Who was the one guy I didn’t see training fully with D.C. United today? That would be goalkeeper Josh Wicks, who was riding the bike and trying to get over his hip flexor strain sustained late in last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Chicago.
As for the rest of the injury report: Devon McTavish (head wound), Fred (hamstring), Santino Quaranta (hamstring) and Greg Janicki (head wound) were all out there. In order, here’s their listing on the official injury report: doubtful, probable, questionable and probable. Okay, then.
Jaime Moreno said he took it easy on Christian Gomez despite Bolivia’s 6-1 thrashing of Argentina yesterday. He gave a couple thoughts on Houston — “We have to be cautious about it because they have a good team, and they’ve been playing together for quite a while” — and his fitness — “I feel like I can go whatever the coach wants me to go. He’s the one who decides, the one who sees, and if he sees that I’m not right for 90, then I just got to keep working.”
If I recall in the past, coming on a substitute hasn’t really suited Moreno in the past. I’m not saying that it will happen this weekend, just that managing his expectations is not an easy one.
Goalkeeper Louis Crayton said he’s one hundred percent — that he’s lost three pounds each of the last two weeks.
Quaranta joked that his wife doesn’t like coming to games when he isn’t playing. On a more serious note, he said that his hamstring injury may have helped him reach an even better fitness level. He also was appreciative of United’s newfound depth: “I think the guys that have come in have done phenomal. I think Chris [Pontius] and Rodney [Wallace] have been great. They’ve been fun to watch, and they’ve worked hard, and they deserve to be on the field right now. That’s the way it should be. Until we get our chance or whatever happens, we support our teammates. But they’ve been good and they deserve to play.”
Wicks also said he could see the difference. He tried not to bash Los Angeles last year, but he didn’t shy away from admitting how bad the Galaxy defense was: “When it comes to game time competition on the field, you can tell there’s a little bit of a change. For instance in L.A., when we switched out our whole back line, we were already letting in goals, but they continued to come in. When we switched it around, you didn’t really see the confidence in the players. You could see that difference. Here, I don’t see that difference. You can switch out the whole back line and the keeper, and it’s not going to change.”
Lastly, a quick comment from newly acquired John DiRaimondo on Gomez and last year in Colorado, a storyline I’m intrigued with: “I love with playing with Christian. I think Christian’s a great player. It’s good to see another familiar face. I think he just fell out of favor a little bit, but Christian’s obviously a great player. He’s come here and started to do well already.”
