Davies Birthday Goal Celebration

Towards the end of this interview with CD9 on the DC United website, Davies points out that his birthday is this Saturday, the same day as the club's game against the Houston Dynamo.

Asked if he had a special goal celebration thought up for the occasion, Davies said that he and Andy Najar have come up with someting "fantastic."

Seeing as Davies is the preeminent goal-celebrator in MLS (sorry Thierry Henry, gesturing at the name on your shirt is played out), expectations are high.

11 months ago ChestRockwell 5 comments 0 recs |

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Whatever it is, I would hope the goal is scored during the run of play and not the result of a PK (unless he earns the PK himself).

by HobbesLionheart on Jun 23, 2011 7:27 PM EDT reply actions

Earns the PK himself?

After the dive at Rio Tinto and the super-easy fall against LA, I have a feeling the next PK Davies wins will also mean he’s been severely injured.

Let’s hope for a run of play goal. I don’t take the derogatory position towards PK goals that the soccer world does (partly because I have been the penalty taker for my teams since I was 13), but we just aren’t going to win many more this season. Remember, Pontius got one against Colorado by shoulder-checking Kimura, too. We’ve gotten more soft/outright wrong PKs this season than the team had in the previous 5 years. That well pretty much has to be dry by now.

For what it’s worth, I think we should be able to manufacture goals against Houston. Their left back situation isn’t solid, so Najar should find some openings, and Lovel Palmer is suspended (leaving them with no true defensive midfielder). Plus, Houston’s ability to keep possession is not good even when they’re in form, and they are far from in form right now. I’d be really disappointed if we don’t send a lot of fake leather in Tally Hall’s direction.

Writer - Black and Red United

by ChestRockwell on Jun 23, 2011 9:11 PM EDT up reply actions

I don’t think it’s likely either after last week, but one never knows.

One of the things that I found really strange when I started watching soccer is that the person getting fouled is not necessarily the person who takes the kick. I would think it should be more like the penalty shot in hockey or simply a basketball foul. You get fouled, you take the shot/kick. If it is a handball or a goalie handling the ball outside the box or other non contact foul, then the team can decide who should take the kick. Is there any reason why this shouldn’t be the rule other than the fact that it isn’t the rule?

I don’t know about the last five years since I have only been watching starting last year, but last year, we never got in the box to earn any PKs. Here, we’ve put ourselves in position to at least get PKs whether they were deserved or not. The PK in Colorado was probably a make up for the one that Ngwenya deserved only slightly earlier in the match. We have earned the most PKs in the league and converted all of them so we definitely shouldn’t count on PKs as our scoring strategy.

Let’s hope for a goal factory on Saturday evening. Davies, Pontius, Najar and Wolff reporting to work with Olsen as the foreman.

by HobbesLionheart on Jun 23, 2011 11:39 PM EDT up reply actions

Some good ideas here

I don’t mind penalty kicks either, and while they aren’t gimme shots, they still favor the shot-taker quite a bit. I like the idea of having whoever’s fouled, barring calamitous injury, take the penalty kick. It would still be an advantage to the shot-taker, but not nearly as certain a thing.

And you’re quite right that we never got penalty kicks called for us last year (Jaime’s against Toronto being a notable exception), but you’re also right that we were never menacing enough to get in the box to have them called. This year we’re already up to 19 goals, just two short of the entire last season. Penalty kicks are a big reason, but having an attacking presence in the penalty area is just as big.

by Brendanukkah on Jun 24, 2011 9:50 AM EDT up reply actions

Goals are at a premium

Forcing the person fouled to take the penalty would lower the number of successful conversions. Not by much, mind you, but soccer has spent the last 50 years trying to increase scoring; such a move would decrease it, even if just a little bit.

I get that there’s a logical path for having the person fouled shoot, but allowing your best taker to shoot is better for the game as a whole.

Writer - Black and Red United

by ChestRockwell on Jun 24, 2011 3:59 PM EDT up reply actions