14 September 2005

Badly Drawn Boys

DCU 1 : 1 CD Universidad Catolica

How do you feel after a draw? You didn't lose, but you didn't win. The result demands mixed feelings. But I remember the Pumas game, how I felt DCU was completley jobbed by the PK awarded at the end. No such feelings this time. It was DCU with the late equalizer.

The road ahead is not easy, but it feels easier than the UNAM Pumas was. DCU has, I'd say, about a 1 in 4 chance of pulling this out. Not great odds, but better than most. That's the thing about DCU, and why I love this team. If you ask the question Can they win? the answer is almost inevitably "yes." You never follow a DC game feeling that there's no chance.

When I was liveblogging yesterday, I was worried that DCU would be jobbed. That the ref would disallow a key goal, or award a dubious foul. While I don't agree with all the calls, I have to say my fears were not confirmed, the game was called -- if not completley down the middle -- close enough to it that you can say it wasn't an obstacle to a DCU win.

The first leg is over, and the Rapids are next before anyone books a flight to Chile. Time to refocus, to push the strange, ambigous feelings into the back of the mind, and prepare once again to defend RFK.