A Worthy Final

That's how many times Drew Carey celebrated Sounders goals.

Maybe that was the game that could put some relevance back into the U.S. Open Cup. It had a dash of everything really, something that doesn’t always happen in finals that tend more towards drab affairs of teams playing not to lose, rather than win. All credit to the Sounders who were the better team on the night and deserved winners of the Dewar Cup.

If you don’t know that Seattle beat D.C. United 2-1 to win the U.S. Open Cup, go read the recap in The Post and see the highlights via No Short Corners.

Some thoughts:

- Look, I know goalkeepers are supposed to be an odd bunch, but Josh Wicks has taken that to a whole new level. Just days after flipping out on teammate Marc Burch in second half stoppage time, Wicks stomped on Fredy Montero’s midsection following the Colombian’s opening goal. Absolutely no reason and to a certain extent ended United’s chances. However, without Wicks in goal in the first half United easily could have been down 3-0. Steve Goff over at The Post didn’t even know how to rate Wicks as the halves were that polarizing. It will be interesting to see how long of a suspension Wicks will receive in future Open Cups for not only massaging Montero’s abs with his cleats but for losing his head with Alex Prus after being shown red. My guess is at least all of next season’s Open Cup games, if not longer. But he’s able to play on Saturday in Dallas, so he’s got that going for him. It also makes you wonder where United would be had they taken Chris Pontius and Stefan Frei in last year’s draft. Rodney Wallace has been solid, but Frei would have filled a gaping hole in the nets as the Cal netminder has done in Toronto.

One more thing on the red card: it took way too long to be shown. I waited for a minute or two after the goal, watched the replay multiple times on the TV in front of our seats, and then went to the bathroom, as it appeared it would be a few more minutes with no repercussions forthcoming. I’ve been told that only the 4^th official, Andy Chapin, saw the play and he’s the one who told Prus to send off Wicks. Was it the right call? Definitely. Did that delay -- especially considering these refs have ear pieces and mics now -- make me think Chapin may have seen something on the JumboTron? Yup. I can’t say what was being shown on the big screen, but the TV’s further up had multiple replays via the FSC feed. Ultimately the call was correct, I’m just not so sure it was done without bending the rules a bit. And Egypt knows what I’m talking about.

UPDATE: Just heard a bit more and I'll rescind what I said in the previous paragraph. Either way, I still hold Prus a bit at fault for not seeing this on his own and for a match as a whole that seemed to issue too many "talking to's" for Seattle players, but that's also probably a bit of United bias in there.

- Both goals came from some poor defending by United. On the first Clyde Simms lost Freddie Ljungberg making the run straight up the field. The second saw Jakovic get easily out-muscled to give up the ball deep in his own end. Even the chances early saw too many players run free right in the middle of the field. This team is still on the search for a central defender they haven’t had since Ryan Nelsen, and to a lesser extent Bobby Boswell, left town. Granted, some of that blame falls on Ben Olsen and Simms from their holding spots in midfield.

- As bad as United’s defense was, their offense was even more abysmal. They rarely threatened with their possession. The once “magic triangle” of Emilio, Gomez, and Moreno aren’t even close to being on the same page. It’s like the three are in a “choose your own adventure book” and every time they seem to be getting somewhere they turn the page to find out they’re dead. Gomez had a handful of set pieces and wasted every single one. Emilio looks lost and doesn’t move off the ball. Moreno was the best of the trio last night, but is showing his age. Santino Quaranta livened things up with his introduction at the half, but it wasn’t enough to overcome his teammate’s shortcomings.

I guess the plus for the front office is it shouldn’t be too tough figuring out who to protect in the upcoming expansion draft. For me at this point it would be Kocic, Namoff, Wallace, Pontius, Quaranta, and Simms for sure, which means you’d have five spots left (if I remember the rules correctly) on so-so players. Not a ringing endorsement for the team.

- The atmosphere was outstanding and I think we can all thank Seattle GM Adrian Hanauer. His complaining sparked United’s full press marketing of the game to more than double the number of fans from last year’s final. Granted playing an MLS team helped, but without the “We Win Trophies” campaign, cheap tickets, and cheap beers and hot dogs there probably would have been closer to 12,000 fans. The 17,329, which marked the third largest for an Open Cup final, saw a great game and was a better way to reel in fans for future MLS games than playing Real Madrid in a friendly.

One last thing about getting fans out. Times are tough and, to be honest, I probably wouldn’t have gone had tickets been priced normally. My boy Kevin and I have long felt if D.C. had cheap tickets, say $10 for the behind the goal seats, they’d sell those seats out more often and make more money than selling a quarter of the ones that start at $22. Especially marketing this during mid-week games would help. And something else that would help: cheap beer. Trust me, from at least 15 minutes before kick off all the way through the 70^th minute there were beer lines at least 20 people deep for the $2 domestics. It doesn’t always have to be $2, but even at $5 it’s going to encourage more people to come out and that’s something that D.C. United and all of MLS could use, especially in times when pocket cash isn’t abundant.

- As a final thought, congrats to Seattle. Drew Carey was in town (with a girl who probably weighed as much as one of his legs) and there were a good amount of fans in attendance. Good stuff and something we need to see more of in MLS.

- Pat Walsh