Game after game down the stretch, something would go wrong, usually in the last few minutes. Chances to score fell just short of realization or inattention to defensive duties let an opponent pull out a win or a tie. Coach Ben Olsen has an inexperienced squad and is himself still learning.

It showed all season as the team gradually gained better shape and style, only to slide into ineffectiveness toward the end.

The coach took most of the burden on himself, but was sanguine about future prospects, “It was a pretty good performance overall. We know what we need; I know what we need for next year. But it’s not as much as you guys think. I still have a lot of confidence in this group of players.”

The players have always shown the most obvious signs of Olsen’s influence; they play with grit and persistence. Their failures have been not with heart, but with smarts. Experience brings wisdom, and neither the coach nor the players are quite yet where they need to be.

A winter of reflection and study by players and coaches combined with the acquisition of a few key pieces that Olsen has his eye on should justify the coach’s optimism. Olsen has always been more cerebral than he lets on, but his knowledge built up over years will take time to communicate.

This year he has struggled with the actual teaching techniques, when and exactly how to structure practices to create a shape to fit both his team’s and the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses.

We saw a hint of his thinking on Saturday as he sent out an unusual formation as described by Tino Quaranta, “We changed our formation tonight which was encouraging I think for not working on it. Call it 4-3-3 or 4-5-1, whatever you want to call it. I think the guys responded well. We created chances.”

Stephen King, who got to ply his trade in central midfield, liked the idea, “I think it was good. I think it was something worth trying. Maybe going into next season we’ll work on it in preseason and see if that’s the direction we want to go….

“Playing against a team that does clog the middle a little bit and plays with 3 central midfielders we thought that we could counter their formation with what we did….We definitely noticed that there was a lot of space out wide especially when we’d switch the ball quickly to Andy or Austin or Tino early on….It’s something we looked to do.”

Austin Da Luz agreed, “I think with a little more time we can be successful with that formation. We’ll see what happens. At the end of the day it does make for a more exciting game. It opens up a little bit more and it can be a good thing.”

On the flip side of the argument, Kansas City’s coach, Peter Vermes cited the downside if the formation drifts too much in the 4-5-1 direction, “I think it was a little hard for [Dwayne De Rosario] because he was a man on an island tonight playing as one up top.”

In theory, the wide midfielders should alternately either draw coverage from the center or go poorly marked, with advantages flowing from either development. Both responses increase space for an attacking side to exploit.

DC United is one of the shorter and less physical sides in MLS, explaining a major weakness that was on display Saturday when Sporting Kansas City scored the game winner. Set pieces require at least some size to defend and also to attack.

Interestingly, one of United’s most anticipated improvements for next year will feature the slim, gritty, and clever Perry Kitchen. His skills in the defensive midfield position are such that he is expected to be one of the best in the league as he grows into the role. Yet, he indicates that he has no intention of spending the winter putting on pounds of muscle.

He believes that enough international stars at the position are built like him that he is best off going with his natural skill set. He may well be right, and if so, Olsen would do well to look for a large strong central defender to join the also slim Dejan Jakovic in the back line.

Scoring Summary:

KC — Matt Besler 2 (unassisted) 54

Sporting KC — Jimmy Nielsen, Chance Myers, Aurelien Collin, Matt Besler, Seth Sinovic, Kei Kamara, Roger Espinoza (Davy Arnaud 46), Graham Zusi, Julio Cesar, Omar Bravo, Teal Bunbury (C.J. Sapong 68).
Substitutes Not Used: Michael Harrington, Lawrence Olum, Jeferson, Soony Saad, Eric Kronberg.

D.C. United — Bill Hamid, Chris Korb, Ethan White, Brandon McDonald, Daniel Woolard (Marc Burch 46), Andy Najar, Perry Kitchen, Clyde Simms (Austin Da Luz 17), Stephen King (Josh Wolff 75), Dwayne De Rosario, Santino Quaranta.
Substitutes Not Used: Blake Brettschneider, Charlie Davies, Joseph Ngwenya, Joe Willis.

