Dynamo Descend on DC for a Double

Mike Martin

July 18, 2008

United Players and fans celebrate DC's 1st goal

United Players and fans celebrate DC's 1st goal
Photo: Martin Fernandez

DC United has to endure the Houston Dynamo in their third and probably last Superliga match this season. But there’s no rest of the decimated and dragging United squad as Houston remains in town for a second game Tuesday as the make up for an MLS league match rained out a few weeks ago.

Washington D.C., With United all but eliminated from Superliga, there would appear to be no reason to play any of their top players who have been logging tons of tough minutes lately. However, DC is a pretty proud team and there’s a chance some guys will want to leave the tournament with at least one good result. For certain, the team won’t want to mail in a performance when there is an outside chance at getting through.

Incredibly, despite opening with two losses, DC could still go through with a three goal win over Houston combined with a Chivas victory over Atlante. Now, DC is capable of beating Houston for sure, and Chivas is easily the best team in the tournament so far, but truthfully, three goals is a bit of a stretch and Chivas has nothing to play for. The Nanny Goats are already through to the next round with two wins, and Houston and Atlante each need a win to expect to have any real chance of going through, so DC really an incredibly remote shot to advance.

So, considering the situation and despite wanting to leave the tournament with their heads held high, I would think DC is almost certain to trot out a lot less starters than would normally play in a knockout match. United just has a ton of players tired and injured and with no real chance, there’s very little reason to flog a tired team. Plus they certainly don’t want to handicap themselves for the now much more important MLS match against the Dynamo less than 72 hours later.

My guess is that Soehn will approach this similarly to how he played the Open Cup match against Rochester. Some starters like Emilio will play since the team is dreadfully thin at forward. But against Rochester, he only played the first 45 with Fred playing the second, and I think something like that is likely in this match too.

Also, starters Martinez, McTavish and Burch all played the full 90 against Rochester, but I seriously doubt that happens here. Unless those guys just put their foot down and demand to play, I would think only one of them plays. Likely Burch as he has the most to gain being the odd man out of the best XI up until Peralta got hurt. But, I think that’s all the starters who play in this match unless there’s injuries, or it’s close late and DC has a chance for a result.

Now, with that in mind, it will be great to see some of the younger players on the roster playing in a real match. There’s been precious few reserve matches to see these guys, so this should be a good opportunity to see what Soehn has on his bench for the future. I would imagine DC’s starters to be Emilio, Doe, Cordiero, Dyachenko, Murphy, Kirk, Zaher, Burch, P.Carroll, Thompson and Thorpe in goal. A good mix of youth with some veterans to hold the team together.

So, that makes for some very intriguing matchups that will be fun to watch. Emilio, and later Fred going against former team-mate Bobby Boswell will not be short of drama for sure. Also, Doe the opportunist going against Ianni the mistake prone could be a very good matchup for DC, but then again Dyachenko the tidy, but tragically slow going against Clark the truly gifted is not so good. Still, with loaned players and signings on the horizon for DC it’s time for Lightning Rod to show if he can keep his roster spot.

Then on the right side of the field, Thompson has been playing lights out at midfield, but I bet he slides into the right back as the team knows what they’ve got in him. Soehn needs to see what he’s got in Quavas Kirk, who has shown some flair going forward, and with his athleticism should be a good matchup for savvy, but slow Barrett playing left back. Thompson also said he will relish playing the team where he got his first crack at MLS and where he made some friends. The fact that they also that traded him to DC for a few cones and a bag of balls, should make his battle with Cory Ashe be pretty interesting too.

Then on the left, Cordiero and Zaher going against Mullan and Waibel is a clear mismatch in Houston’s favor based on experience, but Mullan is having a very bad year by his standards, and the beast Waibel is susceptible to being burned by lesser players he tends to overlook. If Cordiero can pin Waibel back and Zaher hold his own against Mullan that would certainly raise their stock quite a bit.

Probably the worst mismatch for DC is in central midfield as the only backup to Simms at the moment is probably Dane Murphy, and for him to go against the red hot Stuart Holden in his first minutes of MLS play is truly dicey. Solely with that matchup in mind, Soehn may play Simms instead, but I would rather see what a guy like Murphy, who is big and pretty good on the ball, can do in the center of the field against a very good player.

Finally, in central defense, Houston’s advantages down the middle don’t get any better for DC. Burch needs to redeem himself for that awful game against Atlante, and also be the voice of leadership to the very young players likely to be all around him. A few free kick goals by him wouldn’t hurt his cause either. However, he and probably Pat Carroll beside him will very likely struggle against former MVP DeRosario and Cameron. Maybe Caraccio or Wondolowski plays which would be a little better for DC, but no matter what, it’s not a good situation down the center of the field.

Which means James Thorpe should get plenty of work in goal. It’ll be weird not seeing Wells out there, but given that Carvallo has been axed, and the goalkeeper situation is obviously fluid in the near future, he might want to make sure he’s got the goods to keep that third spot. Yet, considering Houston’s difficulty scoring this year, maybe their shooting is a bit off and Thorpe’s speed quickness will stymies them. One can always hope.

Obviously, Soehn and the starters may well decide they want to play the match expecting Houston to play reserves in the MLS match Tuesday. That would mean they play two tough games back to back, but they can fall back on having a solid 11 days rest after that assuming DC doesn’t advance in Superliga. I personally think that’s a poor gamble to take simply for pride’s sake, but it might happen.

So, there you have it. DC make run their starter’s into the ground and go for the long shot to advance or for at least one good result, but I doubt it. Pride is one thing, but going for broke in a nothing tournament, in the humidity, with nothing to gain but another game on the schedule is foolish. It might be exactly the thing Proverbs said goeth before the fall.

DC has nothing to play for and should just rest its veterans and see what happens. I think they will, but no matter what, I think it’s a stone cold lock that DC loses, so take that Houston! Good luck beating the inescapable power of my prediction curse!

Visitor Comments

On July 18, 2008 - 10:02:29 PM Mike M said:
I would certainly hope they go all out on Tues. Unfortunately, all out means Gallardo, Quaranta, and Peralta will all be still out. Moreno will be playing out of position, and DC will be scrambling around to play consistently. It's not as if we'll be healthy in the Tues game!
On July 18, 2008 - 07:59:09 PM Chris from DC said:
So Mike, do you think that they go all out on Tuesday? I certainly hope so. Let's hope that SuperLiga allowed them to get the sloppy defense out of their systems and that they can do without Gallardo for a few weeks. Jaime save us, please...They were really good when they were healthy. Those were the days.
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