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Real Madrid vs. D.C. United: Match Day Commentary

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Good afternoon. It's a hot and humid day down in the D.C. area, with a sea of Madrid-clad fans ready to watch their heroes take on D.C. United. Madrid's second match against MLS opposition will indeed be an interesting when you take into consideration the elements outside.

I'm in the press box at FedEx field, ready to take in all the action. A big crowd is expected on hand today, and if the traffic getting in is any preview, then it's sure to be accurate.

Tune in to FSC at 3:00 PM for all the action, and be sure to follow along and leave your comments below.

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FINALToledo ends today's game. 3-0 Real Madrid, in a fairly entertaining match. United doesn't really prove all that much, and Madrid heads home after two stops in North America. Robben was one of the best players for Madrid, and it'll be interesting to see how Manuel Pellegrini juggles his superstars. That's all from me today, thanks for tuning in, and enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

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90th Minute- United with one last foray forward, comes to nothing on another poor cross.

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88th Minute- The only question remaining is if Madrid gets another goal or not. No stoppage time, I'd expect.

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85th Minute- United fail to get a quality cross in once again. That's been their problem today — that final ball to really open things up. Game is on it's last legs now.

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83rd Minute- D.C. gets the ball in the back of the net, but two players were offside.

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81st Minute- Madrid is more or less in cruise control as the Mexican waves begins in the stands.

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80th Minute- Raul misses a wide open net after Kocic stops Negrado's shot.

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78th Minute- More changes on both sides. Ely Allen on debut for D.C.

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76th Minute- Emilio with a chance, should have dropped it back to Szetela who was wide open. Casillas snares the follow up.

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75th Minute- 72,368 in attendance today. Roughly the equivalent of two and a half league games at RFK.

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73rd Minute- Marc Burch comes out for Avery John, Miguel Torres on for Madrid.

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72nd Minute- Raul takes his turn, rattling the post. With the lineup on the pitch for D.C., it's not a real shocker to how this game has turned.

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70th Minute- Guti on the attack this time, but sends his shot just wide. Let's see how long D.C. can hold on for. Now 3-0.

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68th Minute- GOAL Madrid. Robben behind the defense again, and barely chips it in over Kocic, who looks like he could have kept it out. United players arguing with Baldomero Toledo about it, as Burch draws a yellow.

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66th Minute- Subs all around as Milos Kocic comes in for Wicks, Garay and Guti in for Kaka and Xabi Alonso.

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65th Minute- Changes on the docket for Madrird, as a couple of players look to come on. Guti and Ezequiel Garay, it looks like.

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61st Minute- Wallace with a chance for a dangerous cross, but it sends it over. Simms and Szetela on for Pontius and Moreno.

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61st Minute– Pontius cuts back in the box against Drenthe, who he has been going up against all game. Ref waves it off. Close call.

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58th Minute– Typical United in '09. Playing well for a long portion of the game, but have moments of poor defending. Granted, it is Real Madrid, but this pretty much sums up what their year has been like this season.

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58th Minute– GOAL Higuain. Open the floodgates.

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56th Minute– GOAL Madrid. Gonzalo Higuain dribbles through the United defense, relatively uncontested. You can't like that goal after a strong defensive performance from United. Jacobson comes on for Olsen.

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55th Minute– United now with their best foot forward. Pontius gets by Drenthe but his cross is cleared for a corner.

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54th Minute– Robben is giving D.C. fits at the back, but Janicki blocks the shot.

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52nd Minute– Wicks with a very nice reflex save after Robben embarrasses Marc Burch.

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50th Minute– Not much action in the first five minutes — some shouts for a handball on Jakovic, turned down by the ref.

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47th Minute– Robben can't get his boot on a cross after a Madrid corner. Raul on for Ronaldo and Robben in for Sneijder.

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46th Minute– United draws a corner after a nice shot from distance, but it comes to nothing.

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45th Minute– Emilio starts the second half.

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HALFTIME– No sign of Ronaldo, looks like he's out for Robben.

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HALFTIME– Second half nears as United is back on the pitch. As soon as I see subs, I'll pass it along.

