The team has tended for several years to play narrowly, with wide midfielders choosing very often to drive into a congested center where they lose possession. When Olsen took over last year, he continued a pattern of wider attacking that the team was already beginning to use.

The good pattern continued this year, but one still too often observed the half-width midfield and the congested central attacking lanes that cause an offense to wither. The width now often comes from overlapping wide defenders. It turns out that this is intended, at least some of the time.

Daniel Woolard who has stepped in very nicely for the injured Marc Burch, describes the rationale for Chris Pontius’ attacking inside and his assuming the wide attacking role down the left, “We do that in training. When he goes inside it’s my responsibility to get around him. It opens up the inside for him if the outside mid or the outside back comes out toward me that makes more space in the middle.”

There is some merit in that argument in that it presents the opponent with more choices he has to make, but it also places the erstwhile defender in a specifically attacking role for which only a few are well prepared.

Perry Kitchen served several good balls from the right when he got forward on Saturday, and he seems ready to be effective in an attacking role similar to the one that Bryan Namoff grew into. If Burch returns to action in the left back slot, he might provide a similar threat down that side.

It’s not quite that simple. The flaw in this strategy derives from the fundamental nature of DC United from its earliest days. A team which plays possession ball will trend heavily to a slower buildup and thereby allow opponents to clog the central attacking channels.

When wide midfielders choose the inside route too often they make the congestion worse. For years DC’s opponents have favored the quick counterattack from a semi-bunker. When congestion leads to a turnover and the wide defenders have come too far forward, an outlet pass down the wing will avoid the defenders and the goalkeeper and place the defense on its heels.

When both Charlie Davies and Josh Wolff went down with injuries in the first half against Colorado, their misfortunes may have worked to show another alternative to the congested middle. For years, Tino Quaranta has learned about the withdrawn forward position from Jaime Moreno, but rarely had a chance to play there.

On Saturday, he got that chance. Although the withdrawn forward role which favors his skills might seem to add to the problem, Quaranta’s effectiveness actually served to deter Pontius and Andy Najar from too much central play.

Quaranta’s forward pressure in defense and holding and distributing in attack allowed the wide mids to feel comfortable striking down the wings more often. Quaranta described the problem, “In the first half we were playing a 4-4-2. It looked like we were playing four guys in a flat row and they were too high.”

He went on to describe the solution, “Somebody had to drop underneath a little bit, give another option and give our team the ability to play wide and get our outside backs involved. By doing that it causes the defense a lot of problems.”

His description of the role seemed almost to describe a previous United forward, Alecko Eskandarian, “The most important thing in that position is to run, chasing defenders down, making it hard to clear balls, winning balls higher. It makes it easier for the guys behind us.”

The concept that everyone plays defense and everyone attacks is classic Bruce Arena ball; pressure, then possess, then attack, but only when it is clearly on and then very quickly with everyone involved. That is the historic United way.

With Davies resting his hamstring and Wolff happy to strengthen his groin, Quaranta may get a chance in a friendly against Dutch powerhouse Ajax next Sunday to develop some comfort in the role that for so long has seemed his best fit for DC.

Given Wolff’s age and the natural styles of other forwards, Davies, Joseph Ngwenya, and Blake Brettschneider, Olsen may have found a more deadly attacking approach.

Scoring Summary:

COL — Drew Moor 1 (unassisted) 23
DC — Chris Pontius 3 (unassisted) 62

Misconduct Summary:

COL — Drew Moor (caution; Tactical Foul) 46+
COL — Matt Pickens (caution; Delaying a Restart) 92+

Lineups:

Colorado Rapids — Matt Pickens, Marvell Wynne, Tyrone Marshall, Drew Moor, Kosuke Kimura, Jamie Smith, Jeff Larentowicz, Pablo Mastroeni, Wells Thompson (Ross LaBauex 89), Andre Akpan (Sanna Nyassi 75), Quincy Amarikwa (Conor Casey 67).
Substitutes Not Used: Danny Earls, Joseph Nane, Scott Palguta, Steward Ceus.

D.C. United — Bill Hamid, Perry Kitchen, Ethan White, Dejan Jakovic, Daniel Woolard, Andy Najar, Dax McCarty, Clyde Simms (Fred 80), Chris Pontius, Josh Wolff (Joseph Ngwenya 44), Charlie Davies (Santino Quaranta 34).
Substitutes Not Used: Blake Brettschneider, Marc Burch, Chris Korb, Steve Cronin.

Referee: Terry Vaughn
Referee’s Assistants: Steven Taylor; Jason Cullum
4th Official: Daniel Fitzgerald
Time of Game: 1:52
Attendance: 12,499
Weather: Cloudy and 66 degrees

Tino Quaranta has been trying to understand it and draws real hope from the most recent performance against the LA Galaxy, “Continue to play like that and we’ll win games. It’s kind of been a theme all year, but they’re the best team in our league and I think we should have won this game tonight. Our record and our points don’t show what kind of team we are.”

Recovery began with the realization that United was inflexibly focused on central attack. Curt Onalfo emphasized wing play and saw some success. However, with the absence of Bryan Namoff and a constant series of injuries to defenders, he was forced to restrain his wide attackers to support those behind them.

Against the stronger United teams of old opponents were often forced into a counterattacking mode.
They would absorb United’s pressure and strike on the counter. If other teams are so superior to United this year, one might expect them to fight for midfield control. After all, a weakened defense gives opponents both options.

Yet, they win off the counter more often than not. Quaranta is correct in his assessment, “We’ve been creating a lot of chances. If you look around the league in that position, in the [wide] positions, I feel like this team is one of the best teams in those positions.”

Throughout the season, United has steadily improved in maintaining its overall shape while gradually improving in off the ball supporting runs, first on defense, and only very recently on attack. That can be laid to too intense a desire to carry the team to victory with individual effort.

