Fighting Injuries, United Draws 1-1 In Home Opener
It seems only fitting that after the club's offseason personnel difficulties, that whole stadium thing, and a disappointing 2-2 draw last weekend in Los Angeles, D.C. United's 2009 home opener was played under a gloomy, overcast March mist and a somewhat disappointing crowd of 15,895 -- if there ever was an evening that foretold an unsatisfying draw was just over the horizon, well, this was it. And so it came to pass: despite several injuries, D.C. United had some great chances but couldn't take advantage, tying Chicago 1-1 on Saturday night.
As the club took the field, it was clear that if there's one thing that the offseason did bless head coach Tom Soehn with, it was an abundance of midfield talent. Even though both Fred and Santino Quaranta -- two of United's more dynamic midfield players -- were hampered by injuries, Soehn trotted out a 3-5-2 formation to show off his team's strength in the middle of the pitch. Those injuries gave chances to players like rookie Chris Pontius (whom Soehn praised post game for being "spot on") and club stalwart Ben Olsen, both of them looking in fine form. Along with the returning Christian Gomez -- for whom the crowd handed down a very generous reception in introductions -- United looked crisp in midfield, winning tackles and making incisive runs at Chicago's defense, especially after Fire captain and center-back C.J. Brown came off early in the game with a bum right quad.
On the other hand, though, it's obvious that the depth at goalkeeper is not as strong. Starting keeper Louis Crayton was also missing in action after a suffering a hip flexor in the preseason Carolina Challenge Cup. Josh Wicks, who arrived at the club via a trade with Los Angeles and won the backup job after Zack Wells' retirement earlier this year, handled the keeping duties on the evening, making a couple fine saves. Fortunately for United, his errors were not completely pounced on by Chicago's experienced forwards -- a flubbed ball, a mishandled rebound, and a misplay on a breakaway only led to one Fire goal. It easily could have been three.
From the opening kickoff, United came out swinging, looking to attack the Fire goal. The Black-and-Red's first major move of the game was a sign of that pressure: a nice through ball from Namoff found it's way to the now longer-coifed Luciano Emilio, but his cross through the box to Moreno was neutralized. A few short minutes later, Emilio applied a clinical finish at the center of the Chicago end after a great effort to wrestle possession by Ben Olsen. Calmly shooting from 20 yards away, Emilio struck firmly and beat keeper Jon Busch to his right, looking no different from the fine striker that he has been for the last two years.
Olson, after a long absence from the side, was all over the pitch during the game, drawing fouls, winning balls, and generally looking to pester Chicago midfielders John Thorrington and Justin Mapp.
Chicago captain C.J. Brown then took a hit to his upper leg and had to be subbed -- missing the heart of their defense, United inched up. That's a plus side to the five midfielder formation -- when they want to attack, United can commit more forward than last year without losing too much. So they did: rookie Chris Pontius earned a corner with some nice pace, Olson with a shot in space, Jaime Moreno looking especially sharp in his passes and runs. This was not the Chicago team that looked fairly dominant at times in a 3-1 victory over Dallas last weekend. Busch was visibly upset at his defense and Chicago's back line, obviously in severe flux, inexplicably kicked the ball out to throw from the center of the field.
In this period, D.C. had three great chances to add to their lead -- after some neat interplay down the right flank beteen Namoff and Moreno, Emilio was set on a silver platter -- but even with his feet set, he blazed it over the crossbar. Clyde Simms barely missed beating Busch to his left at an acute angle, and Ben Olsen's header from a picture perfect Gomez long ball forced a fine save from the Chicago number one. On the opposite end, a cross into the box earned the Fire nothing more than an elbow to the face, which nicely summed up the half for the road team.
A long period of quiet play to begin the second half was rudely interrupted by Chicago, getting back into the game. Striker Patrick Nyarko had two gilded chances: the first looked harmless enough, but slipped under the mitts of Wicks and laid perilously near the goal line until the United keeper scooped it up. The second in the 53rd needed no such luck -- a poor offside trap was again beaten by Marco Pappa and Nyarko on the right; WIcks attempted to charge the ball, but was too late -- and the Ghanaian chipped over for his first goal of the young season.
in the 56th, Pontius looked to retake the lead, but couldn't quite smash in the cross from Gomez, but it was a short-lived run of play. Chicago soon regained control, and Mapp surely should have made it 2-1. Namoff lost his mark, but Mapp fired well over, seemingly in an attempt to knock down the Volkswagen garage behind the United goal.
Francis Doe entered the game for Moreno in the 65th. It was a good run out for the Bolivian captain, especially considering his offseason hernia surgery. But with the substitution, United lost the man who had been the lynchpin for much of their first-half potency, and fell further behind in possession.
Cuauhtemoc Blanco, the Mexican star forward who was part of last season's big influx of name foreign talent into the league, began the game on the bench. He arrived in the 70th minute to an rousingly negative ovation. (The only worse ovation was saved for the ref, who made three obviously incorrect calls against the home team in the span of a few minutes. Fans can't be punished for such complaints; United center-back Dejan Jackovic, though, picked up a yellow shortly thereafter for a silly frustration foul against McBride.) Blanco -- who has said that this would be his last season in Major League Soccer -- offered little but an ludicrously optimistic flick to McBride, and a humorous little exchange in which he made a poor touch, made a mocking fake at a United player, then took a dive.
A questionable offside call in the 86th cost D.C. their best chance of the second 45, but again, it was but a short blip of positive play. Immediately off the free kick, Wicks let a rebound slip and fortunately, McBride -- by far the most experienced player on the pitch -- couldn't quite put in the dagger. Wicks then made up for his error with a excellent save off of Chris Wolfe's laser strike. After that sequence of events, it was obvious that no one was going to take the chance to win, and the teams, rightfully, split the points.
So what can the team take from the home opener? Well, the squad's a bit of a mixed bag at the moment, and certainly the playing time will help the consistency on the field. There's certainly some positives to take -- the midfield is strong, and the defense, despite some miscommunications, looked more confident and should develop.
"You have to learn how to tough things out," Soehn noted postgame. "We gotta learn how to be disciplined."