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HALFTIME– The ref ends the first half, after what has been a very entertaining game. United has shown they are no pushovers, though they were able to avoid going up against Benzema. Be sure to tune in for the second half shortly.

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44th Minute– Higuain down on the pitch, and it's time for a water break for everyone.

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42nd Minute– Arjen Robben warming up on the sidelines for Madrid. See him at halftime?

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41st Minute– Wicks with another strong save, after D.C. lets the ball drift to a wide open Drenthe on the wing. His cross finds Higuain, who can't get it past the D.C. goalie. Nice save to keep it scoreless.

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39th Minute– Both teams already look a bit tired. D.C. had a 120-minute game against Firpo on Tuesday, not to mention Madrid playing Friday.

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37th Minute– Jakovic and Janicki haven't looked totally out of their element at the back — a good sign at this point.

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35th Minute– A nice give and go between Gomez and Moreno almost yields for United. More fouls from Madrid. After their cakewalk in TFC, they must be a bit taken aback by this effort.

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33rd Minute– D.C. has taken control of the game the past few minutes, looking like the team in midseason fo
rm. Madrid is content to let them sit back and knock it around.

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31st Minute– United players doing well to keep Madrid on their toes, and as a result get a couple of hard fouls. Set piece for Gomez

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30th Minute– Pontius gets a nice body check from Drenthe after schooling him down the right flank.

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29th Minute– The pace of the game is noticeably slow at times — to be expected by the fact that it is a friendly and awfully hot out.

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27th Minute– Jaime Moreno with a rather audacious volley over. Nice from United though, Drenthe had to clear the ball away from Pontius.

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26th Minute– Whenever United has chances, that final ball is lacking to get behind the Madrid defense.

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24th Minute– United's rookies, Pontius and Wallace have handled themselves nicely. Of all the players on D.C., you might expect them to be intimidated.

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23rd Minute– Madrid with another shot, but they've had just one quality strike on goal that Wicks handled nicely.

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22nd Minute– Madrid on the counter. Ronaldo goes flying down in the box, with a good non-call.

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21st Minute– Ben Olsen vs. Ronaldo. A sight you won't see never again. Kaka just wide after some nice interplay with Higuain, but not a well-struck shot.

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19th Minute– Ronaldo with a shot just wide after he's left wide open. How on earth is one of the best player's in the world left unmarked?

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17th Minute– Madrid with a bit more of the ball at the moment, but United has had a couple of dangerous looks going forward. D.C. needs to be a little bit better with their touches.

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14th Minute– Great save from Wicks. A botched clearance from Wallace bounces straight to Alonso whose shot is saved by the United keeper.

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14th Minute– Strange to see the Barra and Screaming Eagles not bouncing up and down in the stands.

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12th Minute– Fred, who had a shaky performance on Tuesday night, is turning the ball over on the left. Not a good sign.

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10th Minute– United with a better spell of possession. Pontius with a half-chance but is offside. The 3-5-2 is holding up well so far.

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8th Minute– Ronaldo lays it off for Sneijder who blasts it over. Madrid looks like they're in a 4-3-3.

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7th Minute– Madrid with most of the possession at the moment. United can't get into the game.

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5th Minute– Ronaldo with a hard fall. D.C. is not going to back down from this challenge.

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3rd Minute– No one on D.C.'s backline is close to as fast as Ronaldo and Kaka. Keep an eye on that.

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2nd Minute– Huge cheers for Kaka and Ronaldo on every touch. White is the dominant color in the stands.

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1st Minute– Higuain and Kaka gets the game underway.

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PRE-GAME– A nice touch with a moment of silence for the passing of Espanyol player Dani Jarque.

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PRE-GAME– Those black jerseys have to be quite hot in this weather. The humidity is KILLER.

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PRE-GAME– And here come the players.

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PRE-GAME– Big storylines of the game? Not much. It's a friendly, after all. Word is Ronaldo and Kaka must play 45 minutes. Interesting to see if a 3-5-2 can contain Madrid's offense. That, and can a MLS club — aside from the Galaxy — get a decent result in this friendly-heavy summer?