The team has no pure speed player to keep an opponent off balance, but does have enough strong attackers to create and finish chances. Of late, Pablo Hernandez has gradually adjusted to the physicality of MLS play and has begun to interact better with his teammates.

With his arrival, the central attack has gradually improved as Danny Allsopp has begun to work a more effective partnership up front. Quaranta has been able to see players closer than Andy Najar as viable passing options.

Until recently, players would drive at and take on multiple defenders while teammates watched. In the last three games, against Columbus, Toronto, and LA, the attack has finally achieved effective support with good offensive runs and quicker recognition by of opportunity by those with the ball and those in support.

Hernandez had shared a tendency with Najar to hold the ball a bit too long. In both cases, teammates were partially to blame. The single most significant element that DC United’s coaches have instilled is the need for constant movement off the ball to support these two particular players when they get the ball.

The same lack of effective supporting movement has combined with his own age degraded skills to render Jaime Moreno no longer the game changer that he once was. Time and again, DC United players have emphasized that they play for one another. In fact, they have, but almost always in focusing on defense.

With the emergence of more active offensive interaction, the elements are now in place, just in time for some new actors to join in the play. Both Carlos Varela and Junior Carreiro give Coach Ben Olsen still more midfield support. Junior has been with the side long enough to have bought into the doctrine and Varela is experienced enough to figure it out quickly.

After strong performances in close losses against two of the league’s leaders, DC now gets a shot at a struggling Houston Dynamo squad whose fans must be as baffled United’s. The game is at 7:30 at RFK.

Take the two most recent losses in which the team seemed to play well only to have critical defensive lapses prove their undoing. Against New England, Branko Boskovic failed to adequately mark Pat Phelan, who scored the winning goal. The lack of strong defenders left the DC United coaching staff with no choice but to assign a fundamentally creative player to a specific defensive task.

Against FC Dallas, Dejan Jakovic, who is a defender by trade and talent, found himself in a superior position yet was outmaneuvered by Jeff Cunningham to stifle what had been a nice United recovery. This lapse was uncharacteristic of Jakovic, but can be laid to his coming off a hamstring injury with a consequently weaker sense of the game as he rejoins the fray.

At no time during the season has United had a consistent set of defenders. To his credit, ex-coach Curt Onalfo adjusted his formation to the sad reality by using two defensive/holding midfielders. The defense actually held up fairly well, but the offense went begging as the transition game failed in the now less creative midfield.

With the arrival of creative help in Boskovic and Pablo Hernandez, the coaching staff had to make a fateful decision. The midfield would lose a defender. The weak link moved a back a notch and the game got a bit more creative. The last two outings have seen a quicker, more dangerous, and more entertaining DC attack.

The dearth of goals from that attack can be laid to two causes, the greater of which is that United’s players have not moved as well off the ball as necessary. Despite showing a clear desire to transition quickly into attack, each United player with the ball is too easily closed down as teammates fail to move swiftly enough to open up passing sequences.

Some of that can be laid to a proper earlier emphasis on defensive responsibilities and the remainder to a lack of confidence as the team slips further into the cellar. If Jakovic continues to recover game fitness and Jed Zayner steps up as hoped, enough balance may be restored to allow a fully functional team.

As this season has progressed, United has gradually improved in its use of the full width of the field. Yet, against Dallas, they moved the game to almost half width after the Dallas goal in the 36th minute. The second half saw some improvement and some reward as United finally got their first MLS goal since July 18th courtesy of Dallas’ Jair Benitez, who poked the ball into his own net while defending the hard charge of Andy Najar.

On Sunday, the Philadelphia Union will come to town with DC Alumni Peter Nowak, Fred, and Andrew Jacobson. While United will be grateful for a bit less foot speed than they faced against Dallas, they can count on a disciplined and mentally quick Union team.

Alejandro Moreno will bear watching as he probes for weaknesses and Fred will have a chance to show the team that traded him that he can create and convert danger from midfield. Nowak is an intelligent coach and if he has balanced Fred’s dribbling prowess with other Union players’ runs, United may a have another difficult day.

On the other hand, Jakovic is a week stronger, newly acquired Jed Zayner should be ready to deliver on his promise, and a bit better off the ball running may open up the game and score sheet for United.

Coach Tom Soehn used the 10 day break to drive home the importance of wide play through consistent training and was fortunate to have an opponent well suited to allow his players to grow comfortable with it. His youngsters executed the plan with discipline and effectiveness to pull out a 3-0 victory which gives United the tiebreaking edge over Marathon.

Over the past several months DC United has very slowly improved its use of the flanks to build its attacks. While Tino Quaranta and Fred showed increasing discipline to stay wide as August and September slid by, and Bryan Namoff began more frequent overlaps down the sideline, their teammates seemed not to reward their efforts with proper service.

Then on Thursday night a Marathon team, wearied by long travel from troubled Honduras, provided a perfect foil to test United’s willingness to work the entire field. DC’s Coach Tom Soehn played a young and energetic lineup which provided the rapid transition to force Marathon to constantly adjust to a multifaceted attack.

Soehn admitted the previous problem with a predictable central attacking mindset, “Over this course of so many games, we’ve created some bad habits, where we haven’t been using the width. And not being able to work on it in training, or not having the time to do it, makes it difficult.

“We had a week to really focus on the strength to stretch the field to change the point of attack, and today I saw a real difference in that.”

As United chose to attack by encouraging both wings to play forward, Marathon chose to defend what amounted to their two goal lead in the important head-to-head tiebreaker. Both group dynamics and their travel fatigue drove the decision by Marathon’s coach to absorb pressure in their end, hoping to exploit United’s depleted defense with counterstrikes.

He pointed out that his team had taken an eight hour bus trip to fly out of Guatemala, only arriving at 1:30 on Thursday morning. Both coaches based their strategies on sound grounds, but the confluence of fatigue, several key first half saves by Josh Wicks, and the first strong sign of total team play by United gave the home side a 3-0 victory.

