Compelling Soccer

Continuing my journey through the CONCACAF Champions league last night, I checked out the Mexican side Toluca face off against Marathon. Pre game anticipating was me wondering where Marathon was exactly. Greece would be a normal guess, but since Greece isn't part of CONCACAF, they could safely be removed. Turns out they're from Honduras. It also turns out it didn't matter, because stink smells the same no matter where you're from, Central America or a swamp. What do I mean? After seven Toluca goals, I don't know what else to say except my opinion of DC United just fell through the floor.


Why do I say that? Because back on August 18th, Marathon beat DC 3-1. Sure, DC was on the road. But let me write this again. Marathon got beat 7-0. SEVEN GOALS TO ZERO. As my girlfriend said when I told her the score at 5-0, "that's a disgrace." That was followed by "are they even trying?" And again, that was at 5-0. Toluca got two more. But that's not all; it honestly could have been worse. Watching that whole game, yes I watched the whole thing, I can say that they were lucky it wasn't 10 or 12 to zero.

So my question is this; how the heck did DC United ever lose to this team?

Look, it was 2-0 at half, and just before the break, Marathon had a player sent off due to his second yellow. They were on the road. But they went on to allow 5 goals in the second half. Plus it wasn't as if they were putting up much of a fight in the first 45. Seriously. Just. What. The. Hell. DC?

There isn't much to say about this game other than that. Toluca went up 2-0 on goals scored about 15 seconds apart, which might be the first time I've ever seen that. The guy who scored the opener looked 14 (Issac Brizuela btw, turns out he's 19). Marathon's keeper looked depressed after goal number five. Maybe goal one was his fault, the others belong to his defense.

Ironically though this loss certainly reflects poorly on United, it helps their chances of advancing. Negative seven will do wonders to kill your goal differential. Marathon is now equal to DC in that department, meaning a DC win against them puts them right back in the thick of things overall. And you'd have to think their chances of securing a win would be high in their next game, considering it will be at home.

Also, I'd be remiss not to say congrats to Toluca, for putting on the most dominating display of soccer I've seen in some time. They looked like a class far beyond their opponents tonight. Which again leaves me wondering:

If Toluca was light years ahead of Marathon, and Marathon beat DC United by 2 goals a month ago, what class is DC in?

The answer will be given on September 24th when the teams meet again. I might have to watch just to see.

Entertainment Rating: 3- What the Hell Was That?: Sure there were some nifty looking plays and bits and pieces might be memorable from this one, but overall, it was snore fest. The only reason this one gets rated this high was because of the spectacle at the end. A minuted into stoppage time at 6-0, I said, "Dammit, I want a seventh goal, just to see a soccer team win by a touchdown." 10 seconds later, Toluca scored. Yeah, it was that kind of night. The Marathon players must have felt like they ran 26 miles, only to shockingly discover they had gone in the wrong direction.

Also, as I post this, I'm going to get my chance to have a little pre work fun with the FIFA demo. I'll post thoughts later.