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PRE-GAME– Players about to head on the pitch now that lineups are announced.

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PRE-GAME– Huge cheers for Ronaldo and Kaka. No surprise there.

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PRE-GAME– Madrid lineup: Casillas, Arbeloa, Pepe, Albiol, Drenthe, Sneijder, Alonso, Granero, Kaka, Higuain, Ronaldo.

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PRE-GAME– Apologies for the late start, as I mentioned before traffic was a nightmare.

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PRE-GAME– Here is the D.C. lineup:

————-Emilio———–Moreno————-

Fred—————Gomez—————–Pontius

———-Wallace———Olsen—————–

Burch———-Janicki———-Jakovic———

———————Wicks————————-

Comments

  1. DC played a very respectable game and reflected well on MLS franchises, that are able to run a quality Club.

    They attacked, passed well and played solid defense against potentially Madrid’s starting 11 for this upcoming season (minus Benzema).

    While matches are 90 minutes, United proved their class for the first 60 minutes.

    Makes ya wish the salary cap and financial structure was more inclined to reward Club’s like DC and allow them to sign and develop potential World Class talent if they saw fit.

    Ah well, an MLS fan can dream…

    Reply
  2. I’m ashamed to admit it as a Red Bull fan, but I love watching DC United. They play such a nice style, and have been doing it from day 1. Obviously Madrid is in another league than DC, but United’s attacking style playing w/ the ball on the ground as much as possible still comes through, and is what I dream about for my Red Bulls… Kevin Payne is absolutely right when he says DC is set apart from most MLS teams b/c they have a style all their own, that doesn’t change w/ coaches or players

    Reply
  3. Fred, Jakovic, Moreno, Wicks, Emilio, and Pontius all had great games today. Everyone else played well too, but these guys stood out. As soon as Robben’s speed was introduced in the second half, Marc Burch was exposed, to no one’s surprise.

    I’m disappointed that the scoreline was so lopsided, but I am proud of our effort today. It was a very entertaining game even from a neutral perspective, and I think that if United played that way in every MLS game, we’d be undefeated at this point.

    Reply
  4. Overall, I think this will come down to what these games always come down to, a depth issue. Madrid took out the reigning player of the year, and put in the all time scoring leader of the UEFA Champion’s League. DC United took out Chris Pontius and put in Danny Szetela. DC has shown rather well in my opinion, it’s just that Madrid is that much better, as we all already knew.

    Reply
  5. I’m the furthest thing from a DC United fan, but poseur Eurosnobs make me puke.

    I’d rather they get 65k a game from the local area than all those frontrunner MLS fans from outside the DC area who cheer them on and gloat to supporters of other teams who actually go to games.

    Reminds me of all the Cowboys fans that used to be all over the country when I was a kid.

    Reply
  6. People are stupid, Galaxian. Especially in major metropolitan areas with lots of things going on. See the Galaxy at the Rose Bowl.

    Which makes the Sounders having Qwest Field filled predominantly with people cheering for the Sounders against Chelsea/Barca all the more impressive. (But then, sports-wise what else is going on in Seattle.)

    Reply
  7. I dont understand how they are so many real madrid fans in DC but so few DC united fans. If you really are a fan of the game you enjoy it at all levels. I know at least I do. MLS needs to maximize its potential because it could be as big as NFL.

    Reply
  8. Also, the canadian, Jacovic is showing well too.

    I had a conversation in a previous thread about what it is to watch these friendlies and what they mean (not much in the big picture of things), but I really enjoy when young, previous unheralded players from MLS stand out against the Chelseas, Barcas and Real Madrids: kind of like Gonzalez and De la Garza of LA and Jakovic, Wallaces of DCU. Good for them!

    Reply
  9. Josh Wicks is having a career game!

    ok ok, it’s only a friendly, but you know when he goes home and talks about the game to his family and friends he’s gotta be pumped. Good for him today.

    Reply
  10. Unfortunate for DC to not be a corner there.

    I’m not surprised to see the 3-5-2. It’s what DC usually plays, and Soehn said earlier this week they were gonna play their game, and let come what may.

    Reply

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