(no subject)
I'm not sure I can sum up the game. MLS hasn't had a game like that before in the playoffs, I don't think. People have mentioned the San Jose-LA second leg last year, but that was one team mauling another one. This was end-to-end, dead even, for 120 minutes. This had 4 top class goals, a disputed penalty, a keeper making a critical error only to redeem himself later...but most of all, it had pace. Both DC and New England went on the attack from the first minute, and kept attacking until the end of the second overtime. 120 minutes of end-to-end soccer. I'm still exhausted, and it's the next day.
New England came to play, and they had a great tactical plan that worked to a tee in the first half. I have spent a lot of time knocking them and more than once have wondered if Steve Nicol actually knows what he's doing. I was in the wrong. They never let our midfield settle into its normal distribution pattern, and if it wasn't for 2 brilliant goals (Esky runs from midfield, holding off a man the whole way, before shooting home a lazer for the first, and the second was Moreno showing that he's the most clever player in MLS), we would have been down 2 with no real complaints. The second half was the opposite, with us tearing them apart, but we didn't finish them off (though, Gomez scored an unbelievable goal) and then gave them the equalizer so, so late. Overtime was just as wild as the game, though New England seemed to grasp the direct pattern of play better than we did and had like 7 shots. Rimando came up huge on the penalties, though I shudder to think what would have happened had Ralston not hit his shot into the bar after Olsen opened with a miss.
If you didn't see the game, go to MLSnet's Sights and Sounds and watch it. Trust me. This was the last game at the RFK that I'll always remember, and it was a fitting send off. I don't know if a better game of soccer has ever been played there, to be honest (and I've seen just about every single one since '92).
Oh, and DC United is in the MLS Cup Final.
New England came to play, and they had a great tactical plan that worked to a tee in the first half. I have spent a lot of time knocking them and more than once have wondered if Steve Nicol actually knows what he's doing. I was in the wrong. They never let our midfield settle into its normal distribution pattern, and if it wasn't for 2 brilliant goals (Esky runs from midfield, holding off a man the whole way, before shooting home a lazer for the first, and the second was Moreno showing that he's the most clever player in MLS), we would have been down 2 with no real complaints. The second half was the opposite, with us tearing them apart, but we didn't finish them off (though, Gomez scored an unbelievable goal) and then gave them the equalizer so, so late. Overtime was just as wild as the game, though New England seemed to grasp the direct pattern of play better than we did and had like 7 shots. Rimando came up huge on the penalties, though I shudder to think what would have happened had Ralston not hit his shot into the bar after Olsen opened with a miss.
If you didn't see the game, go to MLSnet's Sights and Sounds and watch it. Trust me. This was the last game at the RFK that I'll always remember, and it was a fitting send off. I don't know if a better game of soccer has ever been played there, to be honest (and I've seen just about every single one since '92).
Oh, and DC United is in the MLS Cup Final.