After nearly three seasons of enduring the seams of a baseball diamondin the middle of D.C. United’s soccer field, Ben Olsen is treating his first game on this week’s newly installed playing surface like Christmas.
“I’m assuming it looks sharp and looks great,” said Olsen. “But I’m going to wait until game time to check it out.”
With an entirely new grass field — “It’s a thick-cut sod with a synthetic backing, so you can play right away,” said United general manager Dave Kasper — RFK Stadium’s transition back to only hosting soccer is almost complete. The baseball foul poles are nearly all that remain of the Washington Nationals’ former home.
“It’s nice to have our own place,” said United president Kevin Payne. “We’re pretty excited about having a field back that’s a soccer field. We’re a team that likes to play with the ball on the ground so it’s better for us. The better the field is, the better it is. It’ll be nice to not have the baseball inlay, real nice.”
Moreno to miss Chicago match
Jaime Moreno said two weeks ago he wasn’t concerned about maintaining his all-time scoring lead over Chivas USA forward Ante Razov. However, having been called up to the Bolivian national team for World Cup qualifying matches against Uruguay and Colombia, Moreno will miss United’s match against Chicago this weekend and will be able to do little but monitor the scoreboard.
“He’s got to score three more goals to catch me,” said Moreno after scoring his 112th Major League Soccer goal two weeks ago against Toronto. “I just go game by game. Look at the table. Look at where we are [in first place in the Eastern Conference]. That’s all I care about.”
Ravoz, who didn’t play last weekend, is three goals behind Moreno at 109. Chivas plays Thursday at Dallas.
