Game 10-DC United 5:1 Columbus Crew

The Good:

• Eskandarian scares the bejezus out of the Crew defense and draws a trifecta out of it, a penalty kick, a goal, and an own goal (via his head, no less). Not a bad night for the man who missed most of a full year.
• Jaime scores #100 and closes the gap between him and Kreis to 3. Is it just me or is this a better watch than that guy with the big head in San Francisco who was chasing a dead guy? Both Jaime and Kreis are still playing. Should make for a fun chase this season.
• Adu, Gomez, and Gross were great distributing the ball. Even with 5 goals, there were a few more left on the field which should have been converted.
• Lively Wednesday night crowd. Always nice to see the United supporters arrive in force on a weeknight. Bodes well for close to 20 K for Saturdays game vs. New England.

The Bad:

• Adu needs to be quicker getting his shot off in the box. Once he was unable to pull the trigger with his right foot and never got a shot off and another time he hesitated and was smothered.
• Back post defense was terrible in the first half. Namoff was beat several times, including the lone Crew goal.
• Filomeno's goal celebration was pointless. Why do something which will guarantee yourself a card? Act like you've been there before.

Grades:

Forwards (Eskandarian, Moreno) A

Two goals, and countless threats. Can't ask for more. Glad to see these two together in the starting lineup as it should have been all last year.

Midfielders (Gross, Adu, Gomez, Simms, Carroll the Elder) A-

Being a huge Olsen nut, I must say they midfielders had their best game without him of the last few seasons. Good possession, great distribution, got back on defense.

Defense (Namoff, Boswell, Erpen) B-

A few tense moments, but the scoreboard shows only 1 goal. May not be the leagues best defense, but definitely above average with room for improvement.

Subs (Filomeno, Mediate, Carroll the Younger) B

Scored a goal and got the stars off the field early.

Overheard in Section M-32:

It was decided that Mexico and Germany have the two easiest groups and Argentina has the hardest. When looking at the rest of the groups, the USA would have gotten a better draw if placed in Groups A (in place of Costa Rica), B (Trinidad and Tobago), D (Iran), F (Japan), and H (Saudi Arabia). We wanted no part of Group C and Group G would be a wash. It may be USA pride talking, but they were clearly the strongest team in Pot 3 and getting beat out for a number 1 seed hurt their chances for advancing significantly. I predicted that Italy, Czech and USA will all get 5 points and the dreaded goal differential will determine who advances. I was subsequently laughed at. Nothing new there.