D.C. United 0, Seattle Sounder 3 - Player Ratings
by Martin Shatzer on Sep 18, 2011 8:19 PM EDT
in Match Reviews & Reax
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There was only one player wearing a DC United jersey who looked dangerous, and he was wearing No. 14. Andy Najar attacked with flare and made lots of strong runs to challenge the Seattle Sounders defense.
Before the match, I thought our chances to win were ruined by Ben Olsen's decision to start a healthy Joe Willis ahead of a still-recovering Bill Hamid. And while Willis wasn't necessarily at fault on any of the three goals, so the loss certainly can't be blamed on him, it wasn't a very impressive performance from the rookie goalkeeper either. Willis made all of the saves that were expected of him, but none of the saves that weren't. All this leads us towards the conclusion that Willis is a solid MLS backup, but not yet ready to be an everyday starter.
This was a disappointing match from Dwayne De Rosario, who failed to control the tempo of the game in our favor. This match needed a strong showing from DeRo for United to come out on top, and it didn't happen.
I have a prediction. I predict that yesterday's match will be the last start that Joseph Ngwenya ever makes in MLS. He offered nothing of quality. His one breakaway run resulted in a weak shot in the absolute easiest location for Kasey Keller to make a save - chest height, one step to the left. The fact that Ngwenya has been productive in 2011 in offseason training matches and reserve games just indicates to me that he'd be a solid USL-Pro player. That's the level he should be playing at next year.
All five of United's defensive players made errors that contributed to Sounders goals. Should I name them each individually? Okay! Well on the first goal, United players were on the wrong side of three 50-50 balls, and in the end Brandon McDonald chose the wrong angle in his pursuit of Michael Fucito. A failed clearance from Ethan White was the main culprit on the second goal, but Clyde Simms and Daniel Woolard were both out of position to cover Alvaro Fernandez. Then on the third goal, Perry Kitchen lost track of Fredy Montero, giving the forward a free header while no one picked up Fernandez on the rebound. It was the worst defensive effort we've seen from D.C. in months.
Hopefully this defensive futility in this game was just an aberration. United will have to solve its problems quickly. Fortunately, our good old pals from Chivas USA are visiting on Wednesday night. Three points should be there for the taking. So let's take it.
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Rain
I know DC is supposed to be good in the rain but I’m not so sure about rain combined with a carpet, the game seemed pretty even till the rain really started to come down. Thought Ngwenya was a liability and pains me a bit to see that Olsen singled him out for praise after the game. Najar wanted to be the traffic cone he was up against so bad he could taste it. Agree wasn’t much of a game for DeRo. Thought Willis did fine, good to get the backup some real games. Doesn’t bode well for Cronin. Also thought we missed Jakovich in this one. White isn’t quite ready yet.
Would have liked to see Andy attack with a flare but think you probably mean flair.
All told this was a beat down to show us that we’re not in the elite yet. The question is are we a couple of players away, or a couple of years experience away?
Singling out a player for praise is not so simple
The post-match quotes pointed to someone in the press asking Olsen to go over Ngwenya’s performance. There’s not much Benny can do about that question.
And really, after a game like that where he should have scored twice – once after Scott’s poor header should have given him a breakaway only for him to take an awful route to the ball and get beaten there by Jeff friggin’ Parke, the other when he took the ball off Parke and played the 1-2 with Wolff – what can Olsen say that doesn’t just put the nails in the coffin? When you have a striker whose confidence is gone (and confidence is the problem here; Ngwenya is a better player than we’ve seen), you have to be positive about the things they did right. It’s either that, or you go negative and then immediately cut him loose, because he’s never going to score for your team again. Fortunately, Benny chose the positive route.
Writer on SB Nation's DC United blog Black and Red United | @ChestRockwell14
by ChestRockwell on Sep 20, 2011 6:31 PM EDT up reply actions
Depth
I think this match exposed our lack of depth more than anything. Our best 11 could take Seattle, but not this bunch.
Ngwenya
I may be mistaken, but I don’t think that United has scored a single goal while Ngwenya has been on the field. He is not just incapable of adding to the attack, he kills it completely.
Well it appears he was on the field for Wolff’s first goal in the first game of the season. Subbed out right after that, however.
by BrunoReturns on Sep 19, 2011 11:18 AM EDT up reply actions
He "earned" a PK against Colorado
I think it was Colorado. He was clearly taken down, but the referee didn’t call anything. Pontius then got taken down shortly thereafter on a 50/50 ball and a PK was awarded which most of us assumed was a make up call for Ngwenya so he did earn that one.
by HobbesLionheart on Sep 19, 2011 8:48 PM EDT up reply actions
It is what it was.... on to the next game!
I wasn’t too upset with the result, given we were playing against arguably the best team in MLS and not starting some of our key players. Najar was definitely the bright spot. Kudos to him for his work rate on both sides of the ball and his fearless attacking. I don’t put too much blame on DeRo. Controlling the midfield is a team effort, and I wouldn’t expect DeRo to do it by himself against such a pressure defense and one of the better holding mids in the league. He’s got to have other players putting themselves in good position for a pass when he has the ball. That didn’t seem to happen much on Saturday night. Maybe that’s a credit to Seattle, but all of our midfielders need to be better as a group against pressure defense.
I would love to see Ngwenya in USL-Pro, and not only because that would mean he’s not on United’s roster anymore. I think he’d do well, and I hate to see a grown man struggle so much at his job. He’d have to be willing to take a hefty pay cut. I’m just assuming USL teams aren’t likely to fork over $150,000+ on a player. I don’t know. Maybe the likes of Orlando City, Rochester, Richmond, etc can afford to do such things, but I doubt it.
USL-Pro salaries
Does anybody have a sense of where they fall, as in minimum, average, median, high? Never have had much of a clue about that. There are a few threads on the subject out there that I’ve turned up via Google, but nothing definitive and much of it dated.
I'm pretty sure the low end means working a day job
I don’t know if there’s a league-mandated minimum, but high USL salaries are less than 6 figures from what I know.
Writer on SB Nation's DC United blog Black and Red United | @ChestRockwell14
by ChestRockwell on Sep 20, 2011 6:33 PM EDT up reply actions
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