United 2, Rochester 1

Well damn, I finally remember my camera, take no photos with my cell, am taking one last shot of the field from near the Beer Garden, and a drunken lout slams into me, sends the camera flying, and it's fucked. Photos are on chip, and I'll put it in Earthgirl's camera and upload some here later. Or not.

And credit - Soccerplex and Park Police got it right last night. Soccerplex moved Barra a section or two to the left, put Rochester's clubs to the far right, and Park Police maintained a low and unthreatening profile. Thank you.

UPDATE: I'm corrected -

Park Police still waded into the Barra to demand that we stop swearing, and when asked about the First Amendment, he sort of shrugged and told me I was welcome to leave.

This after he crept up behind me, tapped me on the shoulder, and ordered me to make the Barra stop singing Wings of an Eagle. Um, eat shit maybe?

Now that I think about it, I wasn't standing directly behind Barra because they had been moved to the left - I was in the back row of 114 on the midfield line, which would explain how I missed the (say it derisively) Park Police's wading into Barra.

Now, the tackle:

"I don't feel as though we were beaten by D.C. We were beaten by an official," he (Rochester coach Darren Tilley) said. "And certainly when players break ankles like [Kenton] did and there's no yellow cards or [ejections], it really hurts. . . . An absolutely disgraceful challenge, even more disgraceful that nothing was done about it. There was intent to win the ball, granted, but he creamed him."

Uh, no, there was nothing Stoichkovian about the tackle, it was clean, the guy landed badly. Which takes nothing away from how truly awful Abby Okulaja is as a ref, so awful he almost makes Terry Vaughn look competent. Almost.

Now, Boyzz:

Thabiso Khumalo converted a rebound in the 82nd minute before leaving the match in the final moments after a ball kicked by Rochester goalkeeper Tim Melia shattered his right wrist.... when Melia rushed out to disrupt a threat, the ball struck Khumalo's wrist. He was transported to an area hospital for X-rays and further prognosis.

Hopefully he'll be able to wear a gros on his arm, because Boyzz buried it this time, and he's the hardest working player on the field, he demands the ball, he runs to right spots, he defends excellently, he needs to be on the field.

UPDATE! This sucks:

Thabiso "Boyzzz" Khumalo, whose right wrist was fractured by a kicked ball in the final moments of D.C. United's 2-1 U.S. Open Cup victory over Rochester, will have surgery Thursday and be sidelined two to six weeks, the club announced.

His injury is described as a "fractured distal radius and dislocated radial-ulna joint."

Best-case scenario: He will require a cast only up to his elbow.
Worst-case scenario: The cast extends to his biceps.

Dammit. I believe this kid can - I want this kid to - succeed.

Here's Goff's player ratings:

Kocic 7, Namoff 7, Janicki 6, John 6; McTavish 7, Jacobson 6, Wallace 5.5, Khumalo 6, Fred 5.5; Moreno 6.5, N'Silu 5. Subs: Pontius 5, DiRaimondo 5, Gomez 5.

I really don't enjoy post-game Fred bashing, but he was given another chance to 10 and meh, people mistake flashy for good. What's amazing to me is in watching these three Germantown games, division 1, 2, and 3 defenders are far less impressed with Fred than some MLS defenders - they watch him do his samba over the ball, then take it from him. And when Fred does 10, his passes lack commitment, or if commitment's the wrong word, they lack confidence and pace. He's not a distributor, he's the guy balls are distributed to, and he's not very good at that either.

Both Wallace and Pontius look like they've hit rookie walls, though it was Pontius running onto Namoff's long ball that produced the shot that produced the rebound that Khumalo calmly buried.

Jacobson did much better with this audition, showed a willingness to shoot from outside the box, did a good job defensively jamming Rochester's attack. If Simms is out for weeks, regardless of the Szetela acquisition, with the upcoming fixture cluster, good minutes from Jacobson are necessary.

And another good showing for McTavish, neither Janicki or John will be on next year's roster, and Namoff, as always, is the irreplaceable man.

Now, what's with the attendance, less than 7K for the three games? I know Soccerplex is a bitch to get to unless you're a born Moco and know the back roads, but where else can you get such intense intimacy at a soccer game? For the life of me, why would anyone spend $100 bucks to sit in Fed Ex field to watch an exhibition game rather than spend $60 for THREE competitive games where you're literally thirty feet from inbounds? It boggles my mind.

And thanks United for taking this seriously - CONCACAF tournament or shittyass midsummer exhibition game v Everton? Any route to international competition is a route worth taking. United gets it. I've said before we are lucky to root for a team with huge ambition: we're lucky.