DC United 3 - 4 U. Catolica: Bah and Eff!

As I said above I do not agree with Sigi Schmid that United gave a performance of which they could be proud. So they took a 2-0 first half lead. Moreno missed a penalty. He's not supposed to do that. Not in a big game. Olsen and Kovalenko need to learn shoot with the first touch. While I can't fault United for conceding that remarkable free kick goal (although they should never have fouled in that area, shame on you Freddie) the other two goals, including the winner, were the direct results of criminally poor defending. Ok, this was not a 0-5 drubbing like United got from Pumas in Mexico, but it was a game they should have had well in hand and that they simply did not seem to have the composure to kill off.

In fact, it's not so much the second leg result that bothers me. Without having seen the match, anyone might say that DC had done surprisingly well in such a difficult environment. But they shouldn't have been in their position in the first place. They only managed a 1-1 draw at home. This was the second time in international club competion that they could only manage a 1-1 home draw. Pumas, though coming off two consecutive titles, was not exactly setting the Mexican league alight this year. Catolica may be topping the Chilean first division, but it's still the Chilean first division. I don't care if Chile is in the magical football land of South America, if they did once produce a Libertedores champion in Colo Colo, if they did manage a somewhat questionable third place finish in their own World Cup in '62, if they have produced such relatively recent stars as Salas and Zamorano. It's still Chile! We have a better national team than they do. We have for some years now. Our clubs should be beating theirs. Especially at home.

This is important. Silly summertime friendlies aside, these are the games that matter for the league. Sure not many will take notice of the CONCACAF champions. But they at least get to play in the FIFA club championship. The Sudamericana is not the Libertedores. But if United had advanced, they would have gone to either Banfield or Fluminense. Either way, an MLS team would have played a competitve match from one of the two biggest football powers in the hemisphere. Brazilians and Argintines would have had to admit that we do have a league. They would have seen one of our teams play live and would have cared. MLS may have gotten an invitation to qualify for the Libertedores. They still might, but this is way it would have had a little more credibility. These games are how MLS will gain respect, not with international friendlies. I believe that our clubs have the ability to succeed in these situations. We should all be disappointed when they let us down.