Misconduct Summary:
KC — Roger Espinoza (caution; Tactical Foul) 26
DC — Perry Kitchen (caution; Reckless Tackle) 34

Referee: Alex Prus
Referee’s Assistants: -Eric Proctor; Corey Parker
4th Official: Mark Kadlecik
Time of Game: 1:49
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-56-degrees

In July, there were a couple of games when the team could be described as bereft of ideas. While players usually moved effectively to support teammates on defense, there were too few runs off the ball on attack.

Then things improved as coach Ben Olsen gradually brought his team along to a point in early September where they were making such runs for one another, not only in defense, but also in possession and on attack.

Somehow, that fluidity went away and United’s play and results have suffered greatly.

Perhaps fatigue played a part as United had two spurts of crowded play. Olsen pointed out that, “Flying back from Vancouver after a tough loss, I thought there were some heavy guys out there to push through it. The game plan was to grind it out, and we did it.”

However, the Fire were also tired and thus fatigue combined with mutual decisions to contest midfield aggressively, causing play naturally to become narrowed. Both teams played hard, but both also played unwisely.

Dwayne DeRosario, a hard working and clever player was hard on his teammates, “It’s frustrating because you want to see that commitment, you want to see that passion and desire to win every ball – to do whatever it takes to stop a shot or block a ball to stop a play – but that isn’t the case and I don’t see that right now.”

His viewpoint reflected mostly on Chicago’s exceptional defensive efforts. In a most unusual statistic, DC United took 13 shots of which 8 were deflected by Fire defenders almost immediately. Only the penalty kick was on goal

In contrast, the Fire had no shots deflected. Their errors were normally wide, high, or saved. They were not particularly worthy of the points they obtained either. Only incisive play at the very end redeemed their poor shooting earlier.

Team qualities, fatigue, and coaches’ recognition of both meant it would be a grinding game.

Olsen’s comment reflected that, “I thought they put a lot of numbers in the midfield – it’s a lot of work in there. That’s why we put some of the guys in early, to deal with that. We had to push the game and I thought we put the right guys in to get the game changed. I think everything worked out, except the last couple of minutes.”

The game opened with a few long forays by both sides and then deteriorated into narrow contests over possession. Width of play was lacking for the first twelve minutes. Then the Fire’s Marco Pappa started to exploit the space on Chicago’s right wing. His DC United counterpart, Austin Da Luz’ responded well, also playing wide.

Sadly, the good shape lasted for about another twelve minutes until both teams lapsed into a shortsighted, narrow style again. The emphasis on control distorted intelligent play and worsened the fatigue factor.

The surest way to save energy is to let the ball do the work. Certainly, pressing the ball is necessary and will concentrate players. Still, once one has possession it is far easier to let the ball do the work by making or finding space with wide play and insightful supporting runs into that space.

Late game fatigue leads to lapses in concentration and Olsen is certain to emphasize the need to maintain focus throughout United’s last two games on Wednesday and Saturday. In Vancouver, United gave up a goal in the first minute. At home, they lost focus late. Neither lapse is excusable in a professional team.

While players must accept responsibility for their own efforts and decision making, it is the role of the coaching staff to set them up for success. In the next few days, Olsen and company must somehow return the team to the intelligent play they had so recently displayed.

With two consecutive wins, a novel idea this year, and a Red Bull loss, United may yet see the post-season action they have thus far not merited.

Scoring:
DC — Dwayne De Rosario 15 (penalty kick) 90
CHI — Sebastian Grazzini 5 (Gonzalo Segares 4) 92+
CHI — Diego Chaves 5 (Gonzalo Segares 5, Orr Barouch 2) 94+

Lineups:

Chicago Fire — Sean Johnson, Michael Videira (Yamith Cuesta 19), Josip Mikulic, Jalil Anibaba, Gonzalo Segares, Logan Pause, Sebastian Grazzini, Daniel Paladini (Diego Chaves 89), Marco Pappa, Patrick Nyarko, Dominic Oduro (Orr Barouch 73). Substitutes Not Used: Corben Bone, Baggio Husidic, Pari Pantazopoulos, Jon Conway.

D.C. United — Bill Hamid, Chris Korb, Brandon McDonald, Perry Kitchen, Daniel Woolard, Andy Najar, Stephen King (Marc Burch 75), Clyde Simms, Austin Da Luz (Santino Quaranta 57), Dwayne De Rosario, Josh Wolff (Charlie Davies 79). Substitutes Not Used: Blake Brettschneider, Joseph Ngwenya, Ethan White, Joe Willis.

