While the home record may look good right now, away matches are still a rough patch for D.C. United. Saturday night was no exception for the Black and Red at LiveStrong Sporting Park. Sporting Kansas City came away with a rather one-sided 2-1 win to put themselves into first place, while United dropped more away points and now sits in fourth in the Eastern Conference table.
From the start, Sporting Kansas City dominated the match. At times, DC seemed to put good things together, such as Andy Najar sprinting down the right side and sending in good crosses, but overall KC controlled the match.
A big factor obviously was the absence of Dwayne De Rosario. Without him, something wasn’t there. And the absence of Branko Boskovic after halftime, arguably the best distributor on the team, didn’t make anything better in the second half. Statistically, KC dominated United in everything, but the glaring stats were the possession and passing percentages. KC out-possessed United 63 percent to 37 percent (Barcelona numbers there folks), and they completed 79 percent of their passes compared to DC’s lowly 58 percent. When I first saw the passing percentage, I was shocked. Almost half of every DC pass was not received by a DC player. No wonder KC outshot us 18-7 and got the three points.
A bright spot was Andy Najar. He came back from the Olympics looking strong with some good passes and speed on the right side. He even got the assist on Nick DeLeon’s goal. Overall, a good night for Andy, and hopefully he’ll continue to set up goals and maybe bag a few himself before the end of the season. I think he’s beginning to realize bigger clubs are seriously looking at him, and his play in the Olympics furthered that belief.
From this match, there are a few important things to take away from. First, as stated above, Dwayne De Rosario plays a huge part in the team. Thanks to this match, this has become very obvious, and if it’s obvious to me then it’s definitely obvious to the rest of the MLS clubs. Second off, LiveStrong Sporting Park will probably host some playoffs matches this year. So if United is wanting the playoffs and a shot at the Cup, then playing in a great and vicious environment like KC will be a requirement. They’ll need to learn to win here.
Lastly, Sporting KC is a good club with a good home reputation. Playing this match without the reigning MLS MVP would probably yield similar results for any other club in our situation. They were riding high off their US Open Cup victory (congratulations for beating Seattle by the way), and they had a little momentum going their way. I’m just glad the scoreline wasn’t worse, because we all know it could’ve been. Next up are two home matches which offer DC a great chance to catch up. Both clubs are good but not great, and the possibility of United taking four to six points from these matches are good. The one thing DC will have to watch out for is tired legs. In a ten day span, they will play four league matches. Gotta love MLS scheduling.
Acquiring Mike Chabala
DC acquired outside-back Mike Chabala from the Portland Timbers early last week in exchange for a 2014 first-round Supplemental pick. From what I can see, he’s filling in for the time being while regulars Robbie Russell and Daniel Woolard get back to 100 percent. Woolard’s absence could be a big deal since it’s a concussion, but hopefully he’ll be back soon. However, the time frame for Woolard is still up in the air, so we can expect Chabala to perform in his role for awhile. At best, Woolard and Russell will come back before the end of the season, and Chabala can provide good depth along with Korb.
Retirement of Kurt Morsink
Kurt Morsink, a midfielder acquired from Kansas City during the infamous Curt Onalfo era, announced his retirement after a six-season career in MLS. After reading the official article on DC United’s webpage, I learned he was from Costa Rica. Did anybody else know this? I guess you learn something new everyday.
Morsink will stay with DC as the club’s Scouting Coordinator. One of the goals of the new ownership is to expand the scouting and build the brand globally. So maybe Morsink will help that goal along. I wish him the best and congratulate him on achieving a professional career.
(image courtesy of DC United)
