I know that I didn’t post anything about the last loss that United had against the Chicago Fire. I wasn’t able to watch the match live and then I spent this weekend at the Before Extra Time Southwest Virginia Bureau (aka my fiance’s parent’s house). From what I’ve read, it seems to have been a regular DCU loss: lots of possession, few goal scoring chances, give up a goal in the 80th minute on a defensive screw-up and the team just gets deflated.
So lets move forward to tomorrow night’s match in the US Open Cup against FC Dallas. When reading up on it, I was actually surprised at the age of the US Open Cup, which started in 1914. However, the first professional team to win it was the Richmond Kickers in 1995, and since then only one non-MLS team has won.
DC United cannot afford to treat the Cup as inferior to the MLS regular season. They owe it to their fans to give it their all for as long as they are in the Cup. If they were doing well in the regular season, contending for playoffs/Supporter’s Shield/MLS Cup, then I could justify not wanting to jeopardize that and play younger players/reserves in the Cup matches. But at 0-4, United’s season is quickly slipping away. A deep run in the Open Cup wouldn’t make up for the terrible regular season so far, but at least it would give us something to cheer for. Also, our regular starters seem to need as much playing time together as they can get.
For my lineup, I have the regular (non-injured) starters, with a few exceptions. With Pontius out, I put Castillo back into the lineup. The flashes that I’ve seen from him seem to indicate that he could be good and so I think we should give him at least a couple more chances. He also brings the Salvadorian community to the games, at least for now, so that’s worth something. Also, Pontius out means that it stays Moreno/Allsopp up top, with I guess Boyzzz as the third striking option. Clyde Simms is trying to get fit to be in the 18 for this game; I don’t want to see him in the starting lineup regardless, but maybe a second-half runout if he’s fit and Morsink isn’t showing anything.
I’m still forever the optimist, and so will say 2-1 to United.
Perkins
McTavish Talley James Wallace
Quaranta Morsink Najar Castillo
Moreno Allsopp
Before Extra Time 