Misconduct:
CHI — Josip Mikulic (caution; Reckless Foul) 46
DC — Andy Najar (caution; Reckless Foul) 76
CHI — Orr Barouch (caution; Dissent) 78

Referee: Jorge Gonzalez
Referee’s Assistants: Greg Barkey, Matthew Kreitzer
4th Official: Terry Vaughn

Attendance: 16,548
Time of Game: 1:52
Weather: Clear and 66 degrees

Granted, the spectacular hat trick from Dwayne DeRosario, which set a new MLS record at 31 minutes for earliest completion of the feat, was a masterpiece of individual effort, but the real story was how he was set up to succeed.

The Canadian emphasized the contribution of those around him, “I can’t speak more highly about the performance all around from the guys. I think collectively, as a unit, it was first class, from Bill right up to the forwards.”

DC United and Real Salt Lake have a history of playing possession soccer. Often that results in a grinding fight in midfield. In this particular game, both teams came out with the same idea, play compactly to thwart midfield linkups and flip the ball over the top or slip it through openings to get behind the defense.

DeRosario credits the strategy for both Najar’s goal off his finely threaded through ball and his own header off Najar’s perfectly placed lob. “Most importantly, we kept our shape and that’s what Ben wanted us to do.” He later added, “We stuck to the game plan, stayed compact.”

There is an adage in soccer that says, “Front to back, play compact; side to side, keep it wide.” Although most often adhering to the rule, both teams sometimes reverted to half-width play, leaving space down the sides which was almost never exploited by Salt Lake and more often put to use by United.

Veteran and captain, Josh Wolff seconded DeRosario’s praise of the overall team effort, “We’re not a one man show although DeRo takes a lot of the credit tonight…It comes back to the discipline of how we approach things.”

He elaborated on playing a compact style front to back and featuring over the top balls, “It’s indicative of the guys you have out there.”

When a team has players like Najar, Marc Burch, or Santino Quaranta who can place long balls onto attackers’ heads or feet, opponents can more easily be bypassed when front to back distance is shortened. “They (RSL) do a good job of closing space like we talk about in our group, keeping the space between forwards and the backs to 35 yards.”

A shortened midfield negated one of Salt Lake’s most potent weapons, Kyle Beckerman, who never seemed to have enough room to dominate play as he has so often in the past. Conditions were a bit unusual for both teams and, “I think we responded better…Andy’s ball to DeRo was amazing and obviously DeRo’s to Andy was as well”, was how Wolff summed it up.

Former DC United coach, Peter Nowak will surely study the films of this game and it will be interesting to see whether he chooses to play the compact game on Thursday or finds another way to open up play to put extra stress on United’s young back line.

Scoring Summary:

DC — Andy Najar 4 (Dwayne De Rosario 11) 13
DC — Dwayne De Rosario 11 (Andy Najar 6) 22
DC — Dwayne De Rosario 12 (Josh Wolff 6) 27
DC — Dwayne De Rosario 13 (unassisted) 31
RSL — Alvaro Saborio 10 (Paulo Araujo Jr. 4) 86

Real Salt Lake — Nick Rimando, Blake Wagner (Will Johnson 62), Nat Borchers, Rauwshan McKenzie, Chris Wingert, Arturo Alvarez (Luis Gil 62), Kyle Beckerman, Collen Warner, Ned Grabavoy, Paulo Araujo Jr., Jean Alexandre (Alvaro Saborio 75).

Substitutes Not Used: Fabian Espindola, Javier Morales, Chris Schuler, Tim Melia.

D.C. United — Bill Hamid, Perry Kitchen, Ethan White, Brandon McDonald, Marc Burch, Andy Najar (Brandon Barklage 81), Stephen King, Clyde Simms, Austin Da Luz, Josh Wolff (Blake Brettschneider 74), Dwayne De Rosario (Joseph Ngwenya 65).

Substitutes Not Used: Charlie Davies, Santino Quaranta, Daniel Woolard, Joe Willis.

