Desperate But Not Serious

On some level, it's encouraging that coach Dave Sarachan said exactly what I was thinking with regard to last night's drop into last place proper. This is exactly where the platitude of "we had good chances, but couldn't convert" breaks down. If the Fire got the first goal in the first half, and they had ample opportunity to do it, it's a totally different ballgame. The more you miss your chances, the greater the opportunity that the other guys will get a goal against the run of play and put you in a hole.

In the case of last night, then another goal and a bigger hole, and so on.

I still liked what I saw in the first half, particularly with Andy Williams split out wide right and staying there for once, and Craig Capano getting the start in the center of the midfield. I've been wondering on the status of Capano lately. He was clearly drafted as a longer-term "project," and you have to wonder if that project is anywhere near completion. It's looking pretty close.

The continuing mantra this summer is "as long as we stay close, we can make a run when we get roster reinforcements." The other mantra, which I've suggested as a new forum tagline on BigSoccer, is "bad seasons happen." We'll see if the return of Jesse Marsch and Evan Whitfield, along with the new blood Peter Wilt's trying to sign, injects some life into this squad.

My open question on that subject, after watching his first game back with the Wizards this year, is what will it take to pry Igor Simutenkov away from Kansas City, where he might not see much playing time with Davy Arnaud emerging as a star and Preki set to return any day now? We've got a lot of draft picks next year.