Episode 2: Tough Draw to Swallow at GEODIS Park

DC United showed up at GEODIS Park in Tennessee for a fight and punched Nashville twice before a red card in the second half sent our performance downhill. The episode digs into my match-day sensations, player ratings, and a peek at our next opponent Chicago Fire. 

Transcript

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What a game we just saw yesterday, and we need to unpack all this DC United 2-2 versus Nashville. Should I say Nashville rescue a point from DC United 2-2 last night in the Geodie's Park? In what I call a great performance until the 78th minute mock. We got a red card and went downhill. Let's just talk about the game, should we? And start our therapy session. Because at the end of this part, I promise you, you're gonna feel better for the team. Starting 11, Johnson in the back, Rose, Ballet, center defender, left back Kurokawa, right back hefty in the middle of the park. We've got Sylvania Pertola, wings back low straight, and in front, the man of the moment, Luis Montano and Hopkins. Nothing really spectacular. I think we did a pretty good job versus NYCD FC. So we repeat the lineup and Stra. The only um what's it hesitation that I have? If it was Stra Herrera, Straut usually is a little bit more solid in the back, doing the defensive task, surprisingly, but he got the starting role. I'm fine with that. Let's just go diving into the game. As I mentioned in the last episode of the pod, I believe we should have started with low block because that's what we have been doing well, and then launching vertical direct counterattacks and see if we can find some cracks under defense. But Rene had another idea. He got again that high pressure on them. And this is not N1CFC. This is Nashville top team in the Eastern Conference table. And guess what? They struggle a lot. Not as much as NYC. I don't think I saw any situation like I saw an NYC where the defense was completely caught out of flat, out of position, but they didn't know what to do. They just cleared the ball. This time they break a line on a couple of occasions, especially because they're so physical on their uh right hand side with Najar and Spinoza. Oh boy, this this these two guys so good. And they did manage to find a couple of ways of uh getting to a final third. But other than that, we got tons of interception, we got tons of challenging, and just like NYCDFC, what I like a lot is what we did, what we built once that we got the interception, this guy didn't give us as much space as NYCD FC. They were immediately on the pressure side. I mean, they're a pretty good solid team, strong in all areas. But even though we did manage to find good opportunities to build two or three passes, either go to the ground at the minimal push for a set piece, which they suffer all game set pieces and also managed to find space to shoot the ball. Pretty happy what I was what I was seeing in the first 20 minutes. I wasn't believed this was our team. We were playing toe-to-toe with the top team in the Eastern Conference, you know, in all areas. Defense, attacking, transition. I was thrilled, by the way. Our pressure didn't drop like NY CDFC at the 20-minute mark. We pushed the high pressure past our first goal. It was a back and forth game in the middle of the pitch. We got the ball, we knew what to do, they got the ball, we know what they're capable of, and they were doing it. Nothing given to both teams, and in one of those back and forth, hefty got the ball with space and he put a beautiful cross to Luis Montano, a banana-shaped cross, nothing to do on their defense, just take a look at the ball, and then Luis Montano has put a beautiful heather inside the back of the net, one nil. Let's just celebrate. I feel so good about it because I was saying we are doing the job at their level. We were rising or football or tactic, execution, physical and tactical, technical. To their level, we were pair. There was nothing separating these two teams other than pure talent, and we got El Chispaso, the the moment, the spark, we got it. They didn't. They went bonkos after that for at least 10 minutes. They put so much in the front. Steam engine, 110% Nashville. This is the best you get in the Eastern Conference set, and let me tell you what, we were handling pretty well. Yes, Espinosa was finding space, Kurokawa was fighting to the last stretch with this guy. Oh my gosh, love this one-to-one Kurokawa Espinosa. This is what you live for as a football fan. Don't tell me no. Don't tell me you live for the goals and stats. Oh no, I'll live for the one-to-one, the dribble, the defender. Give me what you got. I'm not gonna give you space. Was a beauty in motion. Enjoy it so much. He did find sometimes the better half of Kurokawa, but it was so uncomfortable. I think he had a couple of good shots, but Johnson was solid, but what a beauty to see. Mukhtar, their number 10. Yes, he did something to say in the first half as it, but I think he got so much pressure for Pertol and Sarvenia. The off-the-ball movement of this guy was not as comfortable as he's supposed to, because our guys did the job. Very good rotation horizontally, vertically. This guy was imposing himself physically a few times. He got he handled a couple of shots here and there, but boy, we did put them in a very uncomfortable position. So the rest of the second half, of the first half after the goal, it was still back and forth. We