D.C. United have gone back to the drawing board this week, searching for answers to the creeping late-summer malaise that has triggered their ongoing five-game winless streak in league play.
For some time now the elegant, imperious style they displayed in the spring has taken a back seat to grinding out results over the draining dog days of summer - "surviving," as coach Peter Nowak put it.
But that ruthless efficiency has deserted the Black-and-Red as well, and the fading of their fearsome reputation has given new hope to the chasing MLS pack that was once a blip in D.C.'s rearview mirror. At 15 points, their Eastern Conference lead is still substantial, but the Supporters' Shield race that once seemed a formality is now back to a real competition again.
"We've got to pick it up," said striker Alecko Eskandarian after last weekend's 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Galaxy. "Teams are playing us a little bit different now, and we have to adapt to it. We definitely have to work harder, and it's not so much working hard as far as running physically, it's just being smart. That's the biggest thing - being smart, learning how to break this down."
The Galaxy goal glut was easily United's worst defensive outing of the season. Yet D.C.'s most confounding struggles have come on the other side of the ball, as the league's most potent attack has averaged barely a goal a game during the current slide.
Eskandarian's predatory instincts around goal have few rivals in MLS, but he has not scored since July 22. He points to a shift in the opposition's approach.
"They're playing a lot better defense, that's for sure," said the 2004 MLS Cup MVP. "They're keeping more guys back and they're being very good on the counterattack. You've got to give credit there. It's not like they're creating 20 shots or anything like that."
Saturday's home humiliation, which took place in front of a season-high crowd of 24,159 raucous United fans, evoked unhappy memories of their previous