Ben Olsen was understanding, but willing to exploit the convenient reality, “They had a long couple of days getting here and unfortunately for them, they weren’t 100 percent. But we’ve played teams that weren’t 100 percent in the past and we haven’t taken advantage of them.

“It’s important when you do get these chances, when you play a team that’s down on their luck a little bit, you have to punish them and we did that tonight.”

Quaranta shared his teammates’ pleasure with DC’s performance, “With four (defenders) we have to get our outside backs involved and use the width. We did that tonight. We were smart. We were disciplined going forward and kept a good shape. We will break teams down here no matter who we play.”

He volunteered that there was room for improvement in exploiting the full width of the field,
“Absolutely. We can only get better. The guys who stepped in tonight did well. You can build off these types of performances. It’s very positive in the locker room right now. We put ourselves in a position to do what we need to do to advance.”

The squad has three days to rest up for Sunday’s clash against San Jose at RFK on Sunday at 3:00 PM. Advancement in another competition, the MLS playoffs, hinges on United’s continued improvement in understanding the value of full width play and applying it throughout a contest.

Scoring:
DC — Luciano Emilio 1 (Avery John ) 47
DC — Jaime Moreno 1 (Santino Quaranta ) 55
DC — Luciano Emilio 2 (Ben Olsen ) 71

Discipline:
DC — Avery John (caution; Reckless Tackle) 26
MAR — Mario Beata (caution; Reckless Foul) 82
MAR — Mario Berrios (caution; Reckless Foul) 83
DC — Dejan Jakovic (caution; Dissent) 88
DC — Jaime Moreno (caution; Reckless Foul) 90
DC — Jaime Moreno (ejection; Second Caution) 91+
MAR — Glen Brown (caution; Dissent) 91+

Game Stats
CD Marathon / D.C. United
Total Shots: 9 20
Shots on Goal: 5 9
Total Saves: 6 5
Fouls: 18 12
Offsides: 4 2
Corner Kicks: 7 9

Referee: Silviu Petrescu
Referee’s Assistants: Darren Clark; Daniel Belleau
4th Official: Baldomero Toledo
Time of Game: 90:00
Weather: Cloudy -and- 80 degrees
Attendance: 5,280

United’s strong midfield play, went for nought as Fredy Montero fired a stunning strike in the 84th minute to cap Seattle’s second win at RFK Stadium in the last two weeks.

The Sounders defeated United by the same 2-1 score on September 2nd to capture the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and their first trophy as an MLS franchise.

Sounders FC picked up right where they left off from that match, scoring a goal in the 5th minute before many of the 19,592 energetic fans had made it to their seats. Steve Zakuani slipped behind Bryan Namoff and beat goalkeeper Josh Wicks to give Seattle the early 1-0 lead.

Peter Vagenas played a perfect low, long ball out of the back to Zakuani streaking through the left channel and with Josh Wicks hesitating slightly in his decision to come off his line, the rookie nutmegged the keeper for his fourth goal of the season.

“Obviously when you get a goal that early that helps your team settle (in)” said Seattle coach Sigi Schmid. “We felt that going into the game the first 15 or 20-minutes were going to be really important. We wanted to make sure we matched whatever they threw out there and that goal helped us.”

United responded quickly however with Santino Quaranta’s crafty, bordering on clumsy, dribbling on the left side of midfield which gave him enough space to collect himself, exchange a ball with Ben Olsen, and play a wonderful diagonal ball to Fred, who snuck in behind Leo Gonzalez on the back side.

Fred’s touch failed him however, giving goalkeeper Kasey Keller enough time to sweep up the loose ball and eliminate the threat.

Head Coach Tom Soehn decided to rest Christian Gomez in favor of Quaranta, though the Argentinean playmaker came on in the second for Jaime Moreno, who ran alongside Luciano Emilio up front.

Wallace started in the middle but drifted primarily wide with Fred patrolling the other side. Julius James and Clyde Simms played centrally on defense in the relatively new four man back line with Namoff on the right and Avery John on the left.

Zakuani engaged in a subtle but intriguing battle with the veteran Namoff over the course of the two matches. The speedy, first overall selection in last year’s Super Draft rookie constantly probed the savvy defender for time and space on the Sounder’s attacking left flank.

“He’s a veteran and he is not going to let a first year player, a rookie give him problems so it was fun but at the same time I am going to try and play my game no matter who I am playing against and it’s nice like tonight when it works, it’s perfect,” said Zakuani.

Both teams exchanged functional possession throughout the remainder of the half with both creating chances but lacking definitive ideas in the final third.

Seattle’s Sebastian Le Toux finally found a crease but an alert Wicks cut down the angle with a strong slide to deny the Frenchman. The rebound however made it only as far as the left side of the penalty area with Montero collecting the ball with ample space, but his well struck shot missed over the top.

Seattle played without Freddie Ljungberg in the midfield as the Swedish legend was suspended for yellow card accumulation. Jhon Kennedy Hurtado returned to his customary location in the middle of central defense after missing the U.S. Open Cup win on red-card suspension from Seattle’s semifinal win against Houston.

Despite Ljungberg’s absence, Schmid changed very little and Seattle had no shortage of chances throughout the match.

“We have had to play a lot of games without Freddie and some games without Montero,” Schmid said. “We knew they were going to come with a four (man backline) this time so we didn’t really have somebody drop in that hole and we tried to stay high on the two center backs.”

Wallace’s equalizer in the 54th minute immediately stepped up the intensity of the match after an uneventful start to the second half. The United rookie pounced on a deflected ball in the penalty area and knocked it past Keller just inside the left post.

