the Canadian National Team and insert Kurt Morsink into one of the two holding midfield spots. Jordan Graye also returned to the starting eleven in place of Marc Burch who is in a boot after re-aggravating his right foot injury.

Conversely, Columbus boss Robert Warzycha went with basically the same line up that defeated United Wednesday night with first choice goalkeeper Wil Hesmer back between the pipes and Dilly Duka and Kevin Burns inserted for Adam Moffat and Frankie Hejduk, who were both left off the game day roster as well.

Rumor has it that DC United is pursuing a new player named Sisyphus who has demonstrated serious skills in handling a rock. His skills in nearly attaining his goal only to have the rock elude him just before he succeeds appear completely in line with United’s experience this year.

It can’t be overemphasized that the mythical icon has massive experience with frustration following heroic effort. He has certainly had enough practice to serve as a role model for the hard-working yet unrewarded team from DC.

Ben Olsen sat silently for about twenty seconds before the press could muster the obvious question. He paused again and then gave the same answer he and the players have so often given in the past month, “I mean, yeah, we had it. What do you want me to say? We had it. You know. In the end you got to finish it up. The guys, I’m very proud of them. We just, can’t reward ourselves. It’s very frustrating.”

These young professionals know that they have indeed trained well. It has shown in a steady improvement in shape and discipline as first Curt Onalfo and now Ben Olsen have gradually instilled a generally coherent style of play into the team.

Attacking buildup has improved and defensive support has also grown better. It seems that the only thing left is to finish off chances. They have become Jimmy Breslin’s mafia parody, “The Gang that couldn’t shoot straight.”

The players and coaches are clearly mystified and disheartened. Like Sisyphus, they continue to play hard and with increasingly better discipline and cohesive effort even as the season has spiraled down. Their training seems to have worked well in producing the movement required to set up goals.

Practice, however focused and effective, is not practical for 3 yard shooting drills! Too often the players have opted for the final accurate touch, almost as if trying to walk the ball into the net or place it perfectly.

In a singular example, the experienced Dejan Jakovic seemed too casual as he leaned back to send an easy tap in too high in the 106th minute. Even a Canadian international can try too hard to be relaxed as he shoots. In the very attempt not to choke, the player does exactly that.

Jakovic had been asked to move forward to join the attack as United strove to reply to the Crew’s overtime game winner and said that he felt comfortable doing so since he had been an attacker in college. More recently ingrained defensive habit may have factored into his miscue.

There is a zen-like art to relaxing while keeping focus and these guys haven’t found it. The players now recognize that all that is left is to avoid the cellar and hope to perform well enough to keep their jobs. For a few, that will come surprisingly easily.

Andy Najar clearly applies himself very professionally to self improvement while maintaining a youthful joy in his play. He is too young to be discouraged and is a role model in his naivete. The game is meant to be fun, even for professionals, and that simple attitude might carry the team to at least some late season success.

United’s greatest successes have come from the type of player who simply lets fly when an opportunity arises. Danny Allsop typifies that style and now benefits from his unpredictability. Another such player is Tino Quaranta who will fire from distance, but has been frustrated by being just a few degrees off on so many shots.

Perhaps the whole team should simply fire at the center of goal on the theory that random error is more likely to beat the keeper.

On the subject of random error, consider the referee, Chris Penso, who was the subject of pre-game press wonder at who the new guy was. Sadly, he demonstrated that like Koman Coulibaly, he was over his head at this professional level.

Referees discuss among themselves the moment of truth that sometimes happens in a game, when a difficult, courageous, or simply consistent call will tell the players just what the referee is made of. Players will play to the level that a referee shows he will allow. Inconsistent calls first confuse and then irritate them.

In a series of decisions in the first half, Penso penalized two DC United players with cautions while allowing two similar infractions by Columbus Crew players to pass as mere fouls. He seemed particularly oblivious to persistent fouling of Pablo Hernandez. In one instance, probably not seen by him, Hernandez had his face raked from behind by a defender.

Hernandez took a while to recover, and may have been misunderstood by the inexperienced referee to be too strongly reacting to fouls. It then becomes easy for the referee to make light of subsequent persistent defensive foul play against such a player.

Just as a team can practice in a focused manner at a high level to improve itself, so must a referee. It appears that Mr. Penso is viewed by USSF, who assigned him to this game, as an up and coming future star. If so, he needs a bit more seasoning and practice in foul recognition before he is ready to officiate an Open Cup semi final.

In his defense, his ejection of Hernandez for “serious foul play” was based on explicit input from the 4th official and nearest assistant referee. A more experienced referee might have had a longer discussion with them to assure himself that all three agreed on what the sequence and nature of events was.

Tape of the play seems to warrant a caution for reckless play by the Crew’s Danny O’Rourke in tackling Hernandez, followed by a marginal ejection call on Hernandez for at least attempting to strike O’Rourke, followed by a second caution to O’Rourke for unsporting behavior as he taunted the fallen Hernandez.

This was a moment of truth. Players recognize an injustice and this incident called for both players to be dismissed or both to be cautioned.

Referees are rightly taught to be certain that the issuance of a caution or ejection, when not specifically mandated, should provide some needed benefit. Recent doctrine emphasizes game/player management and that requires good judgment only obtainable with experience and concentrated effort.

United can take no real comfort from knowing that the rock that rolled back on them had a tiny push from the hand of inexperience. They rallied strongly to fight on with only 10 men and nearly prevailed. But in the end, they know that they have only themselves to look at when they didn’t finish two superb chances.

In Women’s Professional Soccer, parity is often the name of the game, and things were no different on Wednesday night at Yurcak Field in New Jersey. FC Gold Pride came to the Garden State to take on Sky Blue FC in the final regular season edition of “The Battle of Teams That Choose to Not Identify Geographically”. Continue Reading

Jack McInerney scored the lone goal in the Union’s second international friendly win that showcased all of the Union’s impressive youthful crop as the 18-year old striker lined up in the second half with fellow teenagers Amobi Okugo, Roger Torres, and a 15-year old trialist (U-17 standout) Zach Pfeffer. Continue Reading