I’m not there for the quote session in Philadelphia, but here are three things we learned from D.C. United’s 3-2 loss to the Union:
One result does not dramatically alter the course of a season, at least not at this point. For all the talk about D.C. United not stringing two wins in a row – they haven’t strung two of anything in a row since early July. What’s it been over the last 13 matches? Win, tie, loss, win, tie, win, tie, loss, win, loss, tie, win, loss. United head coach Ben Olsen freely admitted earlier this week that up-and-down was who his team is right now. This is their identity, and the loss tonight showed it. Buoyed by the emphatic win over Real Salt Lake, not nearly enough attention was paid to concentration from the opening whistle and marking Philadelphia forward Sebastien Le Toux. Boom, a two-goal deficit. And the third goal from Michael Farfan, while nifty, was the perfect combination of an unnecessary slide tackle by Brandon McDonald and no backup whatsoever from fellow center back Ethan White, who struggled mightily all evening.
In the end, United (9-9-11) is back to .500 and has lost another precious game in hand in the standings. Whether or not D.C. reaches the playoffs is still likely to be decided by one or two points, but there will be games aplenty to blame if they don’t.
Both injuries and suspensions could affect Sunday’s match at Columbus. Although he added a 14th goal to his MLS scoring lead, Dwayne De Rosario limped off in the middle of the second half, pointing at a spot just under his right knee cap. It remains to be seen what the extent of the injury is, so I’ll stop before any speculation.
But D.C. will be without McDonald, who picked up a yellow card tonight and will miss Sunday due to accumulation. Dejan Jakovic, listed as questionable again tonight with his right hamstring problem, did not dress for the match, and neither did Charlie Davies, who was out with a stomach flu problem.
Olsen’s back line choices for the Crew won’t be easy to make. We’ve mentioned McDonald’s yellow card suspension, Jakovic’s hamstring and White’s awful night. Should the latter two still start on Sunday? If not, Olsen could look at moving Perry Kitchen into the center, but that will come at the expense of his place at right back. Chris Korb could replace him, but he’s played little of late. Daniel Woolard, who lost the left back spot back to Marc Burch, could return, but Burch did not have a strong outing against the Union either. Could bringing in Kurt Morsink to the midfield and sliding Clyde Simms back also be considered? Wasn’t D.C. United trumpeting its depth recently?
The season isn’t getting any easier.
*Two bonus international observations. What on earth is Honduras doing not inviting Andy Najar back into the national team again? And Bill Hamid also made the cut for the U.S. team again. The way I understand it, he’ll be available for the Oct. 8 match in Miami against Honduras but not the Oct. 11 game at Red Bull Arena against Ecuador. From Miami, Hamid will return to D.C. United and make the trip to Vancouver face the Whitecaps on Oct. 12.
