Projecting D.C. United’s lineup vs. Chivas USA

El Salvadoran Manuel Salazar also trained with D.C. today. The former Firpo defender is a free agent, but it’s pretty clear that United has its sights set higher. I’d anticipate only a couple more weeks before the first prized summer signing materializes. There are indications that it is definitely close.

Now, onto the rest of the starters for tomorrow’s match against Chivas USA. What will Onalfo tell us?

“I don’t want to reveal too much,” he said. “It’s an important game for us, but I think, if you’re an astute person, you could see in the first half, there were a lot of good things, and there were a lot of good things in the second half, too, in terms of finding a way to be successful. The good thing is we feel like we have some options so we’re making progress, and we’ll look at all those things, as with the injury situation to figure out what our starting group will be.”

Hmm, so Luciano Emilio at forward coming off his first goal of the year? Actually, don’t be so sure. He has a hip flexor injury, was only on the bike today and will be a game-time decision.

Let’s pencil in Danny Allsopp in his spot instead. Alongside him, I’d venture to say Santino Quaranta, Andy Najar, or Adam Cristman. Cristman, by the way, missed the AC Milan match with a bad cold.

From there, to the midfield, where Quaranta or Najar seem likely to hold down one wing, and Chris Pontius is an emphatic lock at the other.

“I told Chris after the [AC Milan] game, it was an outstanding 45 minutes, in terms of complete play,” said Onalfo. “He doubled down and helped [Rodney] Wallace deal with Pato, and at the same time, he was menacing going forward and was explosive. He looked world class, and that’s kind of what we’ve expected from the beginning. He had not been healthy the entire preseason. He had that lingering hamstring injury so those are the qualities we saw in the 45 minutes. Those are the things we want to see moving forward on a regular basis.”

Team captain and center back Carey Talley echoed the sentiment.

“Chris works hard, and he’s able to create his own opportunities and combine with guys,” said Talley. “I think that should help us, and you know he’s a guy that wants to get forward but also help defend, and that’s what we need right now. We need guys that are committed to defending as a unit. We can’t just put it all on the back four every time we talk about defense because we’ve got to adjust to things that are going on in front of us. I think it’ll be a good thing to have him on the field in that aspect.”

Going back to Onalfo’s initial statement, it would seem logical that coming off his first D.C. United start, Stephen King should get a chance again Saturday in an MLS setting, partnering with Clyde Simms in the center midfield. And as long as everyone is healthy, don’t expect any changes from the back line of Talley, Juan Manuel Peña, Jordan Graye and Rodney Wallace.

And I’ve been known to be wrong (ahem, Robbie Findley making the U.S. roster).

As for United’s approach to building on the momentum after upsetting the Rossoneri, “What I was telling our group is we need to be even more disciplined and more concentrated because if you’re playing against an AC Milan, it’s easier to do that because the players are so talented and they almost never do unforced errors,” said Onalfo. “They connect passes and everything, whereas in an MLS game, everything is more fragmented, it’s more back and forth and there are errant passes. That requires more discipline on the ball and concentration so we need to even pick is up another notch. We know it’s an important game, and we’re ready.”

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