Wallace struggled with his first touch through most of the night, but a probing run into the heart of the Sounders FC defense started the sequence. The University of Maryland grad played a ball wide headed for Emilio that was deflected by a Seattle defender toward the middle of the penalty area allowing him to pick it up and step to goal.

“As soon as Rodney got the goal, I thought we were all over them. We had more of the possession, we were more dangerous,” said rookie midfielder Chris Pontius. “We didn’t put some balls away and they did at the end. It’s just tough, especially at home, after they beat us in the Open Cup final. We wanted revenge tonight and we didn’t get it on this night.”

The chances did tilt in United’s favor but not before Seattle had multiple quality opportunities to jump back into the lead. Just moments after the Wallace equalizer Le Toux spun a perfectly weighted, chest-high ball into Montero’s path at the near post, but Wicks beat the Colombian sharpshooter to the spot to punch it away to safety.

Zakuani followed that up in the 65th minute on a play where he appeared to be offside, but his last touch also got away from him, giving Wicks the opportunity he needed to knock the ball away. That rebound however went only as far as the edge of the 6-yard box where Montero hammered a hopeful left-footed shot from a severe angle that shook the side netting.

It was soon thereafter that the flow of the match turned in United’s favor.

Ben Olsen had two cracks from distance in the 67th and 72nd minutes that required Keller’s attention which were followed up by two attempts from Emilio, who muscled through James Riley on the first to collect a flick-on from Moreno but wasted the chance with a weak shot from inside the box that Keller scooped up with ease.

The Brazilian did activate Keller’s radar again a few minutes later however, going through Hurtado –losing a shoe in the process — but was dismissed by the former U.S. National team star with a good save at the left near post.

United continued to pour it on but could not find pay dirt as Moreno, despite a jersey tug from Patrick Ianni, got free to deliver a sharp pass to Olsen who had crept behind the back line on an opportune run from the back side.

“It was disappointing at that point because I thought we adjusted,” said Soehn. “First half I thought we killed plays off by being too cute in the final third and giving them counterattacks. We adjusted at halftime and I thought the energy and the way we opened up the game was pretty good.

“We obviously had so many less turnovers [tonight], created a lot more opportunities and giving away the goal on a half chance like that on the near post is deflating.”

The momentum was put to rest when Montero darted into an open space behind the United back line, latching on to a quick ball from Riley and pounded a right-footed shot, beating Wicks to the upper near corner from 14 yards out for the winning tally.

“At this point we just can’t make mistakes overall from the forwards to the backs…that’s what happens. We’ve got to put our chances away,” added Moreno. “So we know that, and we know that we have so many important games coming up and we can’t afford to lose any more points at home. ..we weren’t sharp enough, especially myself.”

Scoring Summary:
SEA — Steve Zakuani 4 (Peter Vagenas 2) 5
DC — Rodney Wallace 3 (unassisted) 54
SEA — Fredy Montero 11 (James Riley 4) 84

Seattle Sounders FC — Kasey Keller, James Riley, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Patrick Ianni, Leo Gonzalez, Sebastien Le Toux, Osvaldo Alonso, Peter Vagenas (Brad Evans 62), Steve Zakuani (Tyrone Marshall 86), Nate Jaqua (Roger Levesque 77), Fredy Montero,

Substitutes Not Used: Terry Boss, Zach Scott, Nathan Sturgis, Tyson Wahl

D.C. United — Josh Wicks, Bryan Namoff, Julius James, Avery John, Fred (Chris Pontius 53), Ben Olsen (Andrew Jacobson 83), Clyde Simms, Rodney Wallace, Jaime Moreno (Christian Gomez 83), Santino Quaranta, Luciano Emilio,

Substitutes Not Used: David Habarugira, Milos Kocic, Devon McTavish, Tiyiselani Shipalane

D.C. United Seattle Sounders FC
Total shots: 8 (Luciano Emilio 4) 11 (Fredy Montero 5)
Shots on goal: 3 (3 tied with 1) 6 (Fredy Montero 2,
Steve Zakuani 2)
Fouls: 13 (Luciano Emilio 3) 13 (Nate Jaqua 3)
Offsides: 0 1 (Fredy Montero 1)
Corner kicks: 1 (Jaime Moreno 1) 4 (Sebastien Le Toux 4)
Saves: 4 (Josh Wicks 4) 2 (Kasey Keller 2)

Misconduct Summary:
DC — Rodney Wallace (caution; Reckless Tackle) 57
DC — Santino Quaranta (caution; Simulation) 62
DC — Avery John (caution; Reckless Foul) 93+

Referee: Silviu Petrescu
Referee’s Assistants: Kermit Quisenberry; Nate Clement
4th official: Terry Vaughn
Time of game: 1:51
Attendance: 19,592
Weather: Cloudy -and- 70 degrees

“It’s a work in progress with some frustrating moments.” Although he was describing the simple change to a 4-4-2 formation against Kansas City on Wednesday, Bryan Namoff also highlighted the entire 2009 MLS season for DC United.

Overall parity in MLS, rooted in the salary cap, forces coaches to constantly adapt with limited resources. Fewer players capable of playing at a high level leave little room to deal with injuries, suspensions, and a heavy international schedule.

More in this season than in most, DC United has struggled to control the flow of play. Strong play down the middle, which could carry the day in past years when an Earnie Stewart or Josh Gros could keep opposing wings honest by skill or sheer energy, is no longer sufficient for success.

Even the struggling Kansas City Wizards severely tested DC on Wednesday night. Namoff noted that, “They were beating us through the run of play, which is not easy to do against us at home.” That applied throughout a first half when only superlative goalkeeping by Josh Wicks and comically bad finishing by the Wizards allowed DC to lead 1-0 at intermission.

The late Jimmy Breslin provided an apt description of the KC efforts calling a set of inept gangsters “the gang that couldn’t shoot straight”. The Wizards created and then squandered numerous chances through exceptionally fine combinations, made easier by United’s depleted defense and its new formation.

