Someone must have forgotten to tell the DC United players that last night's match against Kansas City was actually the season opener, and not just another scrimmage. Really though, I can see why they would make that mistake. Maybe it was that the stadium reminded them of the high school field that they played in in Texas. Or maybe it was the lack of live television coverage. Maybe they just figured that since they're playing a much more important game in a few days, this game probably didn't matter all that much. Regardless, it was not a very pretty sight, and yet no one is apparently all that upset about it.


1. Bryan Namoff - Was his usual consistent self on defense, and was a cheap offside flag away from notching an assist to Peralta in the box.


1. Marcelo Gallardo and Clyde Simms - With these two pitted against Carlos Marinelli and Kerry Zavagnin, we really should have dominated the midfield. No such luck.

2. Franco Niell - Not a strong game. I have a feeling that he will be much more of a weapon coming off the bench than is he when he starts. If Moreno isn't fit enough to start, I'd rather see Quaranta in the starting XI and Niell as a super-sub.


1. Luciano Emilio - I thought it was a tale of two halves for him. In the first half he had one great shot on goal that forced Hartman into a diving save, and even got more involved in the defense than usual. But he seemed to lack any bit of motivation in the second half, and his giveaway led to the second goal.

2. Marc Burch and Dominic Mediate - Not a great game for the two Terps who grace the left border of this blog. Either one of them could have done more to stop the first goal. Jewsbury should not have had a clean pass to Trujillo like that.

3. Zach Wells - Can't fault him for the first goal, but the second goal is exactly what I've been afraid of since we first got word that our boy Troy was bolting for Scandinavia. Perkins would have been off his line quicker and would have made a sliding tackle before Lopez was able to get off that chip shot.

One lesson learned though... Kansas City is probably better than I thought. Claudio Lopez really seems to have been embraced by his team, and Ivan Trujillo seems like a bit of a jackass, but will probably score a lot of goals this year.