Match Previews

DC United Looks to Beat Back Toronto FC

DC United certainly put up much more of a fight against Real Madrid than Toronto FC, but fact remains, both teams lost comfortably to the Spanish powerhouse, and with a mere point separating the two teams in the Eastern Conference with only about 10 games to play, both teams will be desperate to score points as well as put that humbling experience as far from their minds as possible.

Obviously, Toronto has the most to gain right at the moment considering they have never even made the MLS playoffs before and are already out of CONCACAF play, while DC has more league and CONCACAF trophies than Toronto has years of existence by a factor of four. But, points that’s the past and points are hard to come by nowadays in MLS, so if DC thinks this is their daddy’s Toronto FC, they are in for a rude awakening.

Clearly, going on pedigree’s, DC united should win in a romp. United has only been defeated by Toronto once ever, a 1-0 squeaker with a goal by Dichio over a year ago in BMO Field. Overall, DC is 5-1-1 against Toronto including a rousing 3-3 tie earlier this season in RFK against the Reds. But, Toronto is miles better than they have ever been and their current incarnation could easily be trouble for DC who has shown very little to hang your hat on the road.

Both teams will be recovering from a very humbling experience of losing badly to SuperClub Real Madrid, but DC may have garnered a bit more respect for their 3-0 loss than Toronto got for their 5-1 drubbing based on the quotes afterward by the Madrid players and coaches. However, faint praises by victorious teams are all but worthless in the MLS reality, where two teams who have very high expectations for the MLS playoffs are a mere point apart in the standings with 10 games to go.

Both teams do have a pretty solid stable of players at the moment. Toronto might be missing Marvell Wynne and Amado Guevara could be a bit winded after his 90 stint with Honduras midweek, but that’s about it. DC has Ben Olsen suspended for yellow card accumulation, and maybe Namoff or Quaranta might be hobbled by a hamstring strain, but again, that’s hardly earth-shattering news for either side to accommodate for.

However, in a lot of ways, this is a swing game for the Eastern conference. Assuming Chicago and the Crew continue to hoard the top of the table, then DC, Toronto, and NE with 3 games in hand will be in a dogfight for the last possible playoff slots. And obviously tiebreakers heading into those final weeks could be huge. Considering DC and Toronto have already tied 3-3 in RFK and this is the last match between the two clubs this year, that means this one is for all the marbles come playoff time.

Looking at the lineups, DC should have a bit of an edge, except for some recent developments that might well present a problem for the Black and Red. Moreno and Emilio are both extremely competent forwards obviously, but Emilio came out of the Real Madrid match with a bit of a hamstring twinge. Moreno too has yet to play 90 minutes in a big time MLS match, and both Quaranta and Pontius have leg issues that could compromise their ability to help out. Things become a lot more sketchy as Khumalo’s wrist is still in a cast and N’Silu is out indefinitely too so the forward ranks could be a bit thin right at the moment.

Santino may well play, but Pontius is already ruled out of this match at least. Now, if Moreno and Emilio are good for most of the match, then happy days for DC, but if not, that means trouble as Fred and probably Quaranta must play those crucial outside midfield positions with Gomez, Jacobson (for the suspended Olsen), and Szetela (maybe Wallace who has looked pretty good in central midfield) for the recently recovered Simms to round out the midfield.

Defensively, DC will surely play Namoff, Jakovic and Burch in the back and it will be interesting to see how Burch especially responds to the signing of David Habarugira, and the trade for Julius James, either of which are clearly a shot across his bow as Habarugira is a left back and as well as James, a central defender in a 4-4-2, either of which would be his positions before those two players were added this week.

As for current trends, clearly DC is not all that menacing on the road having only won one contest, the miracle in NY, while Toronto is pretty decent at home going 4-3-3 to date and that’s before they added Canadian National team leading scorer Ali Gerba to the roster, as well as bolstered the defense with a couple very solid young players in Emmanuel Gomez and Nana Attakora. So, obviously Toronto has the edge in current form despite their rather more painful drubbing by Real Madrid.

Now, all that said, bottom line for DC is that they need to shore up their hideous road defense or this match is a certain loss. The lost marks on defense and set plays as well as hideous penalty kicks are almost painful to watch. Poor clearly Burch feels the pain too. In El Salvador, he was tragically called for yet another PK when he was obviously just waving his arms frantically so the coaches and the fans would see that he to was just as distressed as they were that he had yet again lost his man on a set play.

So, clearly a drastic cram session on marking assignments has to be conducted or it will be more of the same shoddy defending that has seen DC fail to gain all three points in 7 of 11 road matches. Especially after the Houston match where Quaranta, Namoff, and Wallace were all negligent on their defensive responsibilities, if DC isn’t a lot more tight and contrite, then matchups and strategies are meaningless.

Which is not to say the defense is solely at fault. Oh No. There’s plenty of blame to go around on the road. Misses in front of goal, craptacular giveaways in midfield, whatever DC has surely done it in spades. United is pretty much the only team to play a 3-5-2 in MLS and that formation is imperatively dependant on the midfield controlling much of the action. When that does not happen, the defense can unfairly look like clowns tumbling out of a phone-booth.

So, assuming Soehn has got his wayward charges under control, DC could well have some very nice advantages in the various matchups around the field. Gerba should not be too much of a concern for Jakovic who has seen him for years in the Canadian Nats. Barrett is also not much of a concern to anyone who has seen him sky shots wide and high for the majority of the past three years. Now, Dichio, who has 3 of the 5 total goals scored by TFC against DC is clearly a concern, but he is winding down his rather non-descript MLS career pretty rapidly.

Guevara and DeRosario are huge concerns in midfield, but Guevara might be a bit winded from his Honduran exploits midweek, and anyway, United’s 5 man midfield has always caused problems for Toronto, even if Olsen is out and Simms is still not ready to start. Szetela, Jacobson, and Wallace all have looked decent enough to handle Toronto well enough. Especially if Quaranta or Fred (depending on which side of the field they play) severely hamper Argentine Pablo Vitti from influencing the attack much.

So bottom line, DC has some decent advantages if they play to their abilities. Now if they stick to their current road playbook where they go walkabout for 15 or 20 minutes at a time giving up 2-3 goals that they have to scramble to make back up, then all bets are off. DC will clearly lose, maybe tie at best.

This is a big test for DC United. The road has not been kind and the schedule hots up dramatically from here on out with CONCACAF and all. So, while it’s quite possible they can qualify for the playoffs and survive CONCACAF dropping points on the road like Hansel and Gretel hemorrhaged breadcrumbs, but I doubt it. Now would be a good time for some confidence building in a place where they have had success in the past and against a team they know well, as well as having a left handed boost in confidence from Real Madrid no less.

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