Game Review: DC United 5 - 0 Harbour View FC

The sound we were hoping to hear tonight was "click." So we settled in for the first half and nothing was really audible. All of the ideas were in plain view, most being solid and beautifully crafted, but the execution lagged far behind. And then suddenly when the dam burst in the second half, with all of those gorgeous late runs and multiple-man rushes and more of Fred than we would have ever thought possible, it was still hard to tell if a "click" had floated in over that long-missed roar of the crowd.

One of my favorite things about soccer is the beauty of an unrealized play, and tonight was a showcase of frustrating art. It was impossible to watch yet another broken-up pass without salivating over the missed play that was just inches from fruition. That changed in the second half, with passes finally paying off and combination play picking up, but Harbour View's disaster of an offside trap seemed to say almost as much about the result as did DC's own performance. Whether the team has to adjust to Gallardo's passing or vice versa, the future certainly looked good provided, as usual, just a little more time to gell. In that respect, nothing has really been answered, since it was what we were saying before this series started as well.

As The DCenters would have it: "[W]hile the score may flatter United, it flatters United only in the same a nicely tailored dress flatters an otherwise beautiful woman: It's just that much more." There was much to love in the second half, especially the realization that I was happy enough actively root for Tino Quaranta to score a goal. The defense was uniformly solid and aggressive, the work of Wells reassuring, and fitness seemed to tick up from last week. With all that in mind, I hope and suspect that tonight was the first flash of coming brilliance. It also could have been nothing more than an exposure of Harbour View. But for now, there's really no way to tell and nothing to do but enjoy ourselves.

MOTM - Fred in a landslide. I can always do without the pacifier celebration, but he would have been the Tasmanian Devil tonight if Niell didn't have that resemblance long since wrapped up.