The Colorado Rapids relied on frequent crosses from their lively wingers to notch a surprising 2-1 victory against D.C. United on the massive new field at Dick's Sporting Goods Park last Saturday. But for United, the real surprise was the inability of their own attack to respond in kind.
The wide men in D.C.'s 3-5-2 system were marginalized until the late going, when substitute Kasali Casal found Luciano Emilio for the visitors' only goal. The situation was none too pleasing for head coach Tom Soehn, who wants marked improvement against the Kansas City Wizards this weekend.
"Unfortunately, we didn't provide a lot of service [against Colorado], and the ones we did - maybe the only one we did - we scored on," he said this week. "We've got to start generating that kind of service for Luciano."
Several maddening defensive breakdowns and a general lack of United's typical ball possession were also major factors in the team's struggles against the Rapids. With mainstay Josh Gros sidelined and new acquisition Fred still finding his feet with D.C., Soehn elected to start youngsters Justin Moose and Stephen deRoux on the wings. Both had little chance to get forward and were removed in the second half, though Soehn has no regrets about the move.
"We kind of saw or sensed that our veteran guys were burned out a little bit, just drained," said the second-year coach. "So we tried to inject some life. It wasn't fair to them that the other guys didn't perform that well to give them a great opportunity to succeed. Overall, I was happy with them."
Fred was signed with the right wing in mind, but the skillful Brazilian's long-anticipated first XI debut might not arrive this week, for the same reason that Casal's Colorado contribution is unlikely to vault him into a starting role just yet.
"You know, it's been hard to acclimate those guys," said Soehn. "We haven't had preseason games, we've had actual games. You can't afford to take chances and risks and work on those guys, because you're always preparing for your next opponent. It doesn't really change, but now we have fuller weeks where we can get some practice games and get those guys used to understanding what their role is within the system. That takes time."
Gros is expected to start against the Wizards. The concussion he sustained in the April 3 match in Guadalajara was of the mild "grade one" variety, but due to his past history with head injuries, United's medical staff has taken a conservative approach and will require the Rutgers product to wear protective headgear.
"I'm feeling better now," he said on Tuesday. "I had a headache that night and lost some vision during the game - my vision got blurry. But I haven't had any symptoms since."
Lauded as one of the league's best defenses last season, United's back line has been undermined by marking errors and mental lapses at key moments in their last two matches.
"You're only as good as your last game, so all the success we had last year, as far as our defense putting up some good numbers, is over," said Gros. "I don't know if you can just blame the back line - it's the team's fault. I think last year we played good team defense. It's only one game, it's the first game of the season, so we've got plenty of time to work some kinks out."
Only months after being honored as the 2006 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, Troy Perkins' tragic handling error against Chivas has subjected him to increased scrutiny. But the composed netminder is determined to prove it was a freak mishap.
"I've got to put that incident behind me," he said. "I turned around and made two pretty good saves [later in the game] to at least give us a chance. I watched the goals again against [the Rapids], and I really don't know what I could've done better. Obviously you think, 'wow, if I would've just gone that way I could've got it,' but you can't do that."
Perkins expects more from his three-man back line, but says no one is pushing the panic button yet.
"[I'm] a little bit concerned, as far as our discipline and just reading the game a little better," he said. "But that's something we can work on, that's not something where we need to say, 'oh, we need new players.' It's something where we can say, 'look, we need to be better at this and we know we're better than that.'"
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
