Having watched a good portion of last night’s Designated Player matchup I am again reminded that while individuals can make an impact in moments, it’s the whole team that wins or loses a game. Obvious stuff, but easy to forget when the hype swirl around Henry, Marquez, Angel, Ljungberg and Castillo would have you think we were about to see these 5 guys play between themselves in some sort of Yuen Woo-ping gravity defying super-powered action.

Henry left early with a groin strain, not good but probably just being cautious. But he hadn’t done a ton before that anyway, though it’s not entirely his fault. He had poor service, and Marquez, for as calm as he was interrupting play and delivering the ball to the wings, couldn’t quite deliver a 50 yard pass to his striker’s foot. There looked to be loads of open space in the middle of the red bulls attack with no one willing to manage the area, while the Fire came forward well with their latest DP, Freddie Ljungberg.