Misconduct Summary:

RSL — Collen Warner (caution; Reckless Tackle) 59

Referee: Edvin Jurisevic
Referee’s Assistants: Chris Strickland; Adam Garner
4th Official: Andrew Chapin

Time of game: 1:49
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-73-degrees
Attendance: 16,367

Granted, the spectacular hat trick from Dwayne DeRosario, which set a new MLS record at 31 minutes for earliest completion of the feat, was a masterpiece of individual effort, but the real story was how he was set up to succeed.

The Canadian emphasized the contribution of those around him, “I can’t speak more highly about the performance all around from the guys. I think collectively, as a unit, it was first class, from Bill right up to the forwards.”

DC United and Real Salt Lake have a history of playing possession soccer. Often that results in a grinding fight in midfield. In this particular game, both teams came out with the same idea, play compactly to thwart midfield linkups and flip the ball over the top or slip it through openings to get behind the defense.

DeRosario credits the strategy for both Najar’s goal off his finely threaded through ball and his own header off Najar’s perfectly placed lob. “Most importantly, we kept our shape and that’s what Ben wanted us to do.” He later added, “We stuck to the game plan, stayed compact.”

There is an adage in soccer that says, “Front to back, play compact; side to side, keep it wide.” Although most often adhering to the rule, both teams sometimes reverted to half-width play, leaving space down the sides which was almost never exploited by Salt Lake and more often put to use by United.

Veteran and captain, Josh Wolff seconded DeRosario’s praise of the overall team effort, “We’re not a one man show although DeRo takes a lot of the credit tonight…It comes back to the discipline of how we approach things.”

He elaborated on playing a compact style front to back and featuring over the top balls, “It’s indicative of the guys you have out there.”

When a team has players like Najar, Marc Burch, or Santino Quaranta who can place long balls onto attackers’ heads or feet, opponents can more easily be bypassed when front to back distance is shortened. “They (RSL) do a good job of closing space like we talk about in our group, keeping the space between forwards and the backs to 35 yards.”

A shortened midfield negated one of Salt Lake’s most potent weapons, Kyle Beckerman, who never seemed to have enough room to dominate play as he has so often in the past. Conditions were a bit unusual for both teams and, “I think we responded better…Andy’s ball to DeRo was amazing and obviously DeRo’s to Andy was as well”, was how Wolff summed it up.

Former DC United coach, Peter Nowak will surely study the films of this game and it will be interesting to see whether he chooses to play the compact game on Thursday or finds another way to open up play to put extra stress on United’s young back line.

Scoring Summary:

DC — Andy Najar 4 (Dwayne De Rosario 11) 13
DC — Dwayne De Rosario 11 (Andy Najar 6) 22
DC — Dwayne De Rosario 12 (Josh Wolff 6) 27
DC — Dwayne De Rosario 13 (unassisted) 31
RSL — Alvaro Saborio 10 (Paulo Araujo Jr. 4) 86

Real Salt Lake — Nick Rimando, Blake Wagner (Will Johnson 62), Nat Borchers, Rauwshan McKenzie, Chris Wingert, Arturo Alvarez (Luis Gil 62), Kyle Beckerman, Collen Warner, Ned Grabavoy, Paulo Araujo Jr., Jean Alexandre (Alvaro Saborio 75).

Substitutes Not Used: Fabian Espindola, Javier Morales, Chris Schuler, Tim Melia.

D.C. United — Bill Hamid, Perry Kitchen, Ethan White, Brandon McDonald, Marc Burch, Andy Najar (Brandon Barklage 81), Stephen King, Clyde Simms, Austin Da Luz, Josh Wolff (Blake Brettschneider 74), Dwayne De Rosario (Joseph Ngwenya 65).

Substitutes Not Used: Charlie Davies, Santino Quaranta, Daniel Woolard, Joe Willis.

Misconduct Summary:

RSL — Collen Warner (caution; Reckless Tackle) 59

Referee: Edvin Jurisevic
Referee’s Assistants: Chris Strickland; Adam Garner
4th Official: Andrew Chapin

Time of game: 1:49
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-73-degrees
Attendance: 16,367

He seems also to have learned to deal with the uncontrolled variables that plague MLS teams, dealing with random injuries while picking off good value via trades for Wayne DeRosario and Brandon McDonald after earlier acquiring the recovering Charlie Davies. Another wise pickup was Josh Wolff.