managed to handle their 110% steam engine on us pretty well. And we were building from the back, we were building from interceptions, two or three passes. We are on the opposition half. And guess what? If I feel a push, if I feel something minimal as a foul, I'm gonna go down. And here are set pieces. Their nightmare. They were suffering all night, especially in the first half from set pieces. They were nervous in the box, they were looking at each other. Their keeper have to be giving constant orders, and they got they got people in the back like Palacios. This is a serious defender MLS, you know, level. This guy usually knows what to do. This guy was very nervous talking with the keeper. I was loving what I said. And guess what? From a set pieces around the 30-minute mark comes from Kurokawa. Put a ball across from corner to the opposition. And ballet, yes, ballet. He said, I'm here and I'm gonna make a jump. Cristiano Ronaldo asked, I'm gonna put the ball in the back of the net. I don't want to go and hear any nonsense about the bar. The bar was, oh, you know what, but there's a player next to the keeper. That keeper did have no business with that header. It was a rocket to the back of the net. Happy that the bar gave actually the goal to us. We were 2-0 up, and the things were turning pretty silent at Keoties Park. The faces of the Nashville supporters were plain, very plain, silent stadium. We're doing the job. We can hear you. No, I can't hear you, boys, because the only thing I can hear is the DC United doing the defensive work and doing meaningful passes on attack. I was so happy with the team, so happy. They finally break our lines on the first 43rd minute. Muriel got a one-to-one with Johnson, and Johnson said, not today, kid. Great save. Hit the ball, go to corner. Oh my gosh, Johnson did the job. There is a play at the end of the first half that usually I will not talk about it, but I need to talk about it because it was so much of a difference. Makes us such difference down the stretch. And it's the first yellow to hefty. There's a ball, a pass, a long pass on or right hand side, lefty have to run. I really don't remember if it was uh Kokoran or the left wing. Um, but there is a dispute, and before you know the fighting for the ball, both of the players go very physical to impose themselves. Hefty actually got the worst part of it. They were shoulder to shoulder. I didn't saw any really over-aggression from Hefty, and I do believe Hefty most of the time go over-aggressive. But this one, he was just fighting two people, two players fighting for the ball in a very, you know, important position because he was all last third and he was on cover. If the attacking player cut the better half, they fought for the ball. I thought, you know, you can even give a foul to hefty. They were pretty strong. I was very surprised with the yellow card. And every time Hefty caught in a yellow, I'm in my toes because this guy, he his uh composure, it's pretty poor, in my opinion. He goes too all in to the play, to the situations that he got. He doesn't have that tempo that Kurokawa have of measuring or giving the attacker a couple of meters just to see what he got. And you know, I'm very, very hesitant and nervous when he got a yellow, and damn, it did affect us down the line. Other than that, Mukhtar on that same play for the set pieces hit the crossbar, and um that was pretty much for the first half. I was feeling pretty confident, 2-0, nothing given. It was no error or goals, it was no error. We fought for those. We imposed, we got there to the opposition half, made the job in their half, scored two goals on top of them. So I was very happy. Was I was seeing second half, same story until the 75th minute. We got set pieces, we got Lewis trying to shoot the ball, we got great deliveries by corners, by Piglo and Kurokawa. They were suffering so much. We were again putting that pressure. We never really dropped low block before the red car. We were putting the pressure in the middle of the park, and we were winning most of the time. We could go interceptions again, not playing from the back, not doing one or two passes, tiki-tack. I know. Got the ball vertical, two or three, try to find a crack here and there, try to find a space, try to cut the foul to get the set pieces, or just shoot the ball. And I was happy. I was feeling very happy. You know what's in evidence of how the good work we were doing? Acosta, the number six. This guy, Acosta, it's so physical. He's been bullying midfielders this season, up and down. He imposes himself all the time. And guess what? He got nothing from us. The only situation that I remember, Acosta, was a yellow car. He got on strut. He receptioned, he got the ball from a pass, he receptioned the ball, you know, a couple of feet extra, and then he had to recover, and strut was in a quarter of the second on top of him. He realized it and he pulled he puts his home whole body on a on strut. Got the yellow. That's the only time that I remember this number six. And he got pretty physical. I'm telling you what. Markovich on the bench. I said, we got some good legs on the bench. It's it's it's getting close to the 75th minute mark. Um I'm feeling that we can pull this off. And I think it's gonna be a set stone in our season. If we come here and beat this guy, by the way, the the winning possibility before the red car was 90% to us. That's how good we were doing