Chivas USA 3, United 1

What if Jaime had buried that duck late in the first half, set up by Gallardo, dummied by Doe?

They'd have lost anyway. And remember, that was Chivas' B-Squad.

D says lack of toughness. Lifton says they're scared of physical contact. Shatz says out-coached and outplayed. Stoller wonders if he's waking up this morning to find Soehn's been fired. Landru says - well, just go read what Landru says.

I'm guessing four points is the minimum United must pull from the two Toronto games for Soehn to survive to be fired after the Ningland game, but Soehn will be fired - sooner or later - because it's the only option management has.

Here's Goff's player ratings:

Wells 3; Namoff 6, Mediate 5, Martinez 5, Burch 5; Quaranta 5, Simms 4, Gallardo 6, Cordeiro 4; Doe 4, Moreno 4. Subs: Emilio 4, Dyachenko 4, Niell 4.

Namoff, Martinez, Gallardo, maybe Simms - those are the only United players who would start on a half-decent MLS squad out of last night's starters. I read how United is under-performing vis-a-vis its talent, and what the fuck?

Here's who started in a 2-1 victory last May against Houston:

Perkins 7, Namoff 6, Boswell 6, Erpen 5, Gros 5, Carroll 6, Olsen 7, Fred 5, Gomez 8, Kpene 6, Emilio 6. Subs: Addlery 5, Dyachenko 5, Simms 5.

That team, coached by the same Tom Soehn, would kick this year's team's ass up down sideways. Boswell and Erpen or Mediate and Burch? I mean, jeebus, how damning is that?

Circumstances: Carroll had to be left unprotected, Olsen is hurt, Gros is retired, Fred is injured, Perkins went to Norway, Peralta's wife is on bed-rest, Emilio's mysteriously, maddeningly suckful, and if the players management brought in to replace the departed and injured and suckful are slow and unskilled and soft, how much of that is on Soehn?

Soehn brought in Zach Wells and a Peruvian midget to replace Troy Perkins?

It's entirely plausible that Soehn is doing a shitty job, but I don't think it possible, or fair, to determine with any accuracy how shitty a shitty job he's doing considering what crappy tools he has at his disposal. What if Soehn is getting all that can be gotten out of these mutts?

This is not a defense of Soehn, this is push-back against the idea that changing coaches alone will solve United's problems. Soehn's bears his share of responsibility - why is the fitness level so shockingly bad? - but this is a collective clusterfuck starting at the top.

DCenters debriefing up.