At this stage of the regular season, it’s a foregone conclusion that Luciano Emilio’s final numbers for the year aren’t going to be what he and D.C. United had both hoped.
With four games remaining in the regular season, Emilio has nine goals and two assists, numbers far closer to last year’s showing (11 goals, 5 assists) than his soaring inaugural MLS campaign in 2007 (20 goals, 1 assist).
The latter goal-scoring rate earned Emilio a MLS most-valuable player award and more than doubled his salary, from just under $300,000 two years ago to designated player status of more than $750,000 last year.
But the reality of a second straight subpar year has taken its toll on the Brazilian, who’s clearly as concerned with being yanked off the field as he is with putting the ball in the net.
“I think every forward have pressure to score a goal,” said Emilio after knocking in two second-half goals against Marathn on Thursday. “… But I would like to say thank you to [head coach] Tommy [Soehn] for the confidence. He could have took me out after the first 45 minutes. But the guys gave me a lot of confidence, too. Everybody pushed me up, and I think it was a good reaction on my part.”
The support remains from Emilio’s teammates. Even if he doesn’t have an MVP season, United (8-6-12) needs his goals if they’re going to make the playoffs.
“Frankly, he’s been playing pretty good for the last month, as far as holding the ball up, and his work rate’s been good,” said United midfielder Ben Olsen. “Unfortunately, in the striker’s world, there’s a lot of pressure, and if you don’t hit that one chance, you get a lot of heat.”