United comes into Saturday’s game in Seattle off a solid performance against an admittedly struggling Chivas side. The loss of an in form Chris Pontius in that game will take some of the edge off, but Wolff may have recovered from his own injuries in time to be very useful.

Seattle comes off a league loss that stopped an extended unbeaten streak followed by a nice CONCACAF win on Wednesday at Herediano. The short turnaround and travel involved should put a slight dent in the fitness of a few Sounders’ players, but the wise Sigi Schmid left a few key elements at home.

In turn, Olsen has kept his charges out West to shorten their travel. He will probably opt for a maximum effort despite the upcoming Wednesday-Saturday home stand in the next week. Schmid has an even quicker turnaround as Herediano visits on Tuesday, but has just beaten them away and risen to a solid position atop Seattle’s CONCACAF group.

Although Dejan Jakovic is listed as questionable, Olsen is unlikely to risk him in light of the upcoming stressful schedule. The early season blooding of Ethan White has given the rookie a much improved vision of the game and he should do well.

Following their season long development plan, the United staff are confident in their depth for now. Joe Willis has developed nicely and may fill in if Bill Hamid’s hamstring remains touchy. Austin DaLuz has also shown well on the left side and Marc Burch has come back strong from injury to support the portside as well.

Tino Quaranta missed several months with an extended concussion recovery, and looks fresh and sharp. The energy he will provide if he is kept on the left wing will be vital to replace some of Pontius’ dynamism.

An alternative to Wolff up front might be to start the aggressive Blake Brettschneider , who is a lesser skilled version of Pontius, in order to wear down Seattle’s defense before throwing Wolff in to outthink and outrun them.

Both teams have a big investment in the match as Seattle nears clinching a playoff berth and looks to a high seeding while DC wants to claim maximum points from the games they have in hand on so many rivals for a playoff spot.

As with most MLS games, this one will have twists and turns as the game progresses. Ben Olsen’s strategic vision has proven to be solid so far, but Sigi Schmid is one of the most astute coaches in MLS and will provide a stern test to Olsen’s still developing tactical sense.

Whether playing as an attacking midfielder or a forward, DeRosario has the freedom to attack from any angle he wishes. Teams must cover him at all times, usually with a primary cover and close backup.

Since he varies his runs across the entire field, defenders are forced to choose to follow or pass him on. If he operated as a sole threat, that would be very achievable. With the speed and still growing strength of Charlie Davies to complement him, he gets a bit of breathing room.

Add the continued maturing of Andy Najar and Chris Pontius on the wings, and the poor defenders require even more support from their midfielders. Either player is more than happy to take on several at a time, sometimes cutting directly inside and sometimes choosing a wider route.

More classical soccer teams have a few large central players to reward the down-to-the-line cross. United, one of the smaller teams in MLS, does not. Instead, Najar and DeRosario seem to take special delight in dancing along the line to fire a short pass or surprising shot from close range.

Najar’s shocking goal against the Whitecaps was a classic example of just that aggressive mentality. Pontius’ style is a bit more subtle. His movement looks deceptively smooth until he suddenly swings around his marker to strike.

He still tends to drift inside to find the ball, but an examination of both his goals reveals that it was his holding back from closing in until the right moment that gained him the momentum and space to score.

On his first goal he paused, saw DeRosario beat his men and only then went sharply at goal. That reflects a mature and dangerous vision. On his second goal, he held his width as he saw two teammates already inside and thus owned the wider space which allowed him to shoot cleanly.

Tino Quaranta’s recovery from concussion came just in time for him to step into a creative midfield role with which he has struggled before. DeRosario’s success as a forward, and his willingness and that of Davies to withdraw to receive and work the ball, has allowed Quaranta just enough additional space for him to pick out long range targets to bring out some of the confidence of his first few years.

Quaranta’s blast from 35 yards nearly beat the Whitecaps’ keeper Jay Nolly and another similarly hard shot rocked the ‘Caps wall. Defenses now know that they must guard him more closely and the keeper will have yet another movement to track.

