Fresh off yet another nightmarish trip to Utah, D.C. United are eager to return to action on home turf in this week's MLS Primetime Thursday match against the Columbus Crew, a contest which has taken on added meaning for United fans after Saturday's 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Real Salt Lake.
That comprehensive loss at Rice-Eccles Stadium compounded the lingering sorrow from last week's CONCACAF Champions' Cup exit at the hands of Mexican side Pachuca CF, and prompted some reflection among players and coaches alike.
"You have to be secure in what you stand for, and obviously it's a very disappointing result in Salt Lake, following what was probably one of our better performances on Wednesday," said D.C. head coach Tom Soehn. "So it's a hard pill to swallow. But when I go back and evaluate, there's some blame for sure -- I'll take all the blame. I don't think our tactics were very good."
Soehn made a calculated gamble against RSL, resting several starters while keeping his side in the aggressive 3-4-3 formation that created so many chances against Pachuca. But the Black-and-Red found themselves spread too thin and were repeatedly exposed on the fast, hard FieldTurf at Rice-Eccles. The resulting shellacking proved a rough MLS introduction for first-year goalkeeper Jose Carvallo, who made his first United appearance.
"That comes back to our decisions on how to play there, especially when you inject so much new blood," said Soehn, taking responsibility for his "disorganized" side's performance.
"So I don't know that Jose nor the backs were set up to succeed. In reviewing what we did, I probably would've gone about it different," he continued. "Resting guys was important, because our guys were just dead, having played five games in 15 days. But I think tactically we should've went about it different."
United are undoubtedly relieved to be back on home turf at RFK Stadium, where they have scored 11 goals in three wins in all competitions thus far in 2008. Their visitors' traditional Washington woes offer further reason to be bullish: the Crew hold a 1-4-2 record in their last seven trips to RFK.
"What's in the past is in the past. I think we're focused on the game [against Columbus]," said striker Luciano Emilio. "In our house, everything is different. We're just ready to come out and get a win."
Emilio himself will be a key to that effort. Though he's scored three goals in all competitions this year, the Brazilian has not yet reproduced the prolific form that propelled him to the league scoring title last season. Arriving at training camp well short of fitness forced him to play catch-up throughout preseason, and while he's been starved for service in some matches his coach acknowledged that more is needed from his top finisher.
"No, and I think he'd be the first to admit it himself," said Soehn when asked if Emilio was meeting expectations. "A striker's responsibility is to score goals. He's had his opportunities, but having said that, so many forwards go through stretches where everything they touch goes in and on another day, everything they touch doesn't. He'll go through his streaks, as we will as a team, and it just takes one sometimes to wake a guy up."
Last year "Luchigol" certainly proved himself capable of scoring in bunches and he remains serene about the performance of the mercurial strike force he spearheads.
"I feel that we've had enough opportunities, so it's just a matter of us adjusting better and converting those opportunities," he said on Tuesday. "But I'm not worried about that at this moment. I'm as confident as I've ever been, so I'm not down right now."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
