After an emotional and cathartic weekend for D.C. United, the team was back in action on Tuesday morning outside of RFK Stadium. A couple of injuries, absences and otherwise:
*Right back Jed Zayner’s left hamstring strain may not be as bad as initially thought. Coming off a game in which he made crucial plays at both ends, setting up Josh Wolff’s goal and making a goal-saving tackle on Dilly Duka in the box, Zayner said that he felt a lot better.
“It’s not as bad as we thought, but it’s still a hamstring,” said United head coach Ben Olsen. “He’s day-to-day.”
*Devon McTavish also rode the recumbent bike and juggled the ball a little, giving the faintest of signs that he might just be on the road to recovery back from concussion symptoms after a whiplash-style injury suffered in United’s preseason scrimmage back in February in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
“It’s one of those things where there’s no timeline,” said McTavish. “It’s been about six weeks, and the last couple of days have actually been an improvement so we’re not trying to rush anything with the history of concussions here. Benny’s understands. Brian Goodstein the trainer understands. It’s just something that is beyond frustrating, but at the same time, I know the history with [Bryan] Namoff, Alecko [Eskandarian] and Josh [Gros]. It can really damage your career and ruin your life so I’m just trying to take it slow. Hopefully, it’ll be sooner than later.”
*Junior Carreiro (ankle) didn’t practice, and goalkeeper Steve Cronin (wrist), who tweeted Monday that he had a 102-degree temperature, was absent.
*Brandon Barklage is still practicing with the team despite still being without a contract. Olsen continues to say that Barklage is being patient. United has only 28 players on what could be up to a 30-man roster, but United general manager Dave Kasper said last week, without revealing full details on Barklage’s situation, that the team used some of the money that it would’ve spent on those last two roster spots to help pay the team’s homegrown players, which is allowed under MLS rules. So while D.C. appears to have two available slots, it sort of doesn’t.
Olsen, on his review of last weekend’s game: “There’s some stuff, watching the tape, that we can do better with. I think we could possess the ball a little bit better, how we manage a lead, maybe we could do a little bit better in the offensive end. There are a lot of things to work on, but starting on the defensive side, I thought it was a good effort.”
And on whether or not Charlie Davies would start at New England: “That’s stuff we’ll figure out this week, whether or not we start him, look, I think the role he was in was a very good role for him. He’s going to have explosiveness whether he starts or comes in the game. That’s the beauty of Charlie. I thought Joe [Ngwenya] struggled a little bit, but he also does a lot of work for us. He really keeps the back four on their toes with not only a lot of work offensively but defensively. Credit him and Josh to tiring their backs out. When Charlie comes in the game, they’re breathing heavy.”
And, on why he never leapt into the Barra Brava with his shirt off after scoring a goal: “Yeah, because I didn’t want anyone to see how hairy my chest was.”
*D.C. United announced its second international friendly of the season, a July 23 match against Everton, home of U.S. national team goalkeeper Tim Howard. D.C. will also host Dutch club Ajax on May 22.