Clyde Simms has played a role as defensive midfielder that has required him to read the game and make constant adjustments to keep team shape. Recently, playing in both central defense and midfield, he has coped with a multitude of attacking styles.

The Wizards kept him busy, “Here they had some guys that were interchanging and it was tough.” KC chose to use the whole field and to play at greater speed than United. By the end of the half, it was clear that the 4-4-2 left DC too little midfield control.

Coach Tom Soehn brought in Ben Olsen to address that problem with considerable success. Rod Wallace appreciated the help, “Bringing Benny in there provided more defensive shape centrally.”

Namoff agreed, “With two ball winners coming in in the second half, it locked down that central area. We started to win balls there. I think that was kind of a weak point for us in the first half.”

Despite their rookie status, both Wallace and Chris Pontius have had to adjust to multiple positions on the field, often in the same game. Wallace played at left back until KC’s Chance Myers was ejected, and moved to defensive midfield thereafter. The change in numbers actually encouraged DC to return to the 3-5-2.

Although it might appear that a team with a lead should bunker in, Clyde Simms explained that too much emphasis on deep defense has its hazards against certain forms of attack, “If a team’s playing with just one forward, you don’t want four guys marking one. That creates disadvantages for us in the midfield and up front.”

Each season develops in its own way, but a common theme is the growing wisdom of players and coaches. By now, Simms has a more mature vision and understands the value of each experience. He recognized that for this game, “It was good that I got 90 in (on defense) in Dallas.”

For his part, Wallace picked up on the changing requirements of the game and his own role in adjusting, “You try to open up the field as much as possible. With four in the back, we have more freedom on the inside. It worked to our advantage.”

The now veteran Namoff believes that more width is vital, “I still think we need to get better at it. It’s just because we haven’t played this formation this year. I did generate some space out on the wing.” On several occasions he found himself alone or with excellent space in front to attack down the wing only to go unrecognized by his teammates.

United continues to slowly improve in the creation of space on the wings, but also falls short of exploiting it quickly enough. Opponents have chosen wisely to pin DC wide very quickly. United’s players have tended to work out of this with a controlled and slow swinging of the ball in an arc back through their own center.

By the time the ball gets wide on the other side, the defense has time to pin DC there. A bit more emphasis on slashing central runs to break out might seem to be the answer, but risks DC’s falling into the short central game that tends to clog the center.

Habits persist because they have succeeded in the past. Over time, more and more players on DC United are seeing more of the field and recognizing the need for both long and short vision. Tino Quaranta has increased the number of his long passes. Fred and Namoff have increasingly found space on the wing.

They have too rarely been rewarded with good service. When a critical mass of players reach a common understanding of the value of quick exploitation of their mutual movement, DC United can step up a notch and get some small separation from the rest of MLS.

As Wallace, Simms, and Pontius gain the soccer maturity of players like Olsen and Namoff, United might even compete with some of its CONCACAF Champions League opponents on an even keel. The rest of 2009 is a race between maturation and fatigue, both running up against short deadlines.

On that note, DC United will host the Seattle Sounders this Saturday at 7:30 at RFK for the second time in ten days.

Scoring Summary:
DC — Luciano Emilio 9 (unassisted) 39

Kansas City Wizards — Kevin Hartman, Jonathan Leathers, Matt Besler, Jimmy Conrad, Michael Harrington, Claudio Lopez, Santiago Hirsig (Graham Zusi 78), Jack Jewsbury, Herculez Gomez (Chance Myers 46), Davy Arnaud (Zoltan Hercegfalvi 69), Josh Wolff,

Substitutes Not Used: Aaron Hohlbein, Kurt Morsink, Boris Pardo, Lance Watson

D.C. United — Josh Wicks, Bryan Namoff, Clyde Simms, Julius James (Avery John 62), Santino Quaranta (Fred 85), Christian Gomez (Ben Olsen 46), Devon McTavish, Rodney Wallace, Chris Pontius, Luciano Emilio, Jaime Moreno,

Substitutes Not Used: Andrew Jacobson, Milos Kocic, Tiyiselani Shipalane, Danny Szetela

D.C. United Kansas City Wizards
Total shots: 12 (Luciano Emilio 5) 16 (Davy Arnaud 4)
Shots on goal: 5 (Luciano Emilio 4) 5 (5 tied with 1)
Fouls: 13 (Julius James 3,
Rodney Wallace 3) 15 (Michael Harrington 4)
Offsides: 1 (Santino Quaranta 1) 2 (Michael Harrington 1,
Zoltan Hercegfalvi 1)
Corner kicks: 7 (Jaime Moreno 4) 7 (Claudio Lopez 5)
Saves: 5 (Josh Wicks 5) 4 (Kevin Hartman 4)

Misconduct Summary:
DC — Christian Gomez (caution; Reckless Foul) 27
KC — Michael Harrington (caution; Reckless Foul) 69
KC — Matt Besler (caution; Reckless Foul) 74
KC — Chance Myers (caution; Reckless Tackle) 81
DC — Avery John (caution; Reckless Tackle) 84
KC — Chance Myers (ejection; Second Caution) 86
DC — Josh Wicks (caution; Delaying a Restart) 93+

Referee: Terry Vaughn
Referee’s Assistants: Adam Wienckowski; Cyril Madukanya
4th official: Niko Bratsis
Time of game: 1:51
Attendance: 8,033
Weather: Cloudy -and- 74 degrees

The very powerful Real Madrid had only pride as an incentive to play well and that motivation sufficed for them to control and then win the contest 3-0. For DC United, the value of the match lay primarily in the pace and level of skill at which they were forced to perform under more pressure than MLS can provide.

DC United began the game with enough overall pressure to give Real some small discomfort and fairly solid resistance to their preferred wing attacking play. Wide defenders Marc Burch and Dejan Jakovic had sufficient technical, mental, and running speed to at least compete with Real’s flank attacks.

