Good riddance Rice-Eccles

After such a tiring and emotionally draining match just three days earlier, I guess it was pretty easy to see this coming. Especially once you saw the starting lineup. Gallardo, Martinez, and Wells deserved the rest, so I won't complain about the lineup, especially since I don't think that starting our true top XI would have even really made a big difference in this game.


1. Devon McTavish - Continued to show well. Especially liked his in-swinging left-footed shot with pace at around the 32nd minute. McTavish plays his position well, knowing when to hang out wide in the open space and when to cut into the far post.


1. Domenic Mediate - I thought he played well in left back, and didn't appear to make any big mistakes, but didn't have a huge impact either. What does it say about Marc Burch that he was taken out for Quaranta instead of Mediate?

2. Rod Dyachenko - Also played pretty well. I like his aggressiveness, but I have a feeling that he's going to earn himself a couple of red cards this year.


1. Gonzalo Peralta - Since when did Bobby Lightning grow his hair out and put on the number 2? Peralta looked Boswellian on the second goal, and the fourth goal was just a joke. Peralta has never been shy about yelling at/to his teammates, but where was the communication with Carvallo?

2. Jose Carvallo - DC continues the tradition of starting reserve goalkeepers at Real Salt Lake, with little success. Carvallo doesn't appear to be challenging Wells for the starting job very strongly.

3. Fred - Love the dude, but that was easily his worst game for us so far this short year.

4. The 3-5-2 - I was hoping Tom Soehn would have read my previous post before this match, but I guess he didn't. The 3-5-2 is good in certain situations, but as DCenters and Fullback have already pointed out, this wasn't one of them.

This game was ugly, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a predictor of anything else that will happen this year. This is the second game this year where the offense has been anemic, but I'm not counting on that happening very often. Just like a lot of other people, I was expecting DC to come up soft in this game, but I'm also expecting them to shoot out of the gates against Columbus on Thursday. In fact, I'll go so far as to predict that Thursday's match will be the start of yet another early season DC United sprint into first place and a considerable lead ahead of the rest of the Eastern Conference.

And so with that we bid farewell to Rice-Eccles Stadium, quite possibly the worst stadium in the MLS. Yes I put you below even a minor league baseball field. Attrociously adorned with bleachers, astroturf (why not just go one step farther and play on concrete instead?) football markings, and about 3 feet between the sidelines and barriers, I don't think I'll miss this field at all. Oh yeah, and with 3 goals in his last 2 matches against us, remind me to start fellow Arundel High School alumnus Kyle Beckerman on my fantasy team next time RSL plays against DCU.