The aggressive attitude has now permeated the team. Left back Daniel Woolard barely missed his own 25 yard rocket. Marc Burch came on late to spell Pontius at left midfield and added his own attacking movement, nearly setting up yet another United goal.

Finally, Stephen King wrote his own short horror story for Vancouver as he came on for Santino Quaranta and got the goal that Quaranta had tried so hard all game to obtain. King was cool and smooth as he cut smartly around his marker and sharply slotted the ball past Nolly.

He has shown well in cameo appearances and reserve games and gives the hard working Clyde Simms an occasional chance to rest.

In his own younger days, Simms would pair with Olsen in a holding midfield role and either player would occasionally crack low and hard drives at goal. Saturday saw him do just that as he began again looking for such long-range chances.

Olsen has successfully encouraged a team that has a sad history of trying to dribble the ball into goal to try whatever works from whatever distance and to do it with a menacing attitude.

DC’s defense, which helped Joe Willis keep a clean sheet in Bill Hamid’s absence, seems to have settled in nicely as the strength of Brandon McDonald and speed of Dejan Jakovic have combined with the growth of Perry Kitchen and Daniel Woolard to somewhat lighten the load on Simms and King who previously had too much space to cover.

Balance is a vital component of good soccer, and Olsen seems finally to have the tools in place to achieve it. As more players come off the injured list, he has the depth to use reliable contributors like Burch, Ethan White, and Josh Wolff.

This team is within striking distance of first place in the Eastern Conference and is about to enter a testing pair of tightly spaced away games which make up their very valuable games in hand to close on the leaders. Depth is of the essence, and DC United has it.

Scoring Summary:
DC — Chris Pontius 6 (Dwayne De Rosario 7) 47+
DC — Andy Najar 3 (Santino Quaranta 2) 48
DC — Chris Pontius 7 (unassisted) 70
DC — Stephen King 1 (Dwayne De Rosario 8) 81

Vancouver Whitecaps — Jay Nolly, Jonathan Leathers, Michael Boxall, Jay DeMerit (Davide Chiumiento 62), Jordan Harvey, John Thorrington (Jeb Brovsky 70), Gershon Koffie, Peter Vagenas (Mustapha Jarju 71), Shea Salinas, Eric Hassli, Camilo.

Substitutes Not Used: Bilal Duckett, Michael Nanchoff, Long Tan, Joe Cannon.

TOTAL SHOTS: 9 (Camilo 3, Eric Hassli 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 7 (Camilo 3); FOULS: 8 (John Thorrington 2); OFFSIDES: 1 (Camilo 1); CORNER KICKS: 2 (Camilo 1, Shea Salinas 1); SAVES: 4 (Jay Nolly 4)

D.C. United — Joe Willis, Perry Kitchen, Brandon McDonald, Dejan Jakovic, Daniel Woolard, Santino Quaranta (Stephen King 63), Clyde Simms, Andy Najar (Austin Da Luz 74), Chris Pontius (Marc Burch 77), Dwayne De Rosario, Charlie Davies.

Substitutes Not Used: Blake Brettschneider, Ethan White, Josh Wolff, Steve Cronin.

TOTAL SHOTS: 19 (Dwayne De Rosario 6); SHOTS ON GOAL: 8 (3 tied with 2); FOULS: 13 (Dejan Jakovic 3, Andy Najar 3); OFFSIDES: 2 (Dwayne De Rosario 2); CORNER KICKS: 3 (Andy Najar 2); SAVES: 6 (Joe Willis 6)

Misconduct Summary:
VAN — Camilo (caution; Reckless Foul) 15
DC — Brandon McDonald (caution; Dissent) 39
VAN — Michael Boxall (caution; Reckless Tackle) 46+
DC — Charlie Davies (caution; Dissent) 60

Referee: Hilario Grajeda
Referee’s Assistants: -George Gansner; Paul Scott
4th Official: Mark Declouet
Attendance: 11,738
Time of Game: 1:48
Weather: Cloudy-and-77-degrees

They are well aware of their own disappointing performances at home, especially the 1-0 loss to New England. The team is young and still very much growing in confidence and familiarity with the style that Olsen is working toward. The role of underdog built into an away game suits them.

