It takes looking at the schedule to be reminded of just how little D.C. United has enjoyed the taste of victory. Thanks to a left-footed Julius James pounce on a loose ball in the box in the 81st minute at Toronto on Saturday afternoon, United (5-16-3, 18 points) claimed its second victory with Ben Olsen as interim head coach, its second league victory in its last nine games (the other seven were defeats), and it’s first road points since a scoreless draw at New York on July 10. Toronto (7-10-7, 28 points) still has a better record, but the loss hurt badly for a team that is quickly falling out of playoff contention. D.C. didn’t gain any ground on getting out of the cellar in MLS, either, since Philadelphia (7-13-3, 24 points) beat Chicago, 1-0, to maintain a six-point margin.
Let’s just skip the talk of scoreless minutes (okay, it was 323) and season shutout records – at the very least, the latter (16) will still be on the line next week, too. It’s talk like this that overshadows preseason videos in which James said the team he most wanted to beat this season was Toronto. I looked all over the D.C. United website, but couldn’t find it.
Speaking of the team’s website, there’s a recap here and some post-match quotes here.
One thing not mentioned is a late scratch from Clyde Simms, who aggravated a groin injury in warmups and was replaced by Kurt Morsink.
