New United Finally Unveiled in Jamaica

New United Finally Unveiled in Jamaica

Mike Martin

March 11, 2008

DC United revamped the team by adding some big name talent this off-season, but with the team training almost exclusively away from RFK, tomorrow’s matchup with the Caribbean Champions Harbour View is literally the first opportunity for the team’s rabid local support to actually see how the team performs on the field.

Washington, D.C. And they’ll get some answers right from this first match as there will be no easing into form over the course of a few games. Considering all United’s moves this off-season were designed specifically for these types of big games, and in these types of tournaments where international reputations are won or lost, the pressure for United to succeed in this knockout tournament starts right from the opening whistle of the home and home series against the Jamaicans.

Despite Harbour View being considered the easiest first round opponent, they are a rather tricky team to face for your first real action of the season considering their nothing to lose mentality as the lowest ranked team. Plus, there's always the possibility that United hasn’t quite found good enough form yet, or worse, DC might take the Jamaicans a little too lightly. But at least United knows the Jamaican side pretty well having played them in the 2005 version of this tournament, advancing easily with two 2-1 wins, as well as following the team the past few weeks.

As Mark Simpson put it recently, “We know what type of atmosphere, what type of field conditions we’re going to get. I would expect a lot of the same things from them, they’re an athletic team. We’re just going to have to deal with their style of play, which is very direct. The field conditions down there don’t bode well for a pretty game. We just have to be aware of that, go down there and get some kind of result, and then take care of business at home where we’ll be in front of our fans.”

Tommy Soehn chipped in with his keys to success against Harbour View as being a bit more general to the team playing their style and letting the results take care of themselves. “It’s the same philosophy as we always have. We’re a possession team, we try to control the game by controlling the speed of play. Making sure we can stretch the field and get our service in. Make sure we do things to put key guys in the right spots.”

Without a doubt, Emilio, Moreno, and Fred are some of the key guys he hopes find those spots, but there will be some other key guys who will be facing their first big test on this side of the Panama Canal. At least three new South Americans will start right down the spine of the team, and depending on how the team handles the continued absence of Ben Olsen, there might even be another new face on the right side to go along with a new goalkeeper behind a revamped backline.

Zach Wells will almost surely start for departed Troy Perkins in goal, but of all the new players, he’s probably the least likely for concern as he’s a veteran of MLS who helped Houston to an MLS Cup last season and played well against international competition in Superliga as well. But, how well he’s worked out signals with the new defense in front of him will certainly be eagerly anticipated, especially as simple miscommunications often get mercilessly punished in this tournament.

Indeed, the play in the center of defense overall is likely to be of crucial interest to United fans. DC specifically went out to improve their galling lack of composure in the back in big games, and brought in two South American gunslingers specifically to prevent those lapses. How Gonzalo Peralta and Gonzalo Martinez handle the very dynamic and physical offense of Harbour View in their first real action together in a game that counts will have fans on the edge of their seats for sure.

Then there’s the maestro himself that everyone is salivating to see. United’s first designated player and former Argentine World Cup playmaker, Marcelo Gallardo. As only United’s third number 10, he is expected to be more of a deep playmaker than the forward thinking Christian Gomez, now in Colorado, but the faithful will finally get to see with their own eyes just exactly how this midfield magician changes the dynamic for DC.

As for the recovering Olsen, United might go with a familiar face recently returned to the team in Santino Quaranta, or even Quavas Kirk, but I have a suspicion it will be Devon McTavish who plays the right side of midfield. McTavish is a known quantity for a team that will be looking for solid play in the away leg. He’s played midfield before in this very tournament in Guadalajara last season, and has established the confidence of the coaching staff as a role player that can be relied upon to do the job well when the stakes are high.

McTavish made that clear just before the team left for Texas. “I’m expecting to play a lot of midfield at least early on. I think last year gave me a lot of confidence to play there, and gave Tommy a lot of confidence to play me in different positions. Hopefully, I can get a starting slot in one of those positions, but if I can be on the field at all, that’s all that really matters to me. Going into this year is maybe a little bit like last year in being [more of] a role player. It got me on the field last year and hopefully it will do the same this year.”

With arguably Harbour View’s most dynamic talent, Jermaine Hue playing on their left, it would seem likely that McTavish will be called upon to eliminate Hue from doing any damage along that side of the field. Soehn made it quite clear a few days ago that Hue is a guy that DC wants to control in a quote from the Sports Jamaica website.

Bottom line is that fans will finally get to see for themselves how well United has addressed their flaws and if that will translate into international glory beginning tomorrow night in Jamaica. Soehn pointed out that he thinks this team has done the things he thought necessary to give them a good chance to be successful this year. “We’ve addressed areas I thought we needed to address in order to make us be successful in these types of tournaments and in the league too. I think we’re better than last year. We don’t have anything to gauge that yet. It’s only on paper. We set ourselves up to make sure that we’re more competitive. I thought we were unfortunate last year, so we’re going to make sure we’re in a better position this year to try and win [these types of big games]. But, that’ll come March 12. That’s when you can really start evaluating where you are at.”

Without any real knowledge of the current form of either team, it’s ridiculous to speculate on a result, but just to aggravate Webb a bit, I’ll say that based on talent alone and relative strengths of the teams and their leagues, plus the fact no Caribbean team has ever advanced past this stage of the tournament, I would be flat out shocked if DC didn’t advance. A tie, or slim win in Jamaica seems likely, with the clinching win coming in RFK next week.

Should United advance, they will likely face Pachuca of Mexico in the next round. Pachuca faces the Honduran and Central American Champions, Montagua, and the winner will face the winner of United - Harbour View in a home and home series played the first two weeks in April.

This time McTavish gets the last word about United’s expectations. “Everyone at DC United expects us to win something. That’s what so great about this club. They brought in these players expecting them to be able to win any tournament we enter this. That’s what we’re about here. That’s the mentality we have. That’s the goal every year, to win as many tournaments as we can.”

Well, tomorrow we will finally get a glimpse into how far along this team is towards winning at least one trophy in 2008.

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