DC United and the Vancouver Whitecaps played to a 0-0 draw late Saturday night in front of 19,394 at BC Place. The result was appropriate considering both teams seemed to be on equal ground all night.
The lineup that coach Ben Olsen sent out this week was much better in my mind. Hamdi Salihi was back among the starters as was Emiliano Dudar. The first half started out slowly for the Black and Red. Both teams exchanged periods of possession with some good passing. Nick DeLeon was assigned to set piece duty, a high responsibility for a rookie, and did a great job. Especially early in the first half, DeLeon’s service from free kicks was spot on. At the end of the first half, I felt both clubs were very even with chances coming at a premium. For the first 30 minutes of the match, United failed to register a shot on goal. But regardless of the shots, it was clear DC was playing better than the previous week against LA.
Tempers flared up near the end of the first half, which carried over into the second half. Salihi had a few good chances including a great header which was saved by Whitecaps keeper Joe Cannon. The second half opened up more for DC with more opportunities in the attacking third. They stringed together more possession passing and looked much crisper. The addition of DP Branko Boskovic helped as well.
This brings me to the DP conversation again. I’m beginning to wonder if Salihi and Boskovic are completely match fit. They are two of the best players we have, yet we haven’t seen them go the full 90 together in any match so far. Maybe these early matches are being used to get them ready for the long summer months. Either way, I do hope to see them both starting very soon.
The rest of the midfield started out slowly. I always view the midfield as a method to feed the forward(s) chances, which hasn’t happened much this year as seen by our goal and shot totals. The second half was better and shows promise. Grant it, Vancouver isn’t quite up there with Los Angeles and KC, but they are a solid club. The defense did a fantastic job keeping Eric Hassli and Sebastien Le Toux at bay. Both are two of the most threatening forwards in the MLS, and the DC defense was able to keep the goose egg on the home side for the full 90 minutes. Joe Willis earned his first shutout of the year (and his second career shutout vs. the Whitecaps) with a good performance between the posts. DC is lucky to have him and I firmly believe he is one of the most talented and reliable backups in the MLS right now.
Overall, I felt DC played a much better match than the first two. The only reason Vancouver kept it 0-0 was the play of keeper Joe Cannon, who made some fantastic saves to keep the Black and Red off the board. Hopefully, the improvement will continue to come for United, and it will be helped by their schedule coming up. Five out of the next six matches will be at RFK Stadium.
(image courtesy of dcunited.com)
