The Caig Diet

A quick look at last night's MLS action:
(1) Don't Be Fooled. Yes, DC United won last night against the best Mexico team of the last decade, pushing their record against Mexican teams to 5-0-4 at home. But DC only scored after Pachuca stopped caring. It's a pattern we've seen again and again-- MLS teams might get on the board when the Mexican teams let up a bit, but don't read anything more into those goals. Sure, there are upsets. Chivas definitely didn't want to lose to United in last year's Copa Sudamericana (especially not after having played nearly half the match with a man advantage). But at the end of the day, DC United could have all of the possession they wanted, but they weren't able to make Pachuca pay until it no longer mattered. Last night was an awful performance, perhaps further hindered by the ref, but United's got no one else to blame for their ponderous, disjointed attack.

Instead of the quicker attack that we saw in Mexico, DC United played slowly. Gallardo wasn't able to make as much use of his ability to distribute quickly. And Emilio hadn't put his shooting boots on when DC's string-pullers did get him the ball. And for a team with a real free kick threat in Gallardo, it was disappointing to see Burch waste a decent free kick late in the game. But it was just one of many.

(2) Don't Be Fooled, part two. Despite a 3-0 scoreline and some fairly negative commentating from Brian Dunseth on Fox Soccer Channel, Houston put together a decent first half of soccer against Saprissa. Houston's passing is incisive just outside the box (especially when compared to United's more intricate midfield play) but they did, as Dunseth pointed out, lack the final pass. However, while Dunsenth attributed this to the field, Houston suffered the same problem in its home match last week. I'm not sure quite what it is-- Houston is putting together some great, truly great sequences, but hasn't been putting them away enough.

But what really caught my eye was Tony Caig's poor play. His distribution was distractingly bad. It's tough to fault a goalkeeper for a deflection, but it looked to me like Caig got down fast enough. He simply didn't make the play. Caig's a great example of why "being on the books of Newcastle [or insert big European team here]" doesn't matter. Big teams make mistakes too. Probably more often than their successes, if youth rosters are any indication. But Caig has been terrible, a few reflex saves notwithstanding. I wonder how much longer he has a job with the Dynamo?

Then the Houston we saw in the second half was a shadow of its first half self. The game was over from the 46th minute, despite what the scoreline said.

3. Don't Be Fooled by last week. I didn't see the KC-Revs match, but it confirmed something for me: yes, the Revs are fine despite their shortmanned shellacking by the Fire last week and, in fact, are going to be a good team. Can their young Gambians (who each contributed a goal) keep it up? I think the odds are going up rapidly. And if they do, when the Revs get Twellman and Ralston back, coach Nichol is either going to have a headache or the best team in the league.

I don't really have any opinion on KC but dropping three at home isn't good. I found it interesting that new signing Trujillo didn't even enter the match.