things. Then it got the moment that changed pretty much the tone of the game. 75 minutes in a quick action, believe he was uh starting a counterattack, hefty throw himself, and get the second yellow to a player that was receiving the ball. You know, stopping that counterattack, attacking position, got a yellow by the book. The yellow was fine by me. But unfortunately, he got the first yellow on the first half, it was pretty, pretty soft, and then he got the red. After the red, um, I know we were going to a downhill because, as I mentioned in the last part, these guys have everything. Their whole team, all areas, they create so many situations, they got the magic in Mukta, the number 10. They got the physical part of the game, they got strong one-two creation situation. They know what they're doing, they do meaningful passes, they're pretty, pretty good in the front in the opposition box. They are a threat. So they will find some cracks here and there. They were not finding any cracks before. So I knew when we were playing with 10, that would be a downhill. Two factors were critical. The first one, and I think it's most important, they found the goal too soon after the red car. The red car was something in the 74th, 73rd minute. You can you know correct me on that. And the goal came in the 76th, 76th minute. So it was a ball that it was come in the central areas. That didn't happen before the 55th minute. They didn't rarely find a ball in a position in the central area that can they they can just ground past to the box and receive song comfortably. That was some you know disruption in our back because we were adapting to not having a right back. So they took full advantage of that. And I'm so sad that it happened so fast that we did not have time to react. Kudos on them. The guy who received the ball inside the area, I don't know if it was uh Kokoran, but he did pretty well controlling. He turned, put a low shot, Johnson dot the stop, but unfortunately got into Madrigal's feet and he just put it in the back of the net 2-1 too soon for me. I was very stressed about it. But guess what? Rene got a bit of time to react. He put Markovic in. I think he was uh Markovic wanna play uh the CDM position, but he actually was like this weird mix of central, central, right defender. I think, you know, uh Rene didn't want to just give them the right win completely to them to run. So Markovic was putting the job in the middle of the park most of the time when there was off-the-ball movement. Uh, he was kind of like leaning toward the right side of the game from all sides. So we did the job, it was a ring. It was uh it was, you know, bombarding on us. We would hold the line. I think the guys did pretty well, regardless before or after the red car, the guys in the back did pretty well. They took the challenge, stood up for it, and unfortunately they got a second goal. And I think it was, again, just completely out of possession, one less man, and then you have to do the extra running, Bale have to cover an extra area. Then he got caught flat out of it by a um a cross that land in um Madrigal's chest, and he put a beautiful clean hit in the back of the net 2-2. The game actually ended on a heart like beat moment when uh Espinoza just launched a rocket to us. Johnson drew the save and the ball hits the crossbar. I know. Whoa my heart just stopped on there. It was it was just difficult to watch that. But we landed a tie. I think it's fair to say, as I mentioned in the in the in the introduction, they rescue a point. We did the job and got, you know, the better half of Nashville until the 75th minute. Okay, impression of the game. I'm just gonna be clear here. I think I'm going to give you the punchline, and it's they did what they're supposed to do. They are the best in the Eastern Conference MLS. They have been bullying down teams up and down. They are strong in all areas. We know they're gonna create a lot of chances, and they did that, especially after the 75th minute. We rise to the occasion. We were supposed to be good, show up in defense. We show up in the midfielder, we show up in their opposition area. The all-set pieces were terrible for them, a horror story for them during the whole game. So I think the punchline here is do not let that last 15 minutes overshadow the work that we did tactically, technically, and physically during all the game. I'm happy with the boys. I think it's it's it feels like something has stripped out of us, something very important, something special that we can actually set as a keystone for future. If we don't have that red card, nine out of ten, as I mentioned before, chances we got the 2-0, and then all the teams, all the national press needs to be turning their heads because we are setting a stone here. But we didn't get that. In this reality, we got 2-2, and that's what we got, unfortunately. But very happy with the boy, very happy with again, Renee. Surprise me again with that pressure. I have to be, you know, so hopeful of what's what comes next. Because I really, really like what I thought for 75th minute. I'm not gonna let those 50 15 minutes less that last 15 minutes with 10 men, you know, be the story of the game. The story of the game is for me. We rise to the occasion, we play at their level, we just match them, men, be men, my men, and we I think we just have you know a lot to be proud of. That's my um reaction for the game. Just give me a minute and