DC United threw everything they had at New York Red Bulls and came up short. On one hand, they created seven shots from the center of the box. On the other hand, they started a best eleven on the road against one of only two truly elite teams in Major League Soccer with a huge home match looming in two days.
Upcoming matches against the Union and Atlanta United certainly aren’t easy games, but they are at home, and when you have one win on the road and one loss at home, where would you expect to earn points? (also Wayne Rooney traveled back to England last week and “was still getting his legs back” before the game according to Ben Olsen).
The decision to start Wayne Rooney, Lucho Acosta, Paul Arriola, and the now-potentially-injured Yamil Asad (“He tweaked his ankle. We gave him a chance to run it off but it was significant enough that we changed him,” Olsen said after the match) is even stranger when considered in the context of the team’s other options: Darren Mattocks has been very good in 2018, and Zoltan Stieber has been serviceable if not more. Yet, along with the young-and-talented Chris Durkin, these players put minimal minutes on their legs while Rooney and the rest of the crew that has driven the bus of success in recent weeks came up empty against one of the most physically taxing opponents in the league.
All the better for the Union, though. Philly will face a DC United squad that has been very good at home but will be on very short rest. Sunday night’s match against Red Bulls was a slog; DC was not bad, but they were worn down by a grinding New York press and failed to threaten. Asad needed to constantly check in off the left to provide an extra body in midfield, leaving United one-sided and fighting out a battle in tight spaces against a team perfectly happy to grind you into dust if you can’t switch fields. A quick look at DC’s passing chart before Kaku’s winner shows that Red Bulls could have placed their defensive third on AirBnB and the renter would have had quite a bit of privacy on Sunday night.
If the lost points and energy weren’t enough, now United may be down one Asad. In contrast to Paul Arriola’s industry, Asad plays a smart, connecting role on the left flank and does yeoman’s work protecting his left back. If he’s not available, DC may need to move Arriola to the left and start Stieber on the right. This is fine for the Union since it will likely make it easier to advance up their right side.
DC welcomes the Union to Audi Field for the first time this Wednesday at 8PM EST. Watch live on PHL17!
