Season ends with 1-0 loss and Davies on the bench Sporting Kansas City 1, D.C. United 0
Down by a goal late into stoppage time on Saturday at RFK Stadium, the opportunity was there, as it had been frequently throughout the year. Santino Quaranta’s long cross found Andy Najar wide open on the right side. The 18-year-old winger nodded the ball back across the goal mouth, where Josh Wolff was charging.
There was no surprise, however, when the veteran striker’s courageous header clanged off the crossbar and the whistle sounded on a 1-0 loss to Sporting Kansas City to fittingly end D.C. United’s 2011 campaign.
“I think the last play of the game sums up our season,” Quaranta said. “We created chances tonight, changed the formation a little bit. They didn’t have a whole bunch, and the guys worked hard. I mean, that’s all you can ask in the end, right?”
If so, then the lone goal that allowed Kansas City (13-9-12, 51 points) to clinch the top spot in the Eastern Conference also didn’t come as a surprise, the result of a corner kick D.C. United (9-13-12, 39 points) couldn’t quite clear in the 54th minute. Kei Kamara’s header first hit the post, and Matt Besler had time and space to take a touch away from D.C.’s goal before turning to shoot.
“Getting goal on a set piece is always disappointing, but it’s something that’s haunted us, too,” United head coach Ben Olsen said. “But we know what we need. I know what we need for next year.”
Those needs seem ever more unlikely to include forward Charlie Davies, who failed to appear off the bench, giving him 75 minutes in United’s final four games and zero goals in their final nine.
“I couldn’t expect to do any better than I did,” said Davies, who finished with 11 goals and 26 appearances in his first full season back after being severely injured in a car accident just over two years ago. “I think I did a great job for what was asked of me. The season I knew was going to be ups and downs, but I think it’s a little bitter to have the season end like this.”
“I look at it as a huge step for him,” Olsen said. “He’s probably not very happy with the playing that he’s had, and he has scored 11 goals. I look at it as a wonderful comeback.”
Olsen also said D.C. United’s pursuit of pieces to put around Dwayne De Rosario will be one of his primary objectives of the offseason. The MLS most valuable player candidate came closest to adding to his league-high 16 goals with a rebound he lifted over the bar in the first half and a back heel deflection in the second. He should’ve had his 13th assist when he put through Stephen King in the 38th minute, but Kansas City goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen’s back leg was there for the desperate kick save to disappoint the crowd of 15,965.
“He’s changed the entire team,” Olsen said. “We needed that player, and we haven’t had that player probably since Jaime [Moreno]. It’s really nice as a coach to have a guy like that. Now it’s my job to give him a little bit more support both up top and in the back, and make this group a better team.”
Olsen, in his first full season, knows that the opportunities he and his team missed during the year, particularly during a 0-5-1 slide to close out the season, were plentiful. But that only makes them similar to the ones that lurk just around the corner.
“I’m not in over my head, I’ll tell you that much,” Olsen said. “I feel I’m partly proud of what I’ve done this year. But I’m also pretty hard on myself, and I know that I could’ve got this team to the playoffs, and maybe that’s the part that was green on my end.”
*D.C. United midfielder Clyde Simms left the game in the 17th minute after blocking a cross with his head. As of the game’s end, he was being evaluated for a likely concussion.
