DC United Loses To Houston Dynamo In What Should Be Curt Onalfo's Last Match
by Martin Shatzer on May 22, 2025 10:56 PM EDT
in Match Reviews
Email
Print
I don't take this kind of thing lightly. Because I would never want to hear anyone calling for me to be fired from anything.
But here's what fans (and team management) need to ask themselves: Do we feel like DC United can rebound from this terrible start? With upcoming matches against Real Salt Lake, Columbus Crew, and San Jose Earthquakes, is this current collection of players and coaches likely to earn ANY more points? Or would the team be better served with a different coach in charge?
I know my answer to that question.
Even with Chris Pontius, Santino Quaranta, and Dejan Jakovic all set to return to the starting lineup in the next 2 weeks or so, Curt Onalfo has already shown that he can't win with this team. With all those players back in action, DC United will no longer be the least talented team in the league. Yet I have no confidence that our record will be anything better than the worst in the league.
If you're still on the fence about Onalfo, here's a few reminders:
- DC United has given up more goals than any other team in MLS.
- DC United has scored in only two out of our nine matches.
- Out of DC United's four goals this season, three were the direct result of a bad mistake by the opponent.
- Two of our regular starters were cut by their previous teams before the season.
Carey Talley and Kurt Morsink would not be starting for any other team in MLS. What's even more troubling though is that we have players who are probably more skilled and definitely with more potential sitting behind them on the bench.
The player ratings are fairly predictable, but I hope you'll keep reading anyway.
For those of you who were worried that benching Troy Perkins was going to ruin his psyche, think again. Perkins looked confident and calm. He communicated well with the defense, timed his challenges perfectly, and stopped some pretty decent shots. This looked more like the 2007 Perkins than in any other match so far.
If we were going to score, it was going to come from Danny Allsopp. He created several opportunities, but the guys he set up always let him down. Allsopp is one of the few players who deserves to retain his starting role once reinforcements hopefully come this summer.
I think we've already covered Carey Talley and Kurt Morsink. The two players who went from the waiver wire to starting all nine matches for DC United look like they should both be seeking new teams again soon. Talley's atrocious sliding tackle attempt on Luis Angel Landin forced Rodney Wallace inside, leaving his man Danny Cruz wide open for the score. If Onalfo does get to keep his job for another week, I really hope he realizes that leaving Talley and Morsink in the starting lineup is part of the problem. You know what they say about doing the same thing and expecting different results...
I'm not going to fault Christian Castillo for his effort. Earlier in the season, he looked totally out of his element in this league. That is no longer true. Castillo has definitely improved since coming to DC. He had a poor game tonight, but Castillo is not just a lost cause anymore.
It wasn't Adam Cristman's fault that he was playing out of position tonight. No it was actually Onalfo's fault that Cristman was asked to start at right wing for what was probably the first time in his career. But despite having multiple opportunities with plenty of space on the right, Cristman didn't do much to help his cause.
As United fans, we can all wallow together in the deterioration of Jaime Moreno. Really a sad sight to witness Moreno and Luciano Emilio looking so futile.
***
And so I think the team needs to make a change. Maybe it won't happen this week, because I doubt United really wants THAT to be the story heading into their lucrative mid-week match against AC Milan. But still very soon.
I won't be surprised to see Curt Onalfo hanging around for at least one more week. But if Kurt Morsink starts again next Saturday against Chivas USA, we should consider it immediate grounds for dismissal.
Tweet
14 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
FIRE ONALFO
Onalfo looks as if he has no clue what he is doing. What hurts even more as a DC United fan is that the front office is allowing this. Im not,and never will be against DC Uinted I’m just against Onalfo. Looks like in looking for a coach we went from bad to worse.
by # 1 UNITED FAN on May 22, 2025 11:10 PM EDT reply actions
Bench Talley
I’ve been saying it for weeks. He’s been directly responsible for many of the goals scored against us in previous games. If he’s not directly responsible, he’s indirectly responsible, as Shatz stated.
This guy came on to the team very late in the preseason and took an immediate captaining and starting role. It is mind boggling to see this especially when our preseason success came with Pena manning the back line—not Talley.
Sigh.
by redskinsux on May 22, 2025 11:49 PM EDT reply actions
James and Rice
Obviously it was against lesser opponents, but Julius James and Barry Rice have each looked entirely competent in reserve matches. Either one next to Pena would help us bring the combined age of our central defenders down below 70.
Even if the result was no different, with James or Rice starting, at least I think we’d feel like we were building towards something. Talley is clearly on the downside of his career. But these two guys have the potential to be regular starters in MLS. Why not give them the chance?
I’d like to see James in for Talley and Najar in for Morsink next week.
by Martin Shatzer on May 23, 2025 7:36 AM EDT up reply actions
At least Pontinom brought a little bit of spark, hopefully Davis didn’t shelve him for 2 weeks.
I hope Boehm’s rumor-hearing about Onalfo’s contract ain’t true.
They're coming.
by Bald Pollack on May 23, 2025 9:08 AM EDT up reply actions
Thanks for bringing that up
DC’s resident MLSsoccer.com reporter Charlie Boehm tweeted last night that he heard that Onalfo was signed to a guaranteed multiyear contract.
While I don’t doubt Boehm or his sources, this sounds truly ridiculous. Why on earth would you offer a guaranteed mutiyear contract to a guy who was just fired from the same job? I could understand offering guaranteed money to a guy like Caleb Porter to lure him away from his current gig. But Onalfo was unemployed and probably without any other good options at the time.
