Yay! It'd been a long time not only since a home win like this. Bullets:
- Yes, Charlie Davies dives, and if a defender could decapitate Davies with a scythe and Davies still not get the call, he's earned it, but what needs constant remarking is that when Davies is not diving, he's still not very good, and he's never been very good, just fast.
- St Benny started Quaranta at top of midfield diamond, moving De Rossario to withdrawn forward, and once Tino got his mandatory brain-farting automatic over-kicks to nowhere out of the way, it worked. De Rossario serves best at the withdrawn, and for the moment Quaranta may be the best option in midfield.
- Related: isn't tomorrow the close of the transfer window? No rumors floating.
- Related: I wrote Goff last week asking about Boskovic, whether he'd be back this year and, more importantly, whether he was in United's long term plans, and he said no and maybe. He posted yesterday: United midfielder Branko Boskovic, who underwent ACL surgery in the spring, wasn’t expected to return this season, and the chances of him playing again in 2011 are slim. Nonetheless, Coach Ben Olsen told me that Boskovic is “not definitely” done for the year. “But it would be cutting it pretty close as far as getting his game fitness and mentality back.” I'd love to see how Boskovic and De Rossario would play together.
- De Rossario wore the armband. De Rossario for Dax McCarty. Heh.
- Both Najar and Pontius are wonderful with the ball on their feet, and this is the widest United team in recent memory. Both played hard defense last night (though Najar is a threat to land a red card at any time the way he petulantly lunges at attackers who beat him by a step).
- Speaking of red cards, Jakovic should have got one for a punkass sneaky elbow to the back of a Vancouver head.
- Attendance: 11,738 on Saturday after 11,684 last week. Yes, it’s the worst time of the season to sell tickets and the recent opponents haven’t driven sales, but United is having a hard time attracting fans to lovable/hateable RFK. After drawing 18,000, 26,000 and 18,000 in the first three home dates, United has seen crowds of 11K, 11K, 12K, 14K, 15K, 13K, 15K (on a Wednesday), 11K and 11K. One of the regulars implied he had inside information that Baltimore is not if but when, and most everyone agreed if Baltimore than partial, not full, season tickets. Gah.
Two road games this week, Thursday against a beatable Chicago (which I'll watch), Sunday against a decent Kansas City Wizards (which I won't watch, will be driving home from dropping Planet off at college, holyfuck)... wait, wait a minute, what the hell did Goff say? Playoffs? United is in good standing to end its three-year playoff absence. With the top three clubs in each conference assured of an automatic berth, United is just a point behind third-place New York and has played three fewer matches. Even without a top-three finish, if the season ended today, United would be among the four wild-card teams. Jeebusfuck, shut up.