Central defense defaulted to Greg Janicki with the injury to Bryan Namoff, whose wide right position was given to Jakovic. The injury required a further adaptation by United Coach Tom Soehn.

He had tested rookie Chris Pontius in a variety of roles in the past and chose in this game to play him wide and take a similar risk by asking the quick Rodney Wallace, who had previously been used mostly on the flank, to play in a central defensive/holding midfield role in order to cover somewhat for Janicki’s lack of all three speeds.

As long as Wallace focused on defensive duties, Real had a hard time making the slashing runs that Arjen Robben later used to slice up DC.

Clyde Simms, a defensive midfielder coming off a hernia operation, felt that as United’s comfort level increased the game dynamic became more risky as confidence grew. Real read the situation well, “Maybe a little bit of that (overconfidence), maybe a little bit of fatigue also…They kind of invited us to play. They knew that they had the weapons to counter for sure and that hurt us.”

When playing a superior team, the first priority is to take them out of their comfort zone to the extent possible and to establish as much of one’s own comfort as one can after that. For the first 55 minutes the game went as Soehn would want; DC gradually became more comfortable.

Devin McTavish observed that, “Whatever team is in control kind of controls the wing. They kind of forced things into the middle so when we got the ball we didn’t have any width which is how we (try to) play the game, getting the balls out wide and getting crosses in.”

Still, United stifled Real’s attacks with a mighty effort from Josh Wicks in goal and more balanced use of field width than they usually display against MLS sides. Real’s strength inside and preference for wing play in the first half may have forced United to play in this more balanced fashion. Therein lies a major benefit of playing these exhibition games.

As McTavish put it, “They make us uncomfortable. Everyone’s fast, athletic, knows how to defend properly. They’re very organized. It was a difficult task. We can still learn from it.” The best lessons are those reinforced by experience.

Ultimately the team which was experienced at a much higher level solved the puzzle by inserting Robben who split DC’s center with slashing diagonal runs to shed his markers. Simms agreed that just as United pushed slightly more into attack with growing confidence, “His coming on made a big difference also.”

Once the weakness was exposed, it took United too long to adjust and Real ran through the central gaps repeatedly. Top level teams will exploit a seam as long as it remains unclosed.

DC United has always played up to and down to the level of opponents, playing on a lower level with Harrisburg, or LA Firpo, and then almost up to Real Madrid even if only for a while. The very best teams don’t allow that; they impose their level immediately and continually.

The single greatest thing that United can take from this game is the realization that they can and must be the ones to set the level when they are the stronger side. For the remainder of this year DC United should be the team imposing rhythm and control on the game.

United shook off the rust of an 11 day rest period, brought on their veteran calming influence at halftime, and ran away from a Colorado Rapids team that hasn’t won at RFK in over a decade. To top it off, Christian Gomez played the role of energized returnee proving himself against the team that sought and then spurned him.

The DC franchise has a history of success with returnees. Jaime Moreno and Santino Quaranta have had similar rebirths with United. Even players who have left and come back to visit, such as Freddy Adu and Alecko Eskandarian, have remarked on the family atmosphere of the team.

When the chemistry is right, the younger players pick up on it. Rookie Chris Pontius, already an impact player, felt the value of veteran leadership, “We put in Jaime and Jaime calms everything down for us. Just having Jaime on the field, especially for me as a young man, I feel a lot more comfortable….His first ball to Christian, that was a great PK.”

Yes, he allowed that some rust was a factor, “We’ve been practicing for the past week, but it hasn’t been a game situation and we haven’t played here in a while. We just needed to settle down and we came out and did that in the second half and we started moving the ball a little better.”

Triple up Moreno’s quick and effective interplay with Gomez, the latter’s insistence on tracking down a disappearing end line ball, and the smooth play of Fred and Luciano Emilio as their rust wore off and you got the third goal that sealed the victory in minute 61.

The usually reliable Bryan Namoff also recovered from a creaky start that saw him put an own goal over a surprised Josh Wicks. What at first seemed like the mental error of failing to block a Robbie Peterson chip was seen on replay to be a classic mishit as he tried to poke the ball away. Classic rust.

The experienced defender has come forward into attack more frequently as he has matured into the most solid defender on the team and laid himself out to score on a spectacular redemptive header that put United ahead in minute 56.

The corner kick by Gomez was a classic driven ball that needed a fully laid out dive to tuck past Pablo Mastroeni who had left just over a ball’s width between himself and the near post.

Veteran Ben Olsen allowed after the game that his feet were fine but that he didn’t expect to be a factor in the next game against the Rochester Rhinos at the SoccerPlex.

Clearly, United cannot continue to rely too heavily on the aging trio of Olsen, Moreno, and Gomez as they enter a very taxing period of two per week games. As the problem of rust is replaced by a need for rest, others must step up and provide leadership.

Scoring Summary:
COL — Own Goal (Bryan Namoff) 14
DC — Jaime Moreno 6 (penalty kick) 47
DC — Bryan Namoff 1 (Christian Gomez 2) 56
DC — Luciano Emilio 6 (Fred 4, Christian Gomez 3) 61

Colorado Rapids — Matt Pickens, Kosuke Kimura, Cory Gibbs (Ty Harden 51), Scott Palguta, Julien Baudet (Jordan Harvey 72), Jacob Peterson, Mehdi Ballouchy, Omar Cummings, Pablo Mastroeni, Greg Dalby (Pat Noonan 71), Conor Casey,

Substitutes Not Used: Preston Burpo, Terry Cooke, Ross Schunk, Rob Valentino

D.C. United — Josh Wicks, Bryan Namoff, Greg Janicki, Marc Burch, Chris Pontius, Christian Gomez, Ben Olsen, Clyde Simms (Devon McTavish 72), Fred (Rodney Wallace 68), Luciano Emilio, Thabiso Khumalo (Jaime Moreno 46),

