The best thing about Saturday’s win over San Jose was that we did it without our “starters.” As I’ve said before, I’m not sold on our subs, namely Ianni, Wahl, and King. So, I was glad to see them do well on Saturday night, helping maintain a solid defensive line, at least for 70 minutes. Then again, San Jose had no offense for the first half, so the bar was pretty low. Then there are those other 20 minutes, when we broke down and let them score.
And about that breakdown: Montero’s crazy fucked-up, forehead slapping pass to San Jose—effectively an assist on their goal after he created our first one and scored our second—only further cements his love/hate relationship with the city. Personally, after watching his half-hearted playing and spending some time psycho-analyzing his online Sounders interview, I suspect it’s simple contempt. As I’ve mentioned before, accusations of sexual assault (dismissed, by the way) can really sour one’s impressions of a city (ask Isaac Brock). Don’t be surprised if he takes the first ticket out of town, even if it means a lower European division, or just back to Cali.
This Wednesday the situation will be different. Weakness, breakdowns, and errors were “ok” against San Jose—after all, they suck, and we won. DC United, however—freshly minted leaders of Eastern Conference, the self-proclaimed “most successful club in American soccer,” claiming 12 national and international titles on their website—will capitalize on every Sounders’ weakness. It took the best possible odds for us to finally bring home a win; what will happen when we face a truly tough opponent at Qwest?