let's go to see the individual performance by the Footman rating. See you in a minute. Starting from the back, Johnson 7.6, and this is by Footmouth, by the way. Fine with that, I think he was pretty strong. He rised up to the level in those last 10-15 minutes. He got a lot of shots, even the first half. Espinoza, even though Kurokawa did a great job. Espinosa is just so physical. He found his way a couple of times. Johnson was there pretty solid. You know, you cannot judge them by the goals. I think he did not have much to do in any of the action. The first goal, he did stop before. Right. Let's go to the boys in the center defender. Rolls and ballot, rolls 7.9, ballot got a goal, great header, 7.8, 7. Yeah, 6.8. Sorry. I got I will give them both a 7. I think they stood up to the level. It wasn't it was a very messy situation after the red car, immediately after the goal, a lot of disorientation, but they start stood strong, and we got the tie. A lot given to them for that tie because Nashville went all out. And we know full steam Nashville, they bullied teams in the MLS. So we still pretty good. Let's go to the left back Kurokawa. What a game. I already told this. This is what without football. What a pair one-to-one with Spinoza, top five winger in the MLS. So strong, so physical Spinoza. But guess what? We got our Japanese talent here, and I think what what a one-to-one to see the Kurokawa give nothing to a Spinoza. What a battle. You have to love football. On the other hand, um, back, hefty, beautiful cross. I think he managed pretty well uh for 75th minute until that, you know, very unfortunate action with just he lose his mind for a second, got us a red, second yellow, and then we unfortunately went downhill. Um Um 6.2 and far window. I'm not gonna kill this guy. You know, uh, you know, I like consistency. So this guy lives in the fast lane. So seeing him doing a very, you know, out-of-tempo action like he did on the jello in a very quick action, it's it's just not surprising. So it is what it is with Hefty. I'm not gonna kill him really. Um, the voice in the middle of the pitch, Cervenia 6.9, we'll give him a seven right away. Uh Peltola 6.6, I will give him probably 6.8. Cervenia did so good off the ball. Um, I love, I really love this player. I know people hate him so much for no reason. He is an onset hero. He is not great with position, he is not great with the ball in his feet, I should say. He is great distributing the ball, he is great at putting himself in good areas to build a play, one or two touches. Love this kind of player. You have to love them. And I think they handle pretty well for 75 minutes at the top team in the MLS, they're attacking their midfielder. As I mentioned, Acosta, he got nothing. Kokoran, he got nothing before the 70th minute. I'm very, very pleased with this guy. On the wingers left, Peglo, uh 7.1. I have to say something about Peglo though. I love Peglo. He's a great player, very technically gifted. I will say this. This game feel a little feel felt felt a little bit too big for Peglo, in my opinion. I felt that he usually gets very control of the situation. I think he handles the pressure pretty well. I think in this particular occasion, he was struggling most of the time. Especially when passing, you see, he always gets his space to pass, and he you always see a very meaningful pass. I think he struggled a bit in this particular game. He got no time to think about, so he was very pretty uncomfortable positions, and his passing was not the best. On the other side, Stra play for um 67th minute, uh, 6.6. I'm fine. I mean, I mean, Stra did the job in on defense. Uh, and he also contributed a bit on offense. Um, he was part of that, you know, very good wall that we set in the middle of the pitch where they struggled so much before the red car. So I would I would not be surprised is you know, during the week that 6.6 got got upgraded, 6.7, 6.8. In the front, we got Hopkins, a lot of work, but this guy, a lot of work on the defensive side. He runs so much off the ball, chasing, putting pressure, low volume seeing. He did not have, unfortunately, that first opportunity in the second minute. He could do a little bit better. Uh, but uh uh, I mean, I'm fine with his um with his performance. Unfortunately, I have to be substitute. He was running out of gas for uh Ty. Uh 6.6, by the way, by Hopkins. And then we got to the old man. We cannot, we cannot allow this poor result to shadow Louis Montanki's. He still has the Super Mario Star. Yes, he does. Yes, he does. He runs every single ball on defense, he runs off the ball, intended off the ball run every single time in offense. He's so aggressive. He has the goal in his head. He just wants to score, and I love it. A 7.0. I'm fine with that just because of the result. He played 84th minute, but wow, I'm so pleased with Lewis. Let's go to the bench to the men's on the bench. Herrera got into the 667-minute mark, 6.6. I'm fine with that. I don't think he's reliable for the second goal. I think he got uh, I mean, we can talk about the second goal. I think he was valid out of position to be honest, and then Herrera was just left to decide to switch between two uh players, and the ball just landed in uh Madrigal, who did that a clean hit. Markovic got in. Didn't see anything special about him. I mean, he was out of position, he was struggling to get something out of nowhere on that right-hand side. I think he he fought pretty hard, but nothing special. 