Substitutes Not Used: Andrew Jacobson, Avery John, Milos Kocic, Ange N’Silu

D.C. United Colorado Rapids
Total shots: 14 (Luciano Emilio 4) 11 (Conor Casey 3)
Shots on goal: 8 (Luciano Emilio 4) 2 (Conor Casey 1,
Greg Dalby 1)
Fouls: 10 (Fred 2,
Ben Olsen 2) 14 (Mehdi Ballouchy 4)
Offsides: 1 (Thabiso Khumalo 1) 3 (Conor Casey 2)
Corner kicks: 4 (Christian Gomez 4) 5 (Mehdi Ballouchy 5)
Saves: 2 (Josh Wicks 2) 4 (Matt Pickens 4)

Misconduct Summary:
DC — Fred (caution; Tactical Foul) 29
COL — Pablo Mastroeni (caution; Dissent) 48
COL — Conor Casey (caution; Unsporting Behavior) 84

Referee: Ricardo Salazar
Referee’s Assistants: George Gansner; Claudio Badea
4th official: Andrew Chapin
Time of game: 1:52
Attendance: 18,248
Weather: Cloudy -and- 80 degrees

United turned a solid first half performance into another unnecessarily close match, escaping with 2-1 win over the Harrisburg at the Maryland SoccerPlex on Tuesday to advance to the semi-finals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

Harrisburg upset DC United 1-0 in the third round of the 2007 U.S. Open Cup prompting the bold fashion statement.

United got goals from Boyzzz Khumalo and Andrew Jacobson in the first half but lost their edge in the second stanza, allowing the energetic USL-2 side to make a game of it despite losing their captain to a red card just four minutes into the second half.

United will now face another lower division side, the USL-1 Rochester Rhinos on July 21st also at the Maryland SoccerPlex. The Rhinos defeated the Wilmington Hammerheads (USL-2) 2-1 on Tuesday.

United coach Tom Soehn rolled out another youthful lineup similar to the one that nearly got them in trouble last week in their 2-0 win over the Ocean City Barons, an amateur side from New Jersey, three levels below United in the table of American soccer.

He did however sprinkle in some veteran leadership with Bryan Namoff getting the call at his typical right back slot and Fred slotting into the midfield. The crafty Brazilian, coming off an adductor injury, played the full 90-minutes for the first time since a 2-0 win against New York in early June.

Soehn employed the standard game plan against a lesser opponent-get out to an early lead, bring them out of their bunker, maintain good possession and close the game out with opportunistic counters.

All were achieved except the latter. Harrisburg however, unlike Ocean City who bunkered from the opening kick, employed a standard 4-4-2 formation and though cautious, came out and played the game.

“That’s a directive in any of these matchups where you’re playing against a lower-level team,” said Soehn about getting that early goal. “They’re going to come out and give you everything they have. The way you take that away or the way you force them off the play is getting an early goal, and we did that. We didn’t finish the game off though.”

“I thought the way we started out the game we had a very aggressive mentality and we were moving the ball around pretty well,” Soehn added. “We created a lot of good opportunities, but again we created a lot more than we put away and if you keep a team around in this tournament, or any part of the world, if you keep a team around and they get one back, all of the sudden you’re scraping for it.”

Devon McTavish nearly put United ahead in the 6th minute off a corner kick but his strong header was cleared off the line smartly by Mo Oduor. Two minutes later however, McTavish curled a low, angled cross from the right flank that skidded past City Islander defender Tim Velten, connecting with the head of a lunging Khumalo near the far post to make the score 1-0.

Jacobson extended United’s lead to 2-0 in the 18th minute with an easy, uncontested header from inside the 6-yard box off a Fred corner for his first goal of the season.

As the tensions increased and the tackling became more ferocious coming out of the halftime break, Oduor got tied up with the smaller John DiRaimondo in the midfield, hammering the Saint Louis native with an elbow squarely in the face. Referee Lee Suckle immediately went to his pocket and pulled out the red card for Odour in 49th minute.

The momentum associated with the red card seemed to work in reverse however. United’s possession turned sloppy and lethargic and they subsequently paid for their sub-standard mentality.

“Yeah, I think it really came on the red card. I think we thought we had the game won and we forgot what it takes to do that, the work and the movement off the ball. We got very complacent,” said Soehn.

“It’s always tough playing against these guys because they don’t show nobody any respect. They come hard every time,” added Khumalo. “Most of the time these teams when you play them, they just sit back and pack it in so it’s kind of hard to break them down so that’s in the second half we just tried to keep the ball.”

Harrisburg subsequently played with far more pace and fluidity following the ejection setting United back on their heels in a search for answers.

“I think we just stopped playing in the second half,” added Fred. “We were not good and they put pressure on us and they were able to get that one goal and came close to tying and we can’t let that happen again.”

Nicki Paterson drew the City Islanders to within a goal in the 64th minute, capitalizing off a scramble in the penalty are created by an inexcusable turnover by Greg Janicki near the top of United’s penalty area.

“I need to go back and look at [the mistake that led to Harrisburg’s goal], but there wasn’t just that mistake” Soehn said. “We made a couple other key mistakes late. Playing some of those guys in these types of games you have to figure out now where they’re at and they have to improve. So these are good tests for all of us.”

In hopes of settling the game down and putting it away, Soehn inserted Christian Gomez but it did not slow down the energetic side from Pennsylvania’s state capital.

Harrisburg should have drawn level by all rights but David Schofield’s half volley from inside 10-yards thumped squarely off the crossbar in the 73rd minute.

“Once they got that goal, they kind of just threw everything out – they could just go for it,” said Jacobson. “They had nothing to lose. It’s difficult to play a team with nothing to lose. They threw caution to the wind and threw everyone forward.”

