Post-Loss Rant: Union Fall to Crew

• by Conor O'Grady
• August 21st, 2011
• News, Opinion
• 6 Comments

By now you’ve read a few analyses and breakdowns of the U’s loss to the Eastern Conference leaders, the Columbus Crew.  By now you’re sick of hearing about the Union’s inability to put it together in the final third.  By now you’re sick of hearing about Union losses caused in large part by ridiculously shitty officiating.  By now you’re sick of ridiculously shitty officiating.

By now you’re wondering if the Blue and Gold can hang on to a playoff spot that seemed all but guaranteed.

Let’s be clear- a human arm scrunched up against a human torso does not a handball constitute.  The call against Sheanon “Trebuchet” Williams was lame, as so very, very many calls in this pathetically officiated league are.  But lame calls are overcome-able, as most obstacles are overcome-able, if someone would just score.

Velkjo Paunovic’s header off of Keon Daniels’ 42nd-minute corner kick was equal parts beautiful and frustrating- beautiful because it was the kind of good old fashioned set-piece header that makes set pieces worth having, frustrating because it’s a rare sight for Union fans.  A clean and clinical finish shouldn’t be cause for (too much) celebration.  It should be the standard ending to a great play.

Paunovic shows glimmers of a finisher’s touch.  Mwanga showed a glimmer of his former badass and confident self with a 40-yarder that Crew goalie Will Hesmer barely pushed away.  Peter Nowak showed a glimmer of seriousness about getting this offense in shape when he dumped Carlos Ruiz and snatched up Freddy Adu, and Adu has shown glimmers of offensive leadership that spell hope in the long run.

But glimmers don’t make a run for the cup.  Glimmers glimmer and fade into the same pool of non-existence to which we consign all that could have been.  The road to glory is paved with consistency, and the Union’s ever-shifting offensive cast of characters has precious little time left to establish some.

Transfer season is over.  Hopes that rested on finding the right guy can and should be laid to rest for the year.  What we need now is a team.

A team isn’t just a group of men wearing the same color shirt.  It’s a group of men wearing the same color shirt who develop connections and reliance on each other to the point of transcendence.  A team has leaders and playmakers and trigger-man finishers, none of whom can do what they do without the others.

A team becomes exponentially more than the sum of its parts, because no one can do it;  Mwanga can’t do it, Le Toux can’t do it, Adu can’t do it- none of them can do it, any more than Carlos Ruiz could do it. There’s certainly nothing wrong with a good transfer bringing a dynamic new factor into the mix, but that only works when there’s a stable structure to begin with.

North of the back four, this year’s Union has never really looked like a team.  It looks like a bunch of super talented dudes in blue who don’t have enough of a rapport with each other to get it done.  That kind of situation doesn’t breed confidence, and confidence is a must when there’s less than a second to make the move that wins the ballgame, which is pretty much always.

We can point fingers at management for the constant experimentation that makes it terribly hard for an offense to gel, but that’s neither productive nor entirely fair.  The only direction to look is forward, and the only factor the Union is missing is chemistry.

Until these snake-crested heroes click into place with each other, none of them are gonna be able to do what’s necessary to overcome the tough odds, the stacked Western conference, and the clinically retarded referees that stand between here and Cuptown.  To paraphrase a quote from HBO, Autumn is Coming.  The only thing stopping the men of Union from tearing glory from the hands of those brisk Fall days is the space between them.

 On a somewhat related note:

The Sons of Ben, The IllegitmateS, and Kildare’s are joining forces at the tailgate on Sept 10th (vs. Portland) to raise a whole big buttload o’ money to benefit Miles4MJ, a charity for sufferers of NF (Nuerofibromatosis), a little-known disease that, long story short, gives kids tumors.  Help the medical community figure this thing out by getting YOUR ass to the tailgate.  SIGN UP HERE.