D.C. United suffers frustrating draw in first match

by Adam Taylor, 3L
Law Weekly
March 24, 2009

D.C. United opened their 2009 MLS campaign Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles with a 2-2 draw with the Beckham-less Galaxy. A Christian Gomez penalty and a wonderstrike from rookie Chris Pontius in his MLS debut put the Black-and-Red up 2-0 midway through the second half, but a crazy ending ensured that the Capital Club would not return to the East Coast with the full three points.

A high ball into the central defense led two United players - right midfielder Devon McTavish and right back Dejan Jakovic - to attempt clearing the ball. With their heads. At the same time. Both ended up on the ground, bleeding. McTavish had to be substituted out, but Jakovic returned to the pitch a few minutes later. During the 11-on-9 that resulted from the injuries, the Galaxy were awarded a penalty of their own after the referee decided to confuse Rodney Wallace's thigh for his hand.

Landon Donovan, of course, converted it - United keeper Josh Wicks mistimed Donovan's spot kick and watched flat-footed, leaning the wrong way, as Donovan blasted the ball into the lower right corner of the net. Less than ten minutes later, Donovan found himself all by himself in the six-yard box as he headed the equalizer by Wicks, still standing flat-footed, appealing for an offside call.

To watch the boys in black give away a two goal lead late in the game was, in a word, infuriating, especially with the phantom handball. The injuries and penalty to United completely changed the complexion of the game. After a tentative start, United had controlled the run of play since the late minutes of the first half and was attacking the L.A. defense in protection of their lead. Then came the bashing of heads and the penalty with nine men on the field.

At the time of the injuries, Jaime Moreno, MLS' all-time leading goal scorer and an incredible calming presence while on the field for D.C., was waiting to come on the pitch for midfielder Christian Gomez.

Because of the injuries to players at the back, coach Tom Soehn opted to keep Moreno on the bench and replace Gomez with holding midfielder Andrew Jacobson, making his MLS debut. Jacobson is probably better in the back than Moreno, but without Number 99's controlling presence, United could not hold onto the ball, and the Galaxy attack just kept coming in waves.

Maybe the most frustrating aspect was the lingering inevitability of it all. Watching the game, I knew L.A. was going to score, and it was probably going to be Donovan who would put it in the net. (As an aside, I can't stand Landon Donovan. I really can't. Unless he's playing for the U.S. National Team. In which case I almost love the guy. And for exactly the same reasons. I suppose that's a testament to something or other about his game.)

Nonetheless, United was promising in their attack. Gomez didn't exactly dominate the game like he did during his MVP year in 2006, but given the circumstances, there are reasons to be optimistic that we will be seeing post-season soccer return to RFK.

United traveled to Los Angeles short one starting goalkeeper (The Adventure That Is Louis Crayton), one starting left winger (Fred; yes, just Fred), and one starting right winger (2008 MLS Comeback Player of the Year Santino Quaranta). And yet they still out-played L.A. for 75+ minutes on their own pitch.

Granted, L.A. is not going to be confused for the class of the league, with or without Golden Balls, but it's a start. What the other 29 games of United's 14th season will come down to are a "when" and an admittedly large "if."

When the United attack really gets going, the team is obviously going to be better. In soccer, to have a good defense, you have to attack. If the other team has any quality at all and you let them pound at you, they're going to find a way to score. To prevent that, you have to control the ball. United managed to do this for large portions of the game, despite it being Christian Gomez's first game back with the club and having two rookies starting in the attack. Regardless, as L.A. proved last season, even the best attack cannot back up for the worst defense, which brings us to the "if."

If United's back line comes together and starts playing as more than the sum of their parts, United can really contend for some hardware this season. The Black-and-Red defense has been just plain bad for the last few years. Last season, the front office tried to rectify the situation by bringing in Experienced Latin American Talent™. That resulted in EPIC FAIL™; United allowed more goals than any team save the Galaxy last year. That means United is very young in the backfield this season. Nonetheless, they are big and skilled. If the back line can come together into a proper unit, with the offense clicking, United can win a lot of games in 2009.

By all rights, on paper and after the first game, United should be a mid-table team this year. However - and this is the fan in me writing - with a few breaks and a revelation or two, the Black-and-Red could make a run for a trophy.

That, or it could be another incredibly frustrating year.