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DC United’s Host Wizards to Start Five Match Home Stand

No doubt DC United is happy to be home as they approach their 8th of 10 games in 31 days, but despite the miracle 4 points they carved out of their past two road matches, the team is clearly struggling and now has to deal with the loss of another starting defender as well as hosting a KC side coming off a huge win in NE.

So first things first, Marc Burch, who was suspended anyway due to yellow card accumulation, was sent out to take advantage of the break to have scar tissue removed from a troublesome ankle. So, that’s the second starting defender who was suspended, but has stretched those absences into at least a few weeks due to the sudden need for surgery.

Now, on any normal team that would mean you slot in the understudies and away you go. Sadly for DC, the understudies have been woefully deficient and the situation has been exacerbated by Soehn’s waffling on formation and strategy, as well as the fact that the best reserve defenders are all recent acquisitions while the longer tenured defenders have pretty much played their way into the doghouse.

Now Soehn solved Jakovic’s absence down in Dallas by inserting Clyde Simms into central defense and sticking with the 4-4-2. It worked for the most part, but more because of what Dallas did, then anything DC did. If fact, James had a howler of a game and tried to give the game away, but Burch and Quaranta bailed him out with some timely plays to level the match. No, Dallas only played one forward so Simms and James had it relatively easy in central defense covering one guy while the midfield had to help chase the other. Of course both of them scored anyway, so perhaps Simms wasn’t so tactically brilliant after all.

KC will not do that. They play both Wolff and Arnaud high and also frequently send Claudio Lopez or Herculez Gomez deep into the attack from their wide positions. So, Soehn pretty much has to play a 4-4-2, or risk another debacle like the Open Cup match against Seattle, who plays a very similar system to KC (albeit with a lot more speed and precision). Still, KC has fired their coach and has nothing to lose, and are coming off their annual victorious visit to the Razor (where they are an astonishing 7-1-5 since Gillette opened!).

Unfortunately, it’s tough for United to fill out a four man backline when they have only one decent defender. Namoff is about the only guy that can be penciled in without any shudders and twitches. With Janicki banished and John caged, there really is no choice but to go with the same central pairing of James and Simms again. But KC will be a true test of this pair as James will have Wolff and Simms will have to pick up Arnaud, no place to hide in this lineup. Wolff will punish any more foolishness from James like he did scoring two goals in NE off defensive mistakes. Arnaud will make Simms work because he can shoot from distance and make dagger runs, so no laying off or getting too tight either.

But, the real conundrum comes in how to replace Burch on the left. John would seem to be the answer, but only if the question is who DC can trot out there who is most likely to break a bone and give up a critical freekick while at the same time contributing nothing to the offense. Frankly, if we’re asking that question, how did DC all of a sudden become Millwall?

Another option would be the delightfully named David Habarugira. (Best player chant ever: Ha Ba…. Ha Ba Rujeer Ra….. Ha Ba Rujeer Ra…… Ha Ba Rujeer Ra Ra! Repeat. Thanks to Bryan for that one. I still can’t get it out of my head and it’s been weeks!) Unfortunately, Habarugira speaks almost no English and if you think Wicks blew a gasket on Burch for not listening, and those two guys speak the same language, how can you send this poor Burundian, by way of Belgium, into that cauldron? The two have already cost the team a goal in CONCACAF too, that Toluca fiasco five minutes into the game.

Still, my vote is for Habarugira with Simms as mediator, but I suspect Soehn will go with John as the player more likely to slow down Herculez Gomez, maybe permanently. Soehn could throw a twist in too, by playing McTavish in central defense instead of Simms. I would like that much better or even McT playing right back and move Namoff inside. But McT had a dicey time in the defense last year and has not played well overall this entire season, so I can’t see Soehn doing that even though it would solve a major problem in midfield.

If Soehn were to play McTavish in the back and keep Simms in midfield, he is a much better complement to Gomez than any other central player. Olsen might be up to the job, but he does not have the range he once had and while the mind is sharp, the flesh betrays. Jewsbury is not a guy who can be left alone for a second either as he has a cannon for a shot. But if Simms is in the back, it’s a lock Wallace plays that other central role (unless Szetela magically emerges from his own doghouse).

However if Wallace plays inside, that presents problems on the wings. Quaranta can surely play the right side as Lopez will not strain himself to defend his side of the field, but the left is a question mark. Fred or Pontius can line up on the left for sure, but Fred is playing hideously badly lately and Pontius is the only healthy forward besides Emilio and Moreno. Soehn has shown he does not trust Moreno to play 90 minutes, so Pilot is almost certain to play forward. Ely Allen is clearly not an option on the left either if his play against Toluca is any indication, so DC pretty much has no other player than Wallace who can reliably be expected to play the left.

Offensively for DC things should be much better, but that’s like saying an ugly dog is better than no dog at all. Emilio is a shadow of his former MVP self, and worse this offense is not designed to do the things that complement his game the best. He thrives on confusion in the box, but United barely wrinkles the brow much less confuses opponents. The offense is tragically predictable and completely lacking in any kind of decent wide play to open things up for inside players to capitalize on.

So, a year ago it would be nothing to say Emilio would have a field day against a rapidly aging Conrad or a rookie like Besler. As it is, unless Pontius returns to his early year form, DC’s forward line will go quietly into the night yet again. Maybe Moreno will spark a bit, but honestly he’s making plays and no one is there to finish them. Gomez too is trying, but it’s like those guys are playing chess while the rest of the team is skeet shooting.

That’s really the nub of the problem too. These guys are still not playing as a team literally two thirds of the way through the season. The offense isn’t out of ideas; they simply do not know how to support each other when someone has a thought. There’s so much standing around waiting for one of the big guns to win the game instead of reading and reacting to what each player is doing.

So to make a long story short, you see how difficult it is to play any kind of decent lineup when you have injuries to a team that already has veterans playing poorly, most of the reserves demoralized and denounced, newcomers who are struggling to fit in, and some promising rookies who are hitting the wall hard. A team managed right into the ground you might say.

Still, there is always hope and RFK can hide a multitude of sins. United is still undefeated at home in league play and as badly as they are playing DC is on a roll of sorts as they have lucked into 4 points in their last two MLS matches. Plus, KC has never really had much success in RFK, as opposed to NE where they are dominant and where they hung four on NE to break a five game scoreless streak. The opposite is true here, overall DC is 10-4-4 over the Wizards in RFK, and 4-1 since early in 2005, only that brutal season opening loss in 2007 is the only success they’ve had here in almost four years.

DC has to win too. The season is winding down and United is on the outside of the playoffs at the moment. This is the first of five straight at home, but it’s not quite as simple as that. DC plays KC, and Seattle four days later this Saturday, then has a break until the end of September. Six points is imperative because anything less and all the teams around DC in the standings will have played three matches in that same time frame to catch up their games in hand. If DC drops any points now, they could be miles down the standings in three weeks.

The one thing this team has shown is that they will show up to play once their backs are against the wall. You wish they would start the matches with such intensity, but there you go, this team is still a work in progress. However, one would hope they would notice their backs are against the wall right now, and some veterans are literally playing for the next contract. This is the more winnable game than Seattle will be, so the full three points is monstrously important.

United’s season likely rides on this weeks games. If DC wants to have any kind of control over their own destiny, they need to start this homestretch off with a win tomorrow night which hopefully will start a decent roll in MLS play. DC’s high dollar veterans simply have to show they are worth the money now that the chips are down. However, if DC tanks the next two matches, then it will surely be time to start saying goodbye to some long-time sacred cows on the roster as the youth movement will surely be speeded up for next year.

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