D.C. United forward Wayne Rooney during second-half action on Saturday. Photo by Pablo Iglesias Maurer.

D.C. United forward Wayne Rooney during second-half action on Saturday. (Photo by Pablo Iglesias Maurer)

By Matt McCleskey, WAMU

With a 3-1 victory Sunday over New York City FC at Audi Field Sunday, DC United is officially headed to the Major League Soccer playoffs. The win marked just the latest development in a big turnaround for a team that was in last place for much of the first half of the season.

Jason Anderson, managing editor of the fan site Black and Red United spoke to WAMU to catch up late-comers on the team’s seemingly unlikely turnaround. His comments below have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What changes sparked DC United’s run towards the playoffs?

A lot of it came down, not just to the signing of Wayne Rooney — which everyone has been talking about and obviously has been a pretty spectacular move for them — but some moves that went unheralded as well.

Bringing Bill Hamid back as goalkeeper, for example; getting defensive midfielder Russell Canouse back from injury; and having just a little bit more of an attacking mindset. It’s been sort of a perfect storm of doing the right things and catching some breaks as well, all in the same couple of months.



What has been the impact of adding Wayne Rooney — one of the English Premier League’s best?

In speaking to players after the game, they’ve all been very quick to give Rooney credit for leadership and for reaching out to them. It seems like every player on the team feels like Rooney is a true teammate and not just a star who happens to be playing in the same locker room.

They really have that personal connection — he’s pushed aside any offers of special treatment. MLS teams don’t have the same budgets as some of the other big sports, so they fly coach and Wayne Rooney flies coach with the rest of the group. They stay with roommates in hotels on the road, he has a roommate on the road. It just seems like across the board he’s been very humble, very much about this team winning games, and not necessarily his own personal brand or anything like that.

He wants to win and I think he deserves a lot credit for figuring out very quickly what this group needed out of him. It just seems like he’s understood from the moment he arrived what the players needed, not just in terms of the soccer side but in terms of the leadership side. Even the coaching staff has said there’s some stuff that when someone with Wayne Rooney’s profile says it, it means more than anyone else with the team can do, and there’s no replacing that. So he’s delivered on all fronts.

Does United’s have a new-found homefield advantage at Audi Field?

They’ve been almost unstoppable at home. They have one of the best home records in the league. It’s been impressive, the stadium is very loud. We’re a team site, so of course I’m excited about the team, but there are national pundits that have no bias involved and they’re talking about United as possibly being the kind of team that could make a run all the way to the final and win the whole thing. So if they’re playing at home, they’re a difficult team for anyone in the league.

How exciting is this late-season run for die-hard fans?

It’s been pretty thrilling, and rare. I had to look this up for an article we wrote, and apparently this is the best run of form they’ve had in 10 years and it’s right up there with any run of form they’ve ever had dating back to their first season, 1996. So it’s truly a special time to be a United fan right now.

What are their chances in the playoffs?

I’m not too nervous… I mean there are some very, very good teams in the East, but hopefully they get the win in Chicago next weekend and then they would clinch a home playoff game and if they win that, they’d get another home playoff game the following weekend. So they really could build on their current momentum and actually storm forward on this thing.

United’s last regular-season game is next Sunday in Chicago against the Fire.

This story originally appeared at WAMU.

Filed Under: DC United, soccer, wamu,