Despite their league trailing record, Saturday’s opponent, the Toronto Football Club, will be coming into RFK with their own renewed confidence after disposing of Real Esteli in Tuesday night’s CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Their coach, Aron Winter, describes their response to the trip to Nicaragua, “If you are playing an away game against an opponent that is very difficult, and if you know the circumstances — long travel with a long ride — and then how the team responded, a big compliment. It’s not easy to win those games away from home. We are not still there. But the beginning is there.”

In theory it should be somewhat more difficult for them against United. The hard game and the travel involved will take a toll and DC United is on their own roll. Still, Winter will surely light a fire under his men, explaining that the good beginning on Tuesday must be built on if only as a matter of pride.

Just as United has continued to improve as Wayne DeRosario melds with his teammates, Toronto is quickly integrating Torsten Frings and Danny Koevermans into the Winter scheme. Both teams should come out firing from the beginning, giving the fans an exciting match.

The absence of Andy Najar will deprive Olsen of some of the energy which he so highly values, but this squad has become very aware of its failings at home and should consider it as a sort of underdog instance.

Just as his defense has begun to stabilize, Olsen has had to adjust his offense. DeRosario had to move forward in San Jose with the injuries to Charlie Davies, Josh Wolff, and Joseph Ngwenya. If enough of them return; all are coming off injury, with Davies cleared, Wolff probable, and Ngwenya questionable, he may resume his creative midfield role.

Alternatively, Olsen may believe that the DeRosario goals against the Earthquakes are a sign that he should keep the Canadian as a withdrawn striker. If he starts Clyde Simms and Stephen King as defensive midfielders, the formation will be more of a 4-5-1 as DeRosario plays a bit more as a libero.

Olsen’s choice is to honor the strength of Frings and Koevermans by going 4-5-1 or to go on the attack, in which case Davies or Wolff will start. If their health and performance in practice are up to par, the latter is much more likely in keeping with the aggression which has played out so well when away.

All coaches talk a good game. The best obtain buy-in from their players by training them well and increasing their understanding of his approach to the game and how he wants it played. Beginning last year, Olsen gradually instilled an understanding of the need to move as a unit while maintaining width.

He has had to pay particular attention to the tendency of DC United’s strong cadre of wide midfielders to drift inside to an extraordinary extent. With the arrival of Dax McCarty, the team unintentionally reinforced this tendency.

It had been hoped that both McCarty and Clyde Simms could generate enough offense to allow the wide mids to patrol their sides and thereby maintain width. When it became obvious that McCarty was not well suited to the role, United made a wise trade to obtain the final cog in their attacking scheme.

The diamond midfield pairs solid cover man Simms behind Dwayne DeRosario, whose ability to either take on defenses or pass around them poses the central threat that will allow Chris Pontius and Andy Najar to keep the width that will open attacking channels for the entire striking cadre.

In turn, the stronger offensive threat allows the wide defenders to remain home a bit more often to lessen the stress on the central defense. That area, which would otherwise be United’s sole remaining weakness has been greatly improved with the addition of the strong and vocal Brandon McDonald.

With the return of Dejan Jakovic, the team will finally have some central defensive depth. His availability will allow Perry Kitchen to continue to play wide right to cover for the injuries to so many DC players.

The game Saturday at Dallas will provide a good test of whether the team has finally gelled.

On the injury front, the training staff has recently been more aggressive in post game recovery efforts. All players are encouraged to wear compression- recovery pants when they sleep. Many can be seen after games rolling the lactic acid from their muscles in the locker room.

The quick turnaround game on Wednesday against New England may show the benefits of the emphasis on recovery.

MLS has seen a plethora of tied or very close games, pointing to increased parity. New teams entering the league have usually become competitive very quickly, from Chicago years ago, to Real Salt Lake, to Seattle, to the Union right now.

With coaches Ben Olsen and Peter Nowak having similar styles and temperaments, both teams should play similarly on Saturday. Look for determined efforts to control possession and to defend and attack all over the field.

Continuing injury woes have plagued United, especially on defense, where Dejan Jakovic and Marc Burch remain out while Jed Zayner appears to have yet again been bitten by the injury bug. Daniel Woolard is not listed among the injured, but may have tweaked his back at practice.