Still. If this is true, it shouldn’t stop Payne and Chang from cutting their losses on this guy. Most DCU coaches have lasted exactly 3 years. No more no less. For Onalfo though, it needs to be less.
by Martin Shatzer on May 23, 2025 11:10 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Agreed. And Kasper needs to follow.
Possibly related: thoughts on Maessner’s comments on his departure?
They're coming.
by Bald Pollack on May 23, 2025 12:56 PM EDT up reply actions
As unimpressed as I've been by Onalfo
I have soured incredibly on Dave Kasper. He’s brought in player after player that has failed to find success while other teams are getting positive results from similar sources. Whatever touch he once had, he’s lost it. He needs to go more than Onalfo, in my mind.
by Brendanukkah on May 23, 2025 9:20 PM EDT up reply actions
My thoughts on Maessner leaving: Alarmed and upset. I suppose it’s classy of Maessner to not reveal everything that caused his decision, but part of me would have preferred to know exactly what was going on. I have no idea what Maessner knows or how qualified he is, but when I see Najar and Hamid doing so well for United, combined with the constant success of the Academy teams in tournaments, I think we should be doing everything possible to keep a guy like him on board.
As far as I can tell, he’s had a huge hand in our youth program being as good as any in MLS. Of course, it could be that someone else there is the brains behind the whole thing and Maessner wasn’t important, but we have no way of knowing any of that. Time will tell how big a problem this is, but I’d be livid to see us lose our head start on the youth front in MLS (just like we’ve long since lost our head start on talent evaluation, holding the team to certain standards, etc).
Frankly, I’d like to hear someone in a position of authority clarify this matter.
by ChestRockwell on May 24, 2025 12:17 AM EDT up reply actions
If James makes a mistake, there’s still hope that he can use his athletic gifts to recover. If Talley screws up, he will not be able to do the same thing.
I agree completely that there’s no reason to keep playing Talley and Pena at the same time. Pena has gotten better with each week; I attribute our ability to hold Houston to 2 goals as much to him as I do to Perkins. James needs games to improve, and not just at right back when whoever we start ends up hurt. If we’re going to lose anyway, we might as well improve the guys could be useful in 2011.
As for benching Morsink, that should have happened weeks ago. Give me literally any other player on the roster that has any central experience. I’ll take McTavish there. I’ll take Quaranta going back there. Even if the only reason behind it is to light a fire under Morsink, and not for the more obvious reasons he should sit, something has to be done. Simms is currently doing a 2 or 3 man job entirely by himself. Najar should be the choice, but at this point I’ll take anyone.
by ChestRockwell on May 24, 2025 12:12 AM EDT up reply actions
Man, I hope this is rock bottom for DCU. I don’t know if I can take it getting any lower than this.
"My face is my mask."
by Jake Shapiro on May 23, 2025 1:28 AM EDT reply actions
Some thoughts from a long time fan...
This season has really done a number on me. I found myself laughing out loud last night as I watched the utterly futile attempts of DC (Castillo’s swing and miss in the box comes to mind). Other examples include balls passed in to space to no one making runs, or to the other opponent entirely, and of course I saw on two occasions where our guys were running into each other. Yikes!
I do agree that Onalfo needs to go. But what are our options? I don’t think Bruce Arena could do much with this squad.
By the way, did anyone else think that Landin deserved a straight red for that challenge on Pontius? I think he was lucky not to have been sent off. Also, I am not much for conspiracy theories, but the way things are going, you’d think that the front office was trying to kill off the team and relocate a la the movie Major League. How else can you explain the last few offseasons?
by DCUFaninMissouri on May 23, 2025 10:28 AM EDT reply actions
Landin absolutely deserved to be sent off. We still would have lost 2-0, though. Houston would have gone into a conservative 441, and we wouldn’t have had the guile in midfield to break down two rows of four.
The idea that the front office is trying to tank so they can move the team would mean that Dave Kasper is a mad genius the likes of which the American soccer community has never seen. It would also mean that Kasper is doing what he’s doing for some mysterious reward, or for no reason at all. Finally, it would also require a better MLS market somewhere in the US or Canada than DC, which appears highly unlikely.
How can I explain the past few offseasons? Easy. Poor talent evaluation and moves based on panic have been the main issues. Instead of following a plan for the medium term, we try something new every time our short-term moves don’t result in greatness.
by ChestRockwell on May 24, 2025 12:27 AM EDT up reply actions
glad I missed this one..
From the highlights, two DCU chances. Agree that Tally is always at fault on the goals. If Morsink didn’t play for Onalfo in KC would he be seeing the field? If we’re thinking it, the team is thinking it.
Onalfo has that career assistant coach look to him. Pull the plug…
Now we just have AC fricking Milan….
At least we’re already wearing black for mourning…
by Irrlicht on May 23, 2025 8:45 PM EDT reply actions
Thinking about it...
Tally played with Onalfo didn’t he? Know its fashionable to blame everything on a scapegoat or two (Erpen, Peralta, Janicki) but its spot on to note that neither of these guys would be starting anywhere else. Central midfielder and central defense, pretty important.
Agree too on Kasper. The beginning of the end was Niell. Donnet and Filomeno were good ideas that didn’t pan out. The 08 signings were just miserable. (including the guy who’s mom plugged for him)
by Irrlicht on May 23, 2025 10:50 PM EDT reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
- Start posting on Black And Red United
- Black And Red United on Facebook
- Follow @blackandredU
- Subscribe to Black And Red United Stories
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2011 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
