Payne In His Own Ass

I am the most interesting man in RFK

So now that the season is officially over for D.C. United, it’s not only time to figure out what went wrong (I don’t have that much time) and where to go from here (down? as in Richie Williams for coach?), but to point fingers. At least it’s that time if you’re the team President.

In case you didn’t see Kevin Payne’s quotes on Monday -- read them in full here -- I’ll sum his words up by saying that United plays attractive soccer and he would rather have the team play that way and miss the playoffs than play unattractive soccer like New England and Colorado. He went on to say that more people need to watch the league, which is true, but inferred that the only way to make that happen is putting a good product on the field.

Overall Payne had some good points. But as Steve Davis points out, when he pointed a finger at the Revs and Rapids, he came off as a jilted bridesmaid.

Defensive soccer has a place in the beautiful game. No one is ever happy about it, unless it’s your team and you win championships. Ask Greek fans about Euro ’04 or Chelsea fans when Jose “1-0” Mourinho was at Stamford Bridge.

The problem is United tried to play attacking soccer and didn’t shore up their defense. As a result, they were more like the’08 Galaxy than this year’s Los Angeles team that won the West with a solid defense and good offense led by Landon Donovan and David Beckham. Sure D.C. scored the second most goals in the league this year and no one in the playoffs scored more than them, but they allowed one more goal than they scored. As we all know, defense wins championships. Unless Jason Campbell is your QB that is.

The league Payne seems to envision is more akin to the NHL which revamped it’s rules -- where are you Scott Morath? -- to increase scoring after the lockout and were successful in drawing fans back into the game. Well, they’ve been successful in D.C., not sure about elsewhere. However, that type of overhaul ain’t gonna happen in soccer.

As Mike Wilbon talked about today, the Skins suck and their fans are looking elsewhere for entertainment. The Caps are flying high and the Wizards started out the NBA season strong with an upset of the Mavs and Dirk Nowitzki’s hair in Dallas. Wouldn’t it be great right now to be able to appeal to those fans with a home playoff date against Columbus or Chicago? Especially with the Redskins on a bye this weekend even more media coverage could have been devoted to that. Instead, United will be playing attractively on the golf courses.

One last thing in a “those who live in glass houses” mind frame: what else do New England and Colorado (and Real Salt Lake who was also criticized) have in common? Their owners own the stadium they play in and, from what I’ve seen, those are pretty attractive. Where’s your fancy new digs, President Payne?

Other thoughts:

- United awards were handed out last night with Clyde Simms taking home a deserved MVP. No surprise as Bryan Namoff won defender of the year, but the shocker was that those of you that put money down on 500-1 odds that Namoff would take home goal of the year cashed in. Oh, and Luciano Emilio won the Golden Boot, perhaps the last thing he does in conjunction with United?

- Both Ben Olsen and Jaime Moreno want to play next year. Moreno sounds more likely to stay if Soehn is gone, adding another negative in bringing Tommy back for a fourth year. Olsen is from Harrisburg, but told our buddy Craig Stouffer that he prefers United to the Philly expansion team. I’d expect to see both players back under a new coach.

- Playoff picks:

Real Salt Lake over Columbus

Just a gut feeling and I like the pace of Findley over a not fully fit Chad Marshall.

Los Angeles over Chivas

Kansas City is hoping for a blowout resulting in Chivas firing Preki and the left-footer return to his old digs.

Seattle over Houston

Home field gives them the first leg and I don’t trust an aging Dynamo side. Plus, MLS is praying for the Sounders to be in MLS Cup (though they won’t beat LA).

Chicago over New England

I doubt I’ll watch more than 5 seconds of this one.

- One last thing: if you need something long to read at lunch -- or print out for use in the can -- check out this excellent piece by Jonathan Wilson on “false nines” and why teams are successful with them, but then move away from the system.

- Pat Walsh