Red and Black (and Blue)

Wait, is "Aloha" hello or goodbye?

So last week I talked about how Tom Soehn could become the first D.C. United coach to stay on the bench for four years. Umm, that might’ve been a bit premature.

D.C. are in another late season funk -- think of it as the anti-New England Revolution of the last five years -- and with schedule congestion upcoming priorities are going to have to be concentrated on either MLS or Champions League. After last year’s CCL debacle, expect more performances like last night from United. And really, that’s a shame and a disgrace to the tournament. If United really weren’t that interested in advancing to the knock out stage, they could have gone to El Salvador and lost to Firpo and eliminated six games from their schedule.

With a trip to Chicago their last chance for a win in August and the U.S. Open Cup final next Wednesday at home against Seattle on the docket, two more losses are staring at them in the face. The Fire have some problems, but D.C. have been poor on the road and I can’t see them earning more than a point. The Open Cup final is their best chance at a piece of hardware (and a ticket into next year’s Champions League -- third times the charm?) this year, but with the chip Seattle will have on their collective shoulder of not hosting the game I’m expecting the expansion side to win the game. Plus, anytime the matchup is Kasey Keller versus Josh Wicks I go with the guy who used to live in a castle.

If that’s the case and United miss the playoffs -- they do have a favorable home schedule to round out the year -- Soehn would have to be gone, no? And add Kevin Payne into that group. Their top two picks from last year’s SuperDraft are solid as Chris Pontius is arguably the rookie of the year and Rodney Wallace has been a good contributor. However, their other signings haven’t panned out as Danny Szetela isn’t even making the game day roster right now and there’s no long term plan apparent with Jaime Moreno and Christian Gomez surely in the final stages of their careers.

I just can’t see how Will Chang would bring the two of them back having been embarrassed the past two falls. Though D.C. won the Open Cup last year, they beat a reserve New England side in the semis and a USL team (no offense to our USL fans out there) in the finals and Charleston were a tough out. So what can they hang their hat on? Not much I’d say in a world of “what have you done for me lately."

Of course things could be worse. I could be a fan of New York.

Two more things:

- Got a chance to hear Grant Wahl do a reading from The Beckham Experiment and answer some questions at Sláinte in Fells Point on Tuesday night. Small crowd -- I was one of maybe 15 people -- but it was a cool experience. The most interesting nugget I got from Grant talking was that Alexi Lalas and Landon Donovan would begin every interview asking whether what they were about to say was for the magazine or the book and were much more candid if it was the latter as the quotes weren’t going to appear three days later. We should have another Q&A with Grant in the near future so feel free to submit any questions you have for Senor Wahl.

- As Bushman said, Chelsea are off to a great start and all of my fantasy teams are thanking Didier Drogba. They’re not the biggest surprise though. That’s either Tottenham -- who aren’t like purgatory right now -- atop the table thanks to goal differential or Burnley with six points from three games. I suppose Burnley gets the nod because they took those six points from 1-0 wins over ManU and Everton. Speaking of the Toffees, who would have guessed the two Liverpool teams would have 3 points combined from five games. Everton are at the foot thanks to a -6 goal differential and our boy Timmy Howard is letting in way to many goals from long range. Not a good thing with the World Cup right around the corner.

- Pat Walsh