D.C. United's last two matches have seen coach Tom Soehn insert Rod Dyachenko as a substitute in the dying minutes. Both occasions were extremely limited run-outs that could just as easily be construed as exercises in time-wasting -- but for Dyachenko, the return to first-team action marked an important milestone in his recovery from a confounding knee injury that has slowed his promising professional development.
"Yeah, it's definitely been a struggle," said Dyachenko. "You don't play for two months -- and I probably didn't even touch a ball for two months -- you've got to get your touch back. You've got to get your game back. You kind of get out of sync. So it took me a while to get back into that groove."
Yet his training room troubles are just the latest chapter in what has been an eventful 2007 for the Nevada-Las Vegas graduate.
Selected by United in the third round of the 2006 SuperDraft, the Russian-born Dyachenko quickly slotted into then-coach Peter Nowak's system last season and earned more minutes than any other D.C. rookie. That drew the attention of Toronto FC head coach Mo Johnston as he began building his new expansion side from scratch last fall, and when United left Dyachenko off their protected list for the expansion draft in November, Johnston snapped him up with TFC's sixth selection.
But the second-year pro's move north hit a serious snag in late January when he tried to drive across the border into Canada to report for preseason training. Having lived in Russia, Georgia and Ukraine before emigrating to Washington state as a teenager, Dyachenko could theoretically claim Russian or Ukrainian citizenship, but he holds no passport from any nation, only a United States green card. That didn't go over well with Canadian customs officials.
Dyachenko was barred from entering the country, becoming possibly the first-ever casualty of the bureaucratic complications arising from Major League Soccer's foray into Canada. The uncertain situation helped convince TFC to trade him back to D.C. shortly after his border-crossing episode, though United had to part with a first-round pick in next year's SuperDraft to make the deal.
Both player and club were glad to be reunited - but then Dyachenko sprained his MCL during training in early March. At first it was thought to be a minor injury, but his pain and discomfort lingered long after the diagnosed recovery time.
"Usually a typical MCL sprain takes about four weeks," said Dyachenko. "After four weeks, it wasn't getting any better at all, and we started to get alarmed a little. So I got an MRI, and it still showed no other complications beyond the MCL sprain."
The situation left United's coaching staff puzzled and Dyachenko frustrated.
"After six weeks, I started thinking of surgery," he said, "because I wanted to get it done as soon as possible and after surgery I figured maybe another four or five weeks for recovery, so I'd be out about two and a half months."
Finally, Dyachenko received a cortisone shot that staved off the prospect of an operation and enable him to rejoin practice sessions. Soehn has subsequently seen rapid progress from the young attacker but believes the original injury was instigated by insufficient offseason conditioning.
"He's starting to get himself into form," said the United boss this week. "He didn't do a great job in the offseason - now, we didn't keep tabs on him, because he wasn't our property. When you set yourself up for that, usually you're going to hurt yourself. So now we've finally got him where we want him to be, and we're slowly going to see his minutes increase, as long as he keeps performing in training."
Dyachenko's first-choice spot is the advanced midfield role occupied by reigning league MVP Christian Gomez, though he has also been used as an out-and-out striker. He'll have to make a strong impression to break into a senior side loaded with attacking talent, but he contends that it's no more of a challenge than what he faced as a rookie.
"Up top, we're loaded offensively in every spot, which is no different from last year. I think last year was even more difficult," he says. "But I see myself playing a little in the attacking role, helping Christian out whenever we want to get him a little rest, because we have a long season with all the tournaments."
Soehn, who has already thrown several youngsters into the fray during his team's uneven campaign, is ready to give the tall Russian a closer look.
"That still remains to be seen," he said of Dyachenko's readiness for extended playing time. "We're going to keep tinkering and figure out what our best 11 is. He's got to continue to earn it -- he's still a young guy."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
