It’s taken nearly half the season to get there, but with a victory this afternoon in Kansas City, D.C. United would find itself atop MLS’ Eastern Conference standings for the first time this year.
United once again finds itself without a significant portion of its roster, with three mainstays (Jaime Moreno, Bobby Boswell and Ben Olsen) still at Copa America and Bryan Namoff and Guy-Roland Kpene unavailable due to lingering hamstring injuries. But a makeshift lineup didn’t prevent D.C. from earning a resounding 4-1 victory last week against Colorado.
“We’ve said all season that we’ve got a deep team,” said Justin Moose. “In the second half [against the Rapids], we were able to move the ball and get some opportunities. [Today] we’re going in with a chance to move to the top of the leaderboard so it was great job to get three points.”
Head coach Tom Soehn has seen the confidence of his reserves begin to shine through, but he’s still not satisfied.
“I told guys like Justin that I still don’t think he was offensive enough,” said Soehn. “I’ve watched him take on guys all week long, every week in training, and then he got to the game, and he was afraid to do it. That’s where they need to take their chances, especially in the offensive third.”
United announces Etcheverry tribute match
An assembly of star soccer players and celebrities headline a tribute match in honor of legendary D.C. United midfielder Marco Etcheverry prior to D.C.’s final home game on Oct. 20, the club announced Tuesday.
Etcheverry will play with members of United’s 1997 championship team, including John Harkes, Jeff Agoos and Raul Diaz Arce, taking on Hollywood United, which will boast renowned players Carlos Valderrama, Tab Ramos, Alexi Lalas and Eric Wynalda as well as former French national team star Frank LeBouef, and actors Anthony LaPaglia and Vinny Jones.
