With D.C. United preparing for its decisive Eastern Conference final match-up against the Houston Dynamo at RFK Stadium on Sunday (4 p.m., NBC Sports Network, Tickets) here’s a roundup of this week’s activity:
Injury Update: United left Houston after its 3-1 loss last Sunday in pretty rough shape. Midfielder Chris Pontius left the game after 12 minutes when he re-aggravated an old groin injury; he was quickly followed off the field by Marcelo Saragosa, who strained a hamstring. Defender Brandon McDonald left in the second half after pulling a calf muscle. At training yesterday, Head Coach Ben Olsen shed some light on some of the injuries, telling reporters that while he’s optimistic about the return of Saragosa and McDonald, he feels that Pontius’ injury is “more severe.” Though United will be happy to get two of the three back by Sunday, the loss of Pontius is undeniably huge. The coaching staff will likely be in no rush to get him on the pitch this weekend, as Olsen himself admitted after last weekend’s match that he’d had doubts about Pontius’ fitness prior to the game and had considered sitting him then.
DeRo Watch: The team’s injury woes have only heaped more pressure on the return of Dwayne De Rosario. United’s captain—who’s been out since September after badly spraining his MCL—has been listed as “probable” on the team’s injury report for the last two games, but wasn’t on the roster for either matches. Assistant Coach Chad Ashton offered some signs of encouragement recently, telling The Washington Post that he’s “very optimistic” that De Rosario can play on Sunday.
The defending MLS most valuable player has been practicing at full speed for a couple of weeks at this point, and has openly expressed his eagerness to contribute: “I feel good, but there are a lot more days leading up to the game,” the 2011 league MVP said. “If it feels good on that day, we’ll see. I am there for the team. It doesn’t matter if it’s the second half, overtime, starting or not playing at all.”
Just what De Rosario’s role would be remains to be seen. United could certainly use him as a second-half substitute—he could replace Branko Boskovic, who’s usually only good for 55 to 65 minutes. There is another option, though. If De Rosario is only going to see 30 to 45 minutes of action to begin with, why not start him? Down two goals on aggregate, United will need to come out flying, and Boskovic tends to be better off the bench than as a starter. Sending De Rosario in late also has its risks. If United manage to make up their two-goal deficit and send the game to overtime and possibly penalty kicks, De Rosario could end up on the field for much longer than the 45 minutes he’s probably good for.
Disciplinary Action: The league announced undisclosed fines today for United players Bill Hamid and Lionard Pajoy. Hamid was fined for his “failure to leave the field in an orderly manner after receiving a red card” during United’s dramatic 1-0 victory at Red Bull Arena last week. Lionard Pajoy was fined for his behavior during that same incident, only his behavior was exponentially more hysterical than Hamid’s. The league fined him for “putting the game in disrepute by deliberately marring the penalty mark.” Pajoy supposedly erased the penalty mark in the box with his cleats while Hamid pled his case to the assistant referee. Hey, at least Pajoy is finally doing something in the box, amirite?
Remember That Terrible Call From Sunday? Peter Walton, the general manager of Major League Soccer’s referees organization, attended that match and told NBC Sports Network at halftime that Houston defender Andre Hainault’s challenge from behind may have been a foul but wasn’t worthy of a red card. He’s since changed his stance, sharing his thoughts yesterday on the Professional Referees Organization’s website:
“In review of that play, my opinion has changed in as much as the defender, which I thought in real time would have influenced the play, clearly was behind the action and therefore the disciplinary sanction should have been a red card for denial of a goal scoring opportunity. I made the initial statement on my real time opinion without having the advantage of a replay. Having reviewed the replay, it is clear it ticks all the boxes for a denial of as goal scoring opportunity and a send-off should have been the outcome.”
A red card could’ve drastically changed the outcome of the game—and the series. The league has given post-match suspensions to players multiple times this year when they feel that the punishment administered by the match referee on the field wasn’t strong enough. Given the fact that the referees’ group has expressed its belief that the offense was worthy of a red card, you’d think that the league would in turn suspend Hainault for this Sunday’s match at RFK. But you’d be wrong. MLS released a statement today saying they wouldn’t be suspending him, adding that the incident was “outside the parameters of the disciplinary committee’s guidelines.”
The disciplinary committee’s guidelines, for what it’s worth, seem to completely and totally contradict that sentiment:
Where the referee sees an incident and either does not act, or rules only a foul or only a yellow card (i.e., anything other than a red card), the Committee will not in general issue a suspension, unless the play in question is, in the unanimous opinion of the Committee from all available video evidence, a clear and unequivocal red card
Oh well.
In Brief: The game at RFK will be a sellout, with some 400 tickets remaining at last count. Though seats in RFK’s uppermost seating levels haven’t been available all year, the club will open the upper deck if United manage to make MLS Cup, which would be hosted at the 51-year old venue … New York Red Bulls head coach Hans Backe paid the price for yet another playoff failure after his squad’s loss to United—the club declined to renew his contract the very next day, a move that had been widely expected … Andy Najar played 73 minutes in Honduras’ 0-0 draw with Peru last night, his longest shift ever for Honduras’ senior national team … Oh, and one more unrelated point: Paris Saint-Germain superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic, playing for the Swedish national team, scored the goal of the year last night against England, bar none. Take a look.
***UPDATED*** MLS has announced the finalists for their year-end awards, and United has several candidates in the mix. Ben Olsen is nominated for Coach of the Year, Chris Pontius for comeback player of the year and Nick DeLeon is up for Rookie of the year. The awards are voted on by clubs (head coach, technical director, president and one other front office members), current players and media — each group accounts for a third of the total vote. For what it’s worth, DeLeon and Pontius got my votes (though it was a tough choice between DeLeon and Austin Berry for ROTY) but Olsen didn’t – Frank Yallop was just too good a coach this year.
