DC Faces New Challenge in Atlante

Mike Martin

July 14, 2008

Rod Dyachenko winds up for a shot for DC United.

Rod Dyachenko winds up for a shot for DC United.
Photo: Tony Quinn

DC United hosts 2007 Mexican Apertura Champions, Atlante in second match of Superliga group stage. United has never faced the “Iron Colts” from Cancun before and given the circumstances, the Mexicans look to be a very unpredictable side to prepare for in a match that DC must win if they hope to advance in Superliga.

Washington D.C., After losing to a familiar foe in Chivas, DC United now faces a must win situation against an Atlante team that they have virtually no first hand knowledge of, and who will almost certainly be looking to avenge their horrendous 4-0 loss to Houston over the weekend.

Assistant coach Chad Ashton pointed that out after practice today. “Really, that’s all we know about them, breaking down the game tape of them against Houston. And that’s a difficult [tape] to be useful because of the result. I think it’s a bit scary from our side because they’re going to come out fighting very, very hard now. As a coach you’re always going to worry about the players looking at that result and saying they’re [not a good team], and that’s obviously not the case. So, we need to be on our toes more than ever. Get out to a good start. If we can do that maybe we can get a goal on them and create doubt in their minds.”

Getting some doubt in their minds might just be the perfect thing too as Atlante has shown they will fold like a house of cards if put under pressure. Since their shocking Apertura win from out of nowhere in 2007, only their second title of any sort in the last 60 years, Atlante tumbled to the bottom of the league in 2008, and was bounced from the CONCACAF Cup this year by Saprissa.

In addition to that, Atlante has had a horrible pre-season so far and it showed in the loss to Houston. Coach Soehn also pointed out that early pressure in that game was the key to Houston’s stunning win. “I thought [Atlante] came out well against Houston, but gave up the first goal and collapsed.”

Clearly, the idea of taking it to Atlante right from the opening whistle was well understood by the team as Devon McTavish among others reinforced the need for a good start as Atlante has a number of things going against them in their match against United.

“Go out early and keep the ball. Tire them out. They don’t have their match fitness yet. They’re in pre-season, plus all the travel, and they played on Saturday [in Houston], so it’s a quick turnaround for them. We know they are not going to 90 minute fit yet. They probably have one good half in them, so they’ll be flying in that half. We just need to come out strong from the get go and be ready for that.”

A good start and a ninety minute effort would be a pleasant change for DC as despite their recent unbeaten streak, they have slipped back into a bit of lazy play from time to time forcing them into situations where they have had to chase the game. They fell behind Chicago in the Open Cup before rebounding to win in overtime, and came out on their heels against Chivas too, but a good last 45 minutes wasn’t enough that time.

Coach Tommy Soehn felt that the Chivas loss should actually be more motivation for this match. “We’re disappointed. But, the disappointment sets you up for the next one. We’re eager to get out on the field. We had some quality opportunities and were a little unfortunate. We should have come out with points there and I think we’re all a little disappointed about that.”

Midfielder Rod Dyachenko made it clear the loss only helped to sharpen the focus of the team. “Obviously we have to be a little more aggressive now. We have to get these two wins to get through. The loss affects us, but things happen. Overall, the performance was alright. We picked it up in the second half, had chances to tie, the game could have gone either way. The loss is a bad thing obviously, but I don’t think we’re too devastated over it.”

However, Atlante will no doubt being going out determined to redeem themselves of that embarrassment, and they have a lot of pure talent if they can pull it together. Obviously, the Houston match proves they can be mauled if the situation is right, but it may well be Atlante, who’s never played an MLS team simply had a bad night and took a tough Houston team too lightly.

Atlante has very classy forwards in Giancarlo Maldonado and Luis Gabriel Rey, as well as tidy midfielders like Gabriel Pereya, Gerardo Espinoza and Clemente Ovalle, they can be brutally dangerous even if their young star, Christian Bermudez doesn’t play. The Hobbit as he is called didn’t even dress for the Houston game and might be injured. Still, they have precision offensive players who can punish United if they still can’t find a way to eliminate the killer mistakes that have doomed their shutout aspirations. It’s a simple fact that too many mistakes against Atlante and their Superliga run this year is over.