Due to some quirky scheduling, United will now have 11 days off before embarking on a stretch of five games in two weeks starting with a July 18th tilt at home against Colorado.

That was just enough to make the remainder of the game sporadically interesting, as the Red Bulls twice came back to within two goals. The famously dangerous two-goal lead left the issue slightly in doubt for the final 30 minutes.

In the beginning, “it was embarrassing to play a team like that”, observed Santino Quaranta. “Their back line was flat. We were getting chances like we were playing in a Sunday afternoon league.” He went so far as to take off his game jersey in favor of a light jacket while warming the bench late in first half.

That optimistic response was short-lived. The by now experienced 24 year old explained, “A championship team knows that that team is gonna get a hollering at half time and come out strong. Tommy said that. I don’t think we responded the best.”

Where the midfielder/striker might have then expected to come in in the second half for a short offensive run in relief of Chris Pontius, he settled for watching Marc Burch come in to bolster United’s defense instead.

Coach Tom Soehn had expressed his desire to let the younger players he had started work through the problems of their own making. Quaranta approved, “I think it was good on his part. I’ve been a part of games like that on both sides of it and you have to finish the game out. Just the little things like staying with runners. That’s what we didn’t do tonight.”

In fact, it was the prior experiences under MLS regular season pressure of many of United’s younger starters in this game that gave them a strong edge over a similarly youthful Red Bull squad. Soehn did put out a slightly more sophisticated roster anchored by Bryan Namoff than his rival coach Juan Carlos Osorio.

The game began as a mutual comedy of errors as neither side really played coherent soccer for the first 5 minutes. DC soon hit their stride as it became clear that the Red Bulls had no real direction for the offside trap that they seemed to be playing.

It was so poorly organized that a simple run down the wing would push a defender back and place the entire central midfield into onside territory with no Red Bull defenders. The result was a series of jailbreaks which further robbed New York of much needed confidence.

The Red Bull torpor was finally broken when the very active Dane Richards put a ball from John Wolyniec into the net. Namoff was not totally surprised, “It seemed to be in character for us, one of those fluky goals.”

The glimpse of a future came just before the intermission and led to the inevitable, “Second half, we started to lose our momentum because of our pressure up top and we started to sit in a little bit and they started to counter on us”, said Namoff.

The Red Bulls had gone to a 3-5-2 formation while United lost its midfield linkage. As a result, “We didn’t string enough possession together and they started to play in our end. Any time you let a team play in your end they’re gonna create opportunities”, Namoff went on.

Soehn did bring in Rodney Walllace in the 58th minute to cover Richards and the game settled down a bit after that. That one substitution was reminiscent of the tactic used in 2007 against Justin Mapp who presented a similar fast wing threat for the Chicago Fire.

Josh Gros was often told to simply run Mapp into the ground, which he did with great regularity. Namoff observed that, “Someone as athletic as Wallace coming in kinda shut him (Richards) down and they started going at it a little bit and kinda got in his head so that was a good matchup.”

Asked about Wallace’s imitation of Gros in that regard, Namoff responded, “There are some similarities there between Josh and Wallace. I’d like to see them in a fitness match. I think Josh would take the cake.”

The demands and opportunity placed on the two draft choices, Chris Pontius and Wallace, by early veteran absences have allowed both to mature particularly quickly. DC suffered in 2008 with the unexpected loss of the energetic Gros and now has found a replacement with almost as much energy and more skill.

The contrast in ”reserve” performances in the Open Cup play in game showed just how valuable that experience has been

DC United will entertain Real Salt Lake on Saturday evening and should have a well rested squad as they seek redress for their 2-1 loss in Utah on April 11th.

Scoring Summary:

DC — Chris Pontius 1 (Christian Gomez ) 8
DC — Thabiso Khumalo 1 (Christian Gomez ) 18
DC — Brandon Barklage 1 (unassisted) 21
DC — Fred 1 (Chris Pontius ) 26
NY — Dane Richards 1 (John Wolyniec ) 44
NY — Jorge Rojas 1 (John Wolyniec ) 48
DC — Chris Pontius 2 (Fred ) 52
NY — Jorge Rojas 2 (penalty kick) 61

New York Red Bulls — Danny Cepero, Jeremy Hall, Andrew Boyens (Nick Zimmerman 46), Carlos Mendes, Danleigh Borman (Sinisa Ubiparipovic 83), Dane Richards, Juan Pietravallo (Jorge Rojas 46), Luke Sassano, Khano Smith (Kevin Goldthwaite 46), Dominic Oduro, John Wolyniec.

Substitutes Not Used: Jon Conway, Macoumba Kandji, Matthew Mbuta

D.C. United — Josh Wicks, Bryan Namoff (John DiRaimondo 67), Greg Janicki, Devon McTavish, Avery John, Brandon Barklage, Christian Gomez (Andrew Jacobson 46), Fred (Rodney Wallace 58), Thabiso Khumalo, Ange N’Silu, Chris Pontius (Marc Burch 80),

Substitutes Not Used: Milos Kocic, Jaime Moreno, Santino Quaranta

D.C. United New York Red Bulls
Total shots: 12 (Chris Pontius 4) 13 (Jorge Rojas 4)
Shots on goal: 9 (Chris Pontius 3) 8 (Jorge Rojas 3)
Fouls: 12 (Greg Janicki 4) 6 (Dane Richards 2)
Offsides: 8 (Ange N’Silu 3) 0
Corner kicks: 1 (Christian Gomez 1) 6 (Danleigh Borman 3)
Saves: 5 (Josh Wicks 5) 4 (Danny Cepero 4)

Misconduct Summary:

Referee: Mark Kadlecik
Referee’s Assistants: Adam Wienckowski; Jason Cullum
4th official: Jeff Gontarek
Time of game: 1:49
Attendance: 5,056
Weather: Clear -and- 74 degrees