United 2, San Jose 4

All day the weathermen called for torrential, possibly dangerous thunderstorms at or near game time. For the first time in memory I actually brought my rain gear into the stadium. Here's the sky ten minutes into the game:

Here's Benny saying word for word exactly what you thought he'd say:

It was very disappointing; we looked like young kids. This is going to happen, we have always said that we are going to have games when young kids make mistakes – that I can live with. But the lack of commitment at times was unacceptable. I think we started reading our own press a little bit, everybody thought we were on a roll, so now we don’t have to do what got us a little success – and it’s a little success. We are in the middle of the table if you take this whole league.

We think we are a little bit better than we are, so maybe it’s a good thing that we got punched in the face. Maybe we will get the message that even at home you don’t get games handed to you.

Maybe, but also San Jose had a plan and United never adjusted to it. Maybe, but when your withdrawn midfielders with major defensive responsibilities are a cooked Clyde Simms and Fred, when your two attacking midfielders won't track back on defense, your rookie back line is sliced open like a melon. (There was one sequence when Najar was stripped of the ball, and he tracked back forty yards on a sprint and brilliantly took the ball back, meaning he can play defense when he wants to, he just usually doesn't want to.) Maybe, but when you start three rookies and a journeyman on the back line in front of a second year keeper (and Hamid was awful, especially on the fourth goal) these nights happen. Maybe, but maybe the other team is bigger, faster, stronger, better organized, better.

That's all I got. A good time was had.

UPDATE!

Here's Fullback:

The young defense has had its teething troubles this season, and I was shocked that they managed to shut out LA last week on the road. Looks like they just deferred the inevitable. Three rooks and a USL guy arrayed ahead of a second-year keeper isn’t anybody’s recipe for consistency. It probably doesn’t help that they were maybe a little overconfident after a successful west coast swing to boot.

He also takes on the USMNT v Panama game. I'll start paying attention again to USMNT once Bob Bradley is fired. Here's hoping they don't make it out of group.