D.C. United didn’t put its entire roster through a full session on Thursday as it ramped up for Sunday’s nationally televised rivalry game with the New York Red Bulls (ESPN2, 6). A few players who’d played 90 minutes against both New England last weekend and Montreal on Wednesday called it a day early, even if the weather was glorious. It’s not supposed to be on Sunday, with rain and cooler temperatures expected.
Defender Emiliano Dudar did participate in full training after missing the Impact game with a hamstring injury. Dejan Jakovic, still nursing an ankle sprain, was not present.
“He looks okay,” United coach Ben Olsen said of Dudar. “He maybe could’ve got through the last game. But with Dejan out, we decided to be let him get another day or two to fully recover and hopefully be okay in the next day or two.”
Dudar’s presumed return against the Red Bulls will allow Robbie Russell to move back out the wing instead of Chris Korb. Olsen also hinted pretty clearly that the lineup could likely resemble the one he used to win at the Revolution, or at the very least that neither goalkeeper Bill Hamid nor Andy Najar haven’t quite won their spots back in the first 11.
Olsen was asked Hamid was handling his demotion to the bench.
“It’s not easy, right?” Olsen said. “It’s not easy for anybody. It hasn’t been easy for Andy, Bill even Chris [Pontius]. But you look at Chris’ response. There are the right ways to respond in this situation, and the wrong way. Chris did it the right way. He waited for his chance, came in and did a good job. That’s what we want. We’re a little skewed here in the MLS, I think, with how professional sports work.
“This is how you want to be. Someone goes away with the national team or the Olympic team and comes back and someone filled in and did a great job and you’re starting to get results. Those are the breaks, and it’s going to continue that way, and it’ll work vice versa. Again, I have faith in Bill and everybody down the line. I showed that by starting those guys. We got a lot of games coming up, and we’re going to need everybody.”
United general manager Dave Kasper also isn’t concerned with the lack of production so far from Hamdi Salihi.
“He’s done a lot to help the team,” Kasper said. “He’s obviously not scoring goals. He’s not the only DP that doesn’t have any goals, but he’s done a lot on the field to help the team be successful, an enormous amount of work. There’s an adjustment period for him, but we believe in him. Once we figure him out and he figures out our league, as the team is gelling more each game, he’s going to find the back of the net.”
D.C. United has also not made up its mind about the future of Branko Boskovic, whose contract expires this summer.
“Branko is kind of where he was last year,” Kasper said. “He’s got his fitness now. He’s finding his rhythm. We have a lot of games to play here in the next two months so we’ll take our time with that decision.”