Devon McTavish said that cleaning up the mistakes is still an area the team is working hard to sort out. “We just need a little organization, a little more communication; it’s a whole bunch of little things. Zach probably gets the brunt of the lack of shutouts, but it’s never just one thing. We just need to keep working, concentrate more, and communicate better.”

It’ll also be interesting to see what United players play in this match as well. Clearly, with the injury situation still no better as yet, as Gallardo, Quaranta, and Peralta remain out as do the longer term injured players like Olsen, J. Carroll, and Stratford. So, given the importance of the match, DC might be expected to run out the exact starting lineup that played against Chivas. But, that plan might be hampered by the fact that some veteran players like Moreno, Emilio, Simms, Namoff, and Martinez are starting to rack up a lot of minutes lately, and the games from here on out only get more important as you go along. Plus, Atlante is likely the weaker team in the group, so saving some guys for the decisive Houston game has to be tempting.

I think Soehn will resist the temptation to start Moreno in midfield, and instead will continue to go with Rowdy Rod in the playmaking role. It really wasn’t his fault that Chivas and Chicago flooded the central midfield and made him a bit too ineffectual. Clearly, Moreno playing in there makes the team play better in certain situations. But, I think Soehn only goes to that option as an in-game tactic that only happens if Atlante floods the midfield too.

But, given the ridiculous success of a young hungry guy like Craig Thompson, I think DC has to plumb the depths of its roster more. For example, the team has already figured out the pros and cons of Cordeiro coming on for Fred, and has found an absolute gem in Thompson; however, some other decisions on the backups for guys like Simms and Namoff need to be made. Stratford was top of the heap when it came to spelling Simms, but he is out with knee surgery. Now might be the time to see if someone else can play significant minutes there. Dane Murphy has been on the game rosters for the past month and is a natural defensive midfielder.

Same with Bryan Namoff, obviously we have some very good defenders at the top of the food chain, but with Peralta out, you have to see if Pat Carroll can step in consistently. He had a good game against Rochester, and a less effective effort against Chicago, maybe now’s the time to see if he’s ready for prime time. Same with Zaher getting some time in place of Martinez, etc.

These young guys have to get some time at some point, and quite honestly Atlante could turn out to be the easiest game on the schedule in the next two months, and certainly is the least important match. Still, despite all that, my gut says Soehn does play exactly the same lineup, but maybe will be looking for a good lead so that he can pull those veteran guys as early as possible. Now, if DC loses, I would think everyone gets a run out against Houston.

Still, an early lead and then make as many subs as possible is a fairly likely scenario. Atlante is obviously in poor form and their starting left back, Javier Mustafa is suspended due to a red card against Houston. However, their best defender from what I saw of the CONCACAF Cup, Javier Munoz was held out of the Houston game apparently, so will be rested and available. They also still have very solid defenders like Gerardo Castillo and Arturo Munoz, backed by an excellent keeper in team captain, Federico Vilar.

With any luck from the soccer gods, DC jumps on Atlante early and never looks back. Chivas putting a whooping on Houston wouldn’t hurt either. The top two teams based on points qualify for the semifinals. Teams tied on points, go to head to head matchups as the first tiebreaker, then goal differential. Probably won’t go further than that given Houston’s lead in that category, so DC has to win out to be sure to advance.

Now on one final note, given all the negativity and ambivalence to Superliga that’s been bandied about of late, I think Devon McTavish had the best quote of all when he pointed out that far from being a distraction or a useless bunch of games clogging up the schedule, playing in Superliga will actually help the team farther down the road.

“It’s always good to play different competitions and measure yourself. Learn where you’re at and what you need to work on. We learned stuff playing Chivas. We were playing pretty well [in MLS], but getting away with stuff that Chivas didn’t let us get away with. Later in the MLS season [and presumably in CONCACAF too], teams will be that much sharper and we won’t be able to get away with stuff we’ve been getting away with. These games are good to tune up your game, so it’s good to play them.”

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