San Jose at D.C. United, RFK Stadium, 7:30 p.m., Comcast SportsNet (Tony Limarzi, Thomas Rongen on the call)
The first part of D.C. United’s season is over. When exactly the second part began isn’t exactly clear and there’s still a third phase to come, but what is certain is that United is longer satisfied with simply being competitive in matches. Having gone unbeaten in their last five games, including picking up four points on the West Coast over the last two weekends, D.C. has risen three places in the Eastern Conference since its last league match here at RFK Stadium nearly a month ago, from sixth to third.
“I’ve broken the season up to the men in three different stages,” United head coach Ben Olsen said on Friday. “First, let’s get our identity down. Let’s get a winning mentality, a mentality about fighting teams and outworking teams and becoming a team. I think that part is getting there. The next part is adding some better soccer, a more cutthroat approach in the final third and winning games that we tie. And that final third, hopefully we become the team that is ready to compete for playoffs and trophies. Now, it doesn’t always work that way, but that’s how it I envision it. The first part has been pretty good, ups and downs, just like we thought. But I think the mentality is better, but we need to keep moving forward in every aspect of this if we want to be the team we all want to be.”
That sets the stage for a showdown with San Jose, which owns the exact same record (4-4-4) and has been equally impressive in its last five matches, garnering a 3-0-2 record during that span. Of course, they’ll be without forward Chris Wondolowski (6 goals), who is with the U.S. national team in Tampa to face Panama tonight, but Steven Lenhart and Simon Dawkins, who each scored in San Jose’s latest victory, could prove just as much to handle in the attack tonight.
D.C. United is sticking with the same starting lineup from last weekend’s scoreless draw at the Los Angeles Galaxy, meaning Charlie Davies and Dax McCarty will start on the bench. The player of the day is Andy Najar, since bobbleheads of the 18-year-old are being given out to the first 10,000 fans.
The full slate of starters: Bill Hamid, Chris Korb, Perry Kitchen, Ethan White, Daniel Woolard, Najar, Clyde Simms, Fred, Chris Pontius, Blake Brettschneider, Josh Wolff.
