“Our first priority was to find someone who shares the club's long-standing philosophy of attacking soccer – and Curt absolutely does. Having played and coached here, Curt understands the culture of D.C. United. As a former member of our 1998 and 1999 championship-winning teams he understands what is necessary today to fulfill the D.C. United legacy and meet the lofty expectations that follow our club. His fluency in Spanish, familiarity with our community, and understanding of our league are additional factors that make him the ideal choice to lead our team and I am excited to welcome him home. We look forward to getting to work in bringing the MLS Cup back to D.C." said United President, Kevin Payne.
I always find it interesting to hear what the President says about a coaching hire when they've been turned down by their first choice. I hope that Onalfo does a good job and brings United back to being a playoff team. The league's first dynasty could use some good years during this new era of MLS 2.0. Plus, I'm excited to see Cristian Castillo in action.
I don't think this signing has gotten enough hype. DC United have signed midfielder Cristian Castillo from Leon FC of Mexico. Please watch all the videos below and see why I'm excited to have the Cristiano Ronaldo of El Salvador playing in MLS. In fact, I was questioning signing a player while United didn't even have a head coach...but it seems stupid to pass up this opportunity.
Oh Yeah! Watch out Columbus, Frankie obviously has some issues defending this guy. I can't wait to see the first match between United and the Crew.
I'm surprised Wicks didn't kick the crap out of somebody for getting chipped. And why are there football lines at Pizza Hut Park? What's the point of having your own stadium if it looks like crap and is always empty? At least they've got Cunningham scoring goals.
History was going to be made no matter who won the match. DC United were looking for back-to-back titles while the Sounders were seeking their first US Open Cup championship. Here are a few of my thoughts on last night's game:
The atmosphere at RFK looked pretty amazing. I know that a lot of Seattle fans were upset that the final wasn't held in Seattle, but the presence of the Screaming Eagles, Barra Brava and La Norte made it look great on TV.
The referee crew deserves a ton of praise for their performance last night. I never found myself arguing any call by yelling at the TV. Only a few surprise comments of, "That's not a foul." Great job by the 4th official for catching the stomp/jump of Josh Wicks on Freddy Montero. I saw it in real time but was surprised no one else did.
Speaking of Josh Wicks, I think the former Timbers keeper either needs anger management classes or he needs to lay off the roids. First, he attacked his own teammate Marc Burch on saturday during their game against Chicago and now the stomp on Montero. Hey Garber! How about a drug test for this guy?
Kasey Keller is the man... and so is Santino Quaranta. Quaranta brought new life to a sputtering DC attack.
I thought the Sounders needed finishing practice, but so does United. Most of their shots sailed high not even bothering Keller.
I saw someone post, "Le Toux + Levesque = Le Goal" on one of the many sites I was on before the Open Cup kicked off. I laughed a little to myself and found it amusing but highly unlikely. Boy was I wrong! And I couldn't be happier.
Lastly, I was enthused by Freddie Ljungberg's response to winning the cup. This guy has won three FA Cups and here he is celebrating with the rest of the team and kissing the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup trophy. It made me optimistic about the future of MLS and soccer in the United States.
Clyde Simms scored the lone goal for DC United while Freddie Ljungberg was instrumental in the Seattle attack.
DC looks to be dipping in form as of late. This could be great for the Sounders come September 2nd. DC wins trophies... Not the way they've been playing.
DC United have now kicked their Open Cup marketing into overdrive. First they launched their website and drove people there with stickers. Then the President of United, Kevin Payne, issued a challenge to the people of DC, while newspaper ads were also all over the place. They even made pics for your Facebook and Twitter profiles. Now they are having a 12 stop trophy tour. That's right, one stop for each of their trophies. I guess they spent a lot of money on their bid and they need to recoup it... or else they need a good showing and another trophy to get a stadium deal done.
Many of you have seen the website, We Win Trophies where DC United is trying to sell tickets to the US Open Cup Final against the Sounders. I think it's a cool concept and I like the viral marketing that some MLS clubs have decided to try. What I find funny though, is the parody of the We Win Trophies site that a disgruntled Red Bulls fan has put up. Having lived in New York during the Metrostars era, I can feel their pain. I remember sitting through my first US Open Cup final in the empty cauldron called Giants Stadium with only 5,183 fans. It was cold, raining and the plastic pitch there was terrible. I drove through rush hour traffic in Manhattan to support my local side, and I saw them fail miserably. The only redeeming element was seeing former Metro and one of my favorite Reggae Boyz, Andy Williams hoist the cup. The dude has gone through a lot recently so look out for a future post from me on how you can help.
The first game of the night featured Toronto FC at Puerto Rico.
I hope these MLS losses in Champions League make the league officials and owners vote for a higher salary cap and bigger rosters. With that said, I like Colin Clarke's side and hope they make another great run in the tournament. One last thing, that red card to Kendall Jagdeosingh was weak. Something has to be done about the refs in this region.
That was a great free kick by Christian Gomez. I was also impressed that all five of United's shooters hit their penalty kick. That doesn't bode well for the Sounders if the US Open Cup final goes to a shootout.
The final game had Pachuca going in with a plus 3 goal differential...it didn't get any better for Jalapa.
Clyde Simms scored the lone goal for DC United while Freddie Ljungberg was instrumental in the Seattle attack.
Posts
