With a chance for his team to potentially make a leap into first place in the Eastern Conference, D.C. United coach Ben Olsen has made a couple of curious changes to his starting lineup against desperate Toronto FC (0-8-0), which arrives in Washington after playing on Wednesday. The Canadian side flew home on Thursday, slept, trained on Friday then flew to D.C.
United (6-4-3) is tied with Sporting Kansas City (7-3-0) with 21 points, one point behind New York (7-3-1). The other two teams both play tonight.
Josh Wolff, who has played a total of 90 minutes all season, will make his first start of the year, partnering at forward with Hamdi Salihi. The pairing allows Dwayne De Rosario to move back to his preferred, or usual spot in central attacking midfield. He is the only D.C. United player to start every game this season.
But more interestingly, that means that Branko Boskovic, coming off his solid showing on Wednesday against Colorado, will play left midfield for the first time since his first season in 2010. Three thoughts here: first, Lewis Neal didn’t earn any reward for his two assists against the Rapids, and that has been pretty standard this season for Olsen. Second, there’s no telling how Boskovic will handle the change in assignment, in light of Neal getting snubbed, how comfortable he looked in the middle, and the increased defensive responsibilities he’ll have playing out wide. Any chance De Rosario merits a rest? Third, Wolff has been used less than sparingly this season yet has made the jump all the way into the starting lineup. That’s a bold move to expect his sharpness to be at a top level.
Meanwhile, Andy Najar returns to right back again, where he’ll play behind Danny Cruz, a move that doesn’t make a lot of sense given that Najar is more offensively potent than Cruz, who is more of a reliable hard worker.
At centerback, Dejan Jakovic makes the 18-man roster but now appears to have lost his starting spot to Daniel Woolard while Emiliano Dudar isn’t active.
The full D.C. United lineup: Bill Hamid, Najar, Brandon McDonald, Woolard, Chris Korb; Cruz, Perry Kitchen, De Rosario, Boskovic; Wolff, Salihi.
