Want a frank assessment of where D.C. United stands? Head to defender Carey Talley, who has assumed the responsibility of captain with Jaime Moreno shifting into a reserve role.
I asked him after practice this morning about the formidable Colorado attackers United will face on Saturday, especially Conor Casey, who was snubbed by the U.S. national team earlier this week.
“We’re worried about the whole team, but they definitely have two guys that are very good in attacking, that’s Conor Casey and Omar Cummings,” said Talley. “You know Colin Clark does a good job, and then Mehdi Ballouchy’s doing a good job. Their front six there, they’re pretty tough. But being disciplined and not letting us get broken down through the middle. If we can force them to cross the ball, and having two guys on one most of the game, hopefully we can win every one of those battles.”
As for Casey, “I gotta figure he’s going to be out to prove something. You watch [Real Salt Lake forward] Robbie Findley last night, he probably should’ve had seven goals and didn’t. He came out the first minute of the game, had a chance and missed it, and the second chance, he puts in the back of the net three minutes into the game. He’ll be motivated. If you read what the guys there had to say about him getting snubbed, they’re sorry for him but they want to help him and lift him up. You can tell by the way they talk.”
What about United goalkeeper Bill Hamid, who seems likely to start his third straight game:
“I think he had a good first game. The second game, I think he really had one or two saves to make, and one of them he didn’t really have a chance on the breakaway. With Bill being a young guy, Bill’s got to be the type that he knows that the guy behind, Troy [Perkins], is going to be working 200 percent harder. Every day in the weight room, every day out here on the field, he’s going to be pushing Bill, and so Bill’s got to learn quick as a 19-year-old that he needs to be doing his exercises every day. He needs to be demanding more of himself every day, and it’s going to make him better because he’s got a guy behind him that’s going to push him to his fullest. When it comes down to it, he’s got to make sure if he wants to be the starting goalkeeper, that he’s outworked Troy. It’s not just going to be handed to him because he had a good first game.”
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