To the rescue come two significant additions, Brandon McDonald and Dwayne DeRosario. The former may take up immediate residence in central defense, allowing Perry Kitchen to slide right to fill the slot that Zayner had just begun to own.

DeRosario will provide United with the creative midfield presence that it has lacked all season. Despite the excellent individual performances of both Andy Najar and Chris Pontius, they have both failed to maintain the width that is essential to effective overall team play.

Pontius has several times stated that he goes inside to find the ball and get involved in play. While fine for him, it has clogged the middle and made it easier for defenders to stifle plays on a narrowed field of combat.

Unstated in his position is the fact that central attack has been lacking due to the presence of two holding midfielders, forming what is often called an “empty bucket”. The thought in such an approach is that as the wide midfielders cut in, they may be followed by wide defenders, allowing the defensive backs to overlap.

In practice, that only substitutes a lesser wide threat for a more capable one. It is a stopgap against weakness in central creativity. Enter DeRosario.

We should know fairly quickly whether his insertion will result in more disciplined play with better overall team shape. The hiring as an assistant of Sonny Silooy, who comes from the Dutch total soccer tradition, may combine with the better balance provided by DeRosario to create a more sophisticated and effective DC United attack.

While the midfielders seem set, the attackers may surprise due to the ankle injury that Davis carries. Olsen may choose to bring Davies on later after having Blake Brettschneider mix his aggressive technique with Josh Wolff’s guile and speed.

Behind the mids the choice of Kitchen, White, and McDonald seems easy, with Woolard or Korb filling in wide left. Injuries, both longstanding and very recent, force a necessity which may become a blessing. McDonald will provide experience to a very young defense in Jakovic’s absence, at the cost of some unfamiliarity due to his recent arrival.

Finally, wider wing play, which DeRosario’s presence may influence, should result in less venturing forward by the young DC defenders, rendering them less susceptible to counter attacks and creating better defense through offense.

Game time will be a half hour earlier than usual to allow Fox Soccer channel to televise the event.

Olsen grew up in a possession oriented tradition that emphasized gritty play and dominance of midfield. Every DC United game would begin with that battle for control. Opponents would frequently choose to cede possession by dropping their primary resistance line to midfield or even deeper into their own end.

As DC pressed their attacks into a semi-bunker, opponents hoped to lure defenders forward into overlapping positions and then to counterstrike quickly. With rookies in back, United is now susceptible to such tactics. Perhaps some change in emphasis would surprise Salt Lake.

As he moved from player to coach, Jason Kreis proved to be a quick study and has infused a style into his team that suits their location as well as his own personality. Salt Lake’s possession game is designed to wear out opponents who are not used to Rio Tinto’s altitude. DC United’s classic style plays right into that tactic and may explain their own lack of success in Salt Lake.

Given that his possession game has prevailed against the entire league, Kreis is unlikely to change it. The predictable is often beatable, and Olsen may choose to surprise his opponent by switching to a counterattacking approach.

This does not mean bunkering in, but simply keeping one’s own wide defenders at home most of the time while placing the primary resistance line near midfield. Let Real Salt Lake try to pry open DC while Charlie Davies or Josh Wolff look to join with Andy Najar and Chris Pontius in quick counters.

Soccer games are rarely won by radical changes in strategy, but a change in emphasis can have a profound effect. It should take Kreis most of the first half to recognize any change. If he seems to adjust in the second half, United might choose to switch to the attack or to continue to ride out a lead if one has been attained.

In either case, Olsen’s players will be more rested than previously and thus more able to execute whichever tactic is called for.

If Jed Zayner is fully up to speed, his presence may be just the bit of maturity needed to settle the defense. Although Daniel Woolard has shown an ability to overlap, he is sufficiently experienced and disciplined to hold down a more defensive role as well.

Both Najar and Pontius will need to do less defending as their mates hang back. Pontius has previously expressed his pleasure at having overlapping defenders create openings for him. He will have to adjust to the trade off and seek his chances via sharp diagonal runs and individual battles with defenders.

Both he and Najar have great one-on-one skill and excellent vision. Wolff or Davies can read the defenders’ responses and play accordingly. Blake Bretschneider can remain a handful for any defender who loses track of him.

In short, a little change may bring a big surprise.