Carini Almost Got Me

Much love.

Since Bushman pretty much covered the amazing game from Wednesday night, I’ll just give you some random thoughts about what I saw from our third row seats.

- Benny Feilhaber is small. I had an idea from TV, but when you see him on the field he’s certainly closer in stature to J.F. Torres than Michael Bradley. Feilhaber didn’t have the best of matches, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the midfield will be like with the bigger, and more athletic, Maurice Edu. We’ll see if Jermaine Jones ever pans out or if he’s just the latest version of John O’Brien injury wise.

- Conor Casey could have made the night even more memorable had he not shanked a shot in the ninth minute. He’s easily forgiven having scored two huge goals last Saturday in Honduras. But considering the timing, a goal there might’ve been an unintended wrecking ball for the decrepit RFK, a stadium I still love but know has to go.

- Why stand in a 15-person-deep line for $10 Guinness/Corona when there’s no one in line for $7 Sam Adams Octoberfest? These are things I’ll never understand.

- As much as I love RFK, the security there sucks (though not as diligent as Pete Carini). I had a guard try to fight me after the game because my toe was on the wrong color of concrete. I was yelling at the team as they exited, trying to get the attention of Jimmy Conrad, when I was told to back away from a section that had yellow caution tape across it. I explained to the guard what I was doing when I was told that my toe was over the line, despite being four feet from the caution tape. I laughed, which caused a fellow who was about 5’6” and 150 pounds come over to me, start taking off his weightlifting gloves and asked me if I “wanted to go.” Again I laughed, pulled my toe off of the line, and resumed yelling at the team when I was told it was time for me to leave. Gotta love security ruining the end of an otherwise lovely evening. Or, as lovely an evening can be when it’s in the 40’s and raining.

- Looking ahead, this U.S. team isn’t the same without Charlie Davies and the pace he brings. Jozy may be more athletic than the Conor Casey/Brian Ching duo, but they’re all essentially the same player. The same more or less goes for Kenny Cooper. Jeff Cunningham and his 18 goals would be an interesting, albeit old, replacement. Clint Dempsey has looked more comfortable up front for the Nats and if he’s going to be on the field I suppose that’s where I’d like him, which would allow Stu Holden to lock down the right side of midfield. A dark horse might be Freddy Adu who would bring more creativity than Davies has offered, but obviously lacks the physicality the BC product brought. However, Adu would add another option on set pieces and has more pace than any of the other power forwards.

- One last thing and I feel like this is the 500 lb. gorilla in the corner no one wants to talk about: the fact that Davies was out well after curfew two nights before a qualifier. Obviously I wish the guy the speediest of recoveries and would LOVE to see him in South Africa next June (and preferably July too). However, I wonder if this had been Brian Ching, a guy not so beloved by U.S. fans, if that question would have been raised more often and more forceful. Granted I gave up Big Soccer a long time ago so there could be detractors over there mentioning it, but it’s not really been brought up by the big time reporters. Just saying.

Other thoughts on worldwide qualifying:

- I thought we were happy in our row when Jonny B leveled the game, but apparently that was nothing compared to how it went down in Honduras. I wonder if that’s the Honduran version of Gus Johnson?

- The immediate thought between a few friends and myself was that Costa Rica has a great home field advantage in their match against Uruguay. Playing at Saprissa, on that turf especially, will be tough for a team who has never played there. Unlike some of the other South American cities the Ticos could have gone to, Montevideo is at sea level negating any altitude advantage for the Uruguayans. I’ll be rooting for our CONCACAF brethren, but wouldn’t be upset to see both of the “Guays” from South America in the big dance.

- Monday is the draw for the European playoffs. In one pot is France, Russia, Greece, and Portugal while the other has Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, and the Ukraine. My Irish-American heritage is hoping to see The Boys in Green draw Greece, but after going unbeaten in qualifying it’d be amazing to see them knock out Les Blues.

- To not overlook MLS play, which is in the penultimate weekend, the playoff race should be a lot more clear come Sunday morning. Unfortunately for local fans, it will likely be the last competitive MLS game for D.C. United. With as many injuries and Columbus looking to lock up the Supporters’ Shield, I can’t see any more than a draw. With a high of 43° and chance of rain at 70%, I’m fairly happy I’ll be watching from my living room rather than freezing my ass off at RFK for the second time this week.

Back next week and, if you’re lucky, Bushman will review the Kiss show, as long as he doesn’t catch on fire of course.

- Pat Walsh