Champions Cup: DC United at Pachuca (Your Running Commentary)

Good evening folks. Tonight marks the start of the CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinals between D.C. United and Pachuca. As you may know, D.C. United's recent history in the tournament hasn't been the best. D.C. will look to turn that around tonight with a victory against a Pachuca club that is not as strong as the squad that ousted Houston from last year's tournament.

Led by forward Luis Rey, midfielder Andres Chitiva and goalkeeper Miguel Calero, Pachuca still packs plenty of punch and will test a D.C. defense that didn't have the best debut on Saturday against Kansas City.

D.C. United will welcome back Brazilian winger Fred, who was rested against KC for tonight's match. His dynamic ability on the wing will be key to stretching Pachuca's defense and creating space for playmaker Marcelo Gallardo to operate.

Tonight's match is set for 10 p.m. on Fox Soccer Channel. If you will be watching the match, please feel free to following along here and share your thoughts, opinions and view of the action in the comments section below.

Enjoy the soccer!

Comments

[SoccerMan]

Hopefully DC tires themselves out so TFC can annihilate them this weekend!

[mikeK]

TFC can't annihilate it's way out of a paper bag, yet alone DC. We'll see how DC responds to it's loss to KC. Should be interesting.

[Brant]

I'm always hoping the US teams win. That said - it's late on the East Coast and I have a loooooooooong day tomorrow, so I'll have to read about it online tomorrow morning.
And I'll have to read about it, b/c God forbid one of the sports news outlets actually *cover* it on TV... ugh.

[Russ]

anywhere I can watch this game online?

[expat lumberjack]

TVUPlayer (http://www.tvunetworks.com) channel 21500 is Fox Soccer Channel twenty-four hours a day. So you can watch it there.

[JesseMT]

I don't feel like the ref is calling a one-sided game thus far.

[Jacob]

DC just escaped from losing 2 goals in about 1 minute....

[Jacob]

Pachuca is employing the Trojan horse strategy. They began by playing at DC's crawl-like pace.

In the past 5-10 minutes they've stepped on the throttle and DC doesn't seem able to understand where this speed has come from (or adjust to it).

[tim]

I am not all that impressed with gallardo.

[Nic]

Ives, I know the advertising brings in some much deserved cash for your hard work, but ads in posts seems to me to be a bit much. Anyone else agree? Disagree?

[Jacob]

neither gallardo nor niell have been impressive

only fred has impressed me thus far, along with Simms's workrate/defensive effort (although not technical ability)

[Jacob]

Half-time.

First half thoughts anyone?

[Nic]

Stole this from Goff's blog. Thank the dude who originally posted it!

Those wanting to watch live can watch here:
http://www.justin.tv/psn_1

No software needed, PC and Mac Compatible.
Posted by: GO UNITED | April 1, 2008 10:00 PM

[Phillip]

Eh... every single time United starts to attack the ref blows his whistle for a mysterious foul.

He's awful.

Panamanian referees are awful.

[Joe]

1) Ads in the posts are a bit much.

2) I actually like Gallardo against Mexican opposition (more time/space?). With Gallardo, DC's attack is more unpredictable than with Gomez. Gallardo needs a dynamic forward to finish some of his passes. Emilio looks a touch slow or out of shape. McTavish isn't cutting it out on the right side. Gallardo only has Fred and a limited Emilio to pass to.

[Joamiq]

Putrid keeping by Wells. But Pachuca deserves to be in the lead. DC is nowhere near Pachuca's level tonight.

[David]

DC's passes are off target

[Joamiq]

DC finally trying to be incisive with its attack, which results in dangerous forays into the box, but no payoff.

And Pachuca comes right back and threatens again.

[David]

United needs to run with the ball rather than stand there with the ball

[Russ]

DCU is finally getting whats been coming to them this whole game... 2-0 Pachuca 80th min. United's having trouble creating anything at all when they get the ball, and they've rarely moved it into the offensive zone.

[Steve]

Give up the near post. Don't mark your men on free kicks. Don't get a shot on goal.

Thanks DC United for making MLS look like crap. Again.

[Joamiq]

Killer cross on the set piece there, but whoever was initially on Montes should feel stupid. With a set piece from that close, you cannot just watch the kick and let your man run free inside the 6 yard box. 2-0.

[David]

DC's being outplayed by Pachuca

[Haig]

Quaranta looking like he has already recovered last year's form!

[Aaron]

It's official, DC United made all the wrong moves in the off season.
Gallardo is officially DONE!!
& a Coaching change is now at hand.
Thgisn is for the club worlds man & DC still cant beat a mexican team

[Eugene]

Santino Quaranta sucks. I'm not at all sad about losing him to DC anymore, the guy has no idea what he's doing.

Gallardo looks like Beckham out there, good player but no one to pass to. On the other hand, he's useless on defense...

DC have a striker problem, as amazing as it sounds. Emilio is pretty good, but Moreno is old, Niell is useless and Quaranta only likes to play back as opposed to towards goal. Who's going to knock in the goals for this team?

[Eugene]

Santino Quaranta sucks. I'm not at all sad about losing him to DC anymore, the guy has no idea what he's doing.

Gallardo looks like Beckham out there, good player but no one to pass to. On the other hand, he's useless on defense...

DC have a striker problem, as amazing as it sounds. Emilio is pretty good, but Moreno is old, Niell is useless and Quaranta only likes to play back as opposed to towards goal. Who's going to knock in the goals for this team?

[dan]

tonight you saw a great game by pachuca and a testament to what money and stability can buy... (you also saw it in the MU vs Roma game this afternoon!)a great coach, wonderful/skillful/tactical players. DC had a difficult time tracking defensively and on offense DC had no answer to pachuca's "high pressure" defence all game long... after a while I lost count of the DC turnovers...

sorry DC... tonight we showed the MLS still has a way to go against the big boys... no shame in losing to a great team like pachuca.

Altitude can make a difference when you are chasing the ball all over the pitch for 90 mts!

[Q]

As I said on Goff's blog, the problem is the keeper. Wells was horrible. Both goals were on him. Bad positioning on the first goal and the second goal he should've committed to coming out and getting it. Yes, there was no D on that play, but Wells didn't do anything to help.

Also, on the 1st shot of the second goal he was way off his line and it almost bit him in the butt. If Wells doesn't learn positioning then we are in for a very long season with DC.

[Phillip]

lol

Gallardo was great tonight.

Playing on Mount f*cking Everest is a b*tch.

[Joamiq]

Someone needs to teach MLS/American soccer players that standing there and looking around with the ball at your feet does not constitute useful possession.

Zach Wells, you never come off your line that much/leave the near post that open when the ball is in the box.

Whoever that defender was that lost Montes on the second goal ought to be ashamed.

DC is lucky that wasn't 5-0. Yuck.

[Joamiq]

Wells was not at fault AT ALL on the second goal. The header was unstoppable and the cross came in fast. It was bang-bang. But the ball never should have reached Montes' head - certainly not so cleanly.

[East River]

Toney Soehn and other MLS coaches thinking towards subbing sickens me. You have two subs and you wait until you give up your first goal before you make your 2nd sub? It was obvious the team was tiring. The 1st goal was a bit of poor keeping by Wells but you could see it coming after all that attacking Pachuca did. Besides Wells is not that great he's good but not anything special. But there was noting Wells could do on that 2nd goal which often happens when the defending teams makes a sub on a corner kick.

The lack of attaching by DC made me sick and DC really needs a second person to hold the ball, thats why they should have kept Christian Gomez. But I give them credit for holding Pachuca to 2 goals unlike Houston giving up 5 last year. I thought the backline was pretty good until they got tired. DC really needs to start taking shots even long range shots if they expect to actually score. Too much trying to work the ball in the box and not pulling up and taking the shot.

[Eugene]

I don't think anyone can just blame Wells when its crystal clear that the whole team sucked.

[mikeK]

This looks like a bridge too far for DC... One can only hope, atleast.

[soccer fan]

The DC goalie is worthless. The first goal was 1/4 his fault and 3/4 credit to the pachuca player for noticing the goalie was out of position and making a great strike on the ball.

Pachuca is one of mexicos/CONCACAF best teams. They went to the Club World Cup. So don't expect DC to beat pachuca in the series.

[NYRB]

AAron,

since when we declare someone done after 2 games?

DC started the same way last season with Fred. And now he plays an important role for the team.

[CD]

Next week there will be a second leg in DC. Lets see if DC can take care of business at home before everyone says how horrible they are. In the beginning of the first half I think DC looked very good. Gallardo looked great to me with all of his creative flick ons. He just didn't have players available on most occasions to connect with. When the DC players get on the same page after some games together this team will be really good.

[paul Lorinczi]

AH...I think you guys are being overly critical.

Remember, an athlete needs oxygen to play this game. DC actually looked pretty good at the beginning. When the oxygen intake became strained, they started to falter.

Let's see how the teams perform at sea level.

I will give credit to Pachuca because they kept their shape and always looked dangerous. The advantage was always to them.

Ives,

I am ok with a banner in a post. The man has a family to feed guys. That banner can mean more revenue and a continuation of this blog. Advertisers help pay for this forum. Suggest another model, so we can have our fix at no cost.