Davies, Wolff missed practices this week
D.C. United has finally got some much-needed depth in defense, but the team now finds itself facing a shortage of attacking options.
D.C. could have as few as one healthy forward at San Jose on Saturday after both Charlie Davies (knee inflammation) and Josh Wolff (hamstring) missed the first two days of training this week. Joseph Ngwenya was also injured in a collision during training on Tuesday and missed Wednesday’s session, leaving rookie Blake Brettschneider, who hasn’t played since taking a boot to the face at New York on July 9, as the team’s only healthy striker.
| UP NEXT |
| United at Earthquakes |
| When » Saturday, 10:30 p.m. |
| Where » Buck Shaw Stadium, San Clara, Calif. |
| TV » Comcast SportsNet |
“It’s not ideal,” United coach Ben Olsen said.
Fortunately, the Earthquakes (5-7-9) might find themselves similarly without one of their main weapons, forward Steven Lenhart (five goals), who had a hat trick in San Jose’s 4-2 win at RFK Stadium on June 11. Lenhart missed last weekend due to personal reasons and through Thursday had not yet returned to training.
“I think he’s a bruiser, man. His job is just to get on defender’s nerves,” said United defender Brandon McDonald, who will face his former team for the first time since being acquired by D.C. last month. “You’ve just got to keep your head. He’s one of those guys that can get underneath your skin a little bit, but that’s part of soccer. You’ve got to be mentally strong for 90 minutes.”
That task remains relevant for United (5-6-8), who have struggled with concentration lapses no matter the opponent. But success has been far more frequent on the road, where D.C. has not lost in its last five games (2-0-3).
United must still contend with forward Chris Wondolowski (eight goals), who was not present for the teams’ first meeting due to U.S. national team duty at the Gold Cup. Defenders Dejan Jakovic and Marc Burch, who returned to action for D.C. against Everton after significant injury layoffs, give Olsen more options for building his back line, though neither looked particularly sharp against the English Premier League side.
Burch expects to push Daniel Woolard and reclaim starting left back. Jakovic has the potential to mesh with McDonald in the middle, but rookie Ethan White leads the cast of D.C. players looking to make amends for allowing Lenhart to run wild on June 11.
“We have three capable center backs now,” Olsen said. “I think it’s good to have that competition, and we’ll see how it progresses.”
At forward, Olsen could opt for Chris Pontius, who scored D.C.’s lone goal against Everton after making the shift from the wing to forward, a position he played as a rookie in 2009.
