Firpo 1, United 1 (2-2 Agg, United Advances on Penalty Kicks 4-5)

Obviously I'm glad to have been wrong about United advancing, but I wouldn't have been furious about the line-up Soehn posted last night (while reserving fume about the line-up in DC a week earlier, of course). United recognized this game is vastly more important than the fucking Madrid game (which isn't important at all) and ran its A team as hard and long as needed. I can fuss over who Soehn named to the A team (Fred), but at least Soehn put the best squad as he sees it on the field. Thank you. Sincerely.

Here's Goff's player ratings:

Wicks 6; Namoff 6, Jakovic 6, Burch 4; Quaranta 4.5, Wallace 4.5, Olsen 5, Gomez 7, Fred 3.5; Moreno 6, Emilio 5. Subs: Pontius 5, Jacobson 6, Szetela 5.

Rather than reword Lo! all the many ways Fred sucks for each postgame write-up, I hereby declare the word *FREDSUX* as encapsulation and abbreviation for Lo! all the many ways Fred sucks. As for last night, FREDSUX.

UPDATE! Big C says if I get black t-shirts with red Red Sox script that say FREDSUX he'll buy three.

And Quaranta looks awful. Max Bretos, between reading the ad for the fucking Madrid game twenty fucking times ("When those two squads met in Seattle in 2005..."), kept saying Quaranta was cooked from his time at USMNT, and WTF? is Max Bretos talking about? Rhetorical question, that. But Quaranta's touch is off, though his vision is there: he sees the pass, he just can't make the pass. Whaddup with that? (To Quaranta's credit, it was his run down the middle of the field that created the foul that led to Gomez' FK goal.)

Jakovic is the best center defender United's had since Ryan Nelsen. Namoff is the irreplaceable player. Burch played better, I thought, then Goff credits him (though the handball was inexcusable), and the world hasn't ended. Olsen and Wallace (and then Jacobson and Szetela) in defensive mid had their best games in many matches.

Ba'al Bless Benny and Jaime.

UPDATE!

Landru, to busy to bleg, emails:

At 6 PM yesterday I told my wife she'd be up unyil well past midnight. She told me not to Ba'al- taunt or reverse Ba'al-taunt. I laughed uproariously. Who the fuck DIDN'T know that shit was going to penalties?

Goff is a fucktard, but Bretos is worse. I had a nagging sense all night that the ref was shite (I actually think he may have been trying to fix the game), but when Bretos said he did a good job, I was sure.

While Fred's red was legit, it shouldn't have happened--he was hard-fouled and got sent off for retaliating. Same shit, all game--calling DCU for tacky shit, and stomping them when they got frustrated because he wasn't calling harder shit on the short people.

And this team's continued inability to protect the ball when they backpass (or ever, really) is a coaching problem, and it's pissing me off.

Oh yes, early in the second half, after Wallace gacked two, three, beautifully set up shots at the top of the box ON HIS LEFT FOOT this game stank of inevitable PKs.

A CONCACAF ref in a game between a US club and a Central American club, game in Central America? I've seen worse, though his allowing that Firpo clown to come to a full stop on the PK from Burch's handball was for shit.

Here's Fullback who's underwhelmed if happy (and his own version of FREDSUX). Here's Shatz and Curmudgeon. That old place be dead.