United 0, Chivas 3

Well, any illusions that United by dint of being United are good enough are gone. 

I tried god-taunting before the game, calling 4-0 United with, for extra ju-ju, two goals, two assists for Gallardo and love again, which means I sub-consciously knew United wasn't good enough then, but here's the thing: I did assume United would win a must win at RFK against a mediocre team, even though I wrote, on September 28 after the Dallas 3-0 loss, "eight games, four MLS, four Champions League, long angry winter." I didn't expect United would make the playoffs, but I didn't expect them to lose a must-win at home to Chivas.

And  unlike the Dallas game, United played hard and urgently and still couldn't elevate above their suck. In the most vital game of the season, on their two best chances, on clear breakaways the ball is on the foot of Francis Doe? 

Here's Goff's player ratings:

Crayton 3; Namoff 5, Peralta 4, Martinez 4; Fred 5, Simms 4, Vide 4, Gallardo 4, Guerrero 5; Quaranta 5, Khumalo 5. Subs: McTavish 5, Doe 4, Burch 5.

Off that line-up and subs, only two - Namoff and Guerrero - need absolutely be back next season.

Fred can make a good team better but can't make a bad team good. Simms probably deserves to stay considering he's run, at twelve miles a game, at least 450 miles this year and has been running on fumes since mid-August because there's no one else United can play at his position. Martinez maybe if he can play centrally rather than outside. The rest, feh.

And then there's Gallardo, who's now injured his knee. I stand by my theory, and if he is not to blame for the season Gallardo is the symbol of United 08: The Failing. I don't sense bad faith (though I'd like to know that United did all due diligence in evaluating, medically and biographically, Gallardo before signing him), but Gallardo's constant breakdowns symbolize United's breakdown in constructing this team.

Everybody's first draft of the season's obituary is finished, yes? Like the Long Plunge to Earth?

Updates, links, edits, later. Or not.