6.3. Then Ty got out the 88th minute. Unfortunate, we can't see that really Ty and uh Louis on the front. He was just like another defender. Uh so no ratings for him. I will give uh Rene, I will give them actually a 7.2. You know what? Because we I already said that. We rise to the occasion. Okay, we execute physically. I didn't see a drop like another games in the 65, 7 minute mark. We were strong all the time. We were very good at set pieces, and set pieces is a unique indication of the manager. Set pieces are not by I got a good baby beckon style. Okay, you may have one of those. We don't have one of those. So the set pieces work, that's on the coach 100%. Okay. The the pressure, the the physical and technical part of applying pressure in the middle of the pack for most of the game, and that initial high pressure that's on the manager as well. So very happy what I'm seeing about Rene. Don't let the result, the tie, the disappointing final result to overshadow the good work that we did and the good work of Rene. I'm loving what I'm seeing about this guy. Callahan, the other guy, the other manager, was screaming on the top of his lung. All the game, Rene was gone. Why? That's what the both man were seeing. Callahan was seeing someone that did not expect. Rene was on the game, on the plan. We're executing technically and physically what we planned during the week. And I'm so happy. A 7.2 I give to this guy. If not red, it's probably this guy probably got an eight, to be honest. So uh special, special mention, Madrigal. I have to talk about this guy, this guy number 41 on the on the Nashville. What a game! But this kid, 8.7 men of the match. Hey, respect with respect is given. This is a football podcast, just football here. Yes. So we respect the quality of other players. We do in this podcast, sir. We do madrigal. Got in on the 63-minute mark and he made his presence. He was aggressive, he did a lot of dribbling, he was a menace, he was a nightmare for us. I have to give them, I have to shake his hand. Hey man, you did a great job. See you next time. You know, before closing this session and goes to the next opposition, let me tell something. If I'm Rene after the game, boys are tired, sitting in the locker room, a little bit disappointed, look at each other, what the manager is gonna say. This is what I do. I go player by player, shake his hand, look in the eyes, direct contact, and I said to them, Tough game, proud of you. We're gonna get them next time. That's it. That's what I do. Let's go to the last stretch of the pot. Let's go to our next opposition. All right, let's talk about next opposition. That will be Chicago Fire. We are going to be playing home, out of field, back in the nest after a couple of rope games this next Wednesday. Chicago Fires haven't been doing well. They got no points in the last three games versus average opposition, low to average. I would say Cincinnati's low to average, and then um Cincinnati, St. Louis is low to average. Cincinnati and the Red Bulls are kind of average. Um, I think they are beatable, but it's not gonna be a walk in the pack. They have dangerous players, especially on front. I'm talking about Hugo Coopier's. He has uh 11 goals to his tally. He's a serious forward, and they have good wingers, talking about Bamba. I've seen Bamba all his career. He's a threat. I've seen Europe almost his career, and he's a very good player. The guy in the middle of the park has Elise, which, you know, it's a tricky player to go. So I think we can do the job. Hopefully, this can be the you know, the set piece, the the keystone uh game where there's a before and after. If we make uh a showdown, it's it's Chicago, it's not Nashville, okay. But if we handle this team a pretty good showdown defense, give them nothing like NYCFC, and we manage to get a couple of goals, the rest of the team in the Eastern Conference, I'm gonna say, okay, from now on, I'm gonna mark this United Spine Scale as a tough game to play. Because, you know, it's clear to me as a disunited fan now that we are that team. We are not a walk in the park anymore because we what we just did versus Nashville. The national media is always gonna find a reason just to tamper us down. Oh, they were tired from the game at Tigris. Oh, you know, this United, you know, got a point, got lucky. They could easily have handled a 4-2. But we know what we see. We are not national media here. We are just small podcaster watching every single minute, and we know how good we were. This is unexpected, but I'm taking it. I'm taking it all. So they got good, really good players. We are playing home. They are very beatable. I think we got the three-point. I'm just gonna say we got about 75% chances. Okay, a good point. I would like to see us very strong in defense again, nothing given to them, and then us to just be again very effective, one or two passes again, very vertical, not playing around, and try to get the ball to Luis. I think this is a great game, just because how they're struggling to test Luis Baribo on top of him, Barribo, if he can be healthy for 60 minutes. It will be great to see what these two can brew together. Looking forward to that. I think that's uh that's gonna be the pot for today. The theater of football gave us this thriller, and I've taken all looking forward for the next game. And I've said now hasta la vista, you can see a buena vista.