United’s first victory! It gets the giant monkey off the team’s back, and they looked good doing it. The long passes up to the forwards are not a particularly pretty form of soccer, but it gets the job done. United has relied on central playmakers in the midfield for years; however, its taken them(read Onalfo) until the last few games to realize that they don’t have the personnel to pull that off anymore. Instead, its time to join the tactics that the rest of the league has been using for years. And it can be effective for this team.
It is a quick turnaround to the next game against FC Dallas. I would personally put the same team on the field as what we saw against KC; don’t want to mess with what got United their first win. But I wouldn’t mind tweaks in the midfield, such as Najar on for Morsink. Here’s the lineup I think we’ll see:
Hamid
Graye Pena Talley Wallace
Boyzzz Morsink Simms Castillo
Allsopp Cristman
I hadn’t posted my thoughts from the KC Wizards game yet, since I had to drive down to South Carolina. But here they are, in ratings form:
Hamid – 9: Amazing first start; both the kick save and the save that was 99% in the goal would have been let in by Perkins, and that would have been the ballgame. He also bossed his box; every time the cut to a closeup of him, he was barking out orders and directing the defenders, which is something that I never say Perkins doing. He’s going to have good games and bad games, but he needs to start in place of Perkins. Give Perkins the Open Cup matches, and maybe he can get his confidence back and perhaps be traded for something decent or provide a backup.
Graye – 6: Played solidly, if unspectacularly.
Pena – 7: Played very well, flying all over the defense. Got a little tired at the end, but he is 37.
Talley – 7: Also played very well. Defense looked very organized in front of the new keeper.
Wallace – 8: Some fancy defending and a nice assist. He headed away plenty of crosses, shut down people in the corner, and had an all and all great game.
Boyzzz – 6: Was pretty anonymous, but didn’t make any mistakes.
Morsink – 5.5: He’s played better in previous games. I thought he got possession taken away from him too many times, missed some tackles; but we have seen him play better.
Simms – 8: Played well, good defense, very good passing.
Castillo – 6: Other than that great free kick, didn’t really do much. I think he will be a contributor, but he needs to get used to the physicality of MLS. And that tackle could have been a red card.
Cristman – 8: A solid target forward who gives 100% throughout the entire game. And his assist to Allsopp was beautiful.
Allsopp – 9: Two great goals. Showed why United signed him, and why Emilio and Jaime should be sitting on the bench.
Moreno – 7: Came in and did what he does. Kept possession, made some good passes, and made one great run that should have resulted in a goal.
Quaranta – NA: Not on for very long, although I do seem to remember him getting the ball taken away a couple times.
McTavish – NA: Came on very late, right before Kei Kamara’s goal.
Onalfo – 6: If you throw everything against the wall, something is bound to stick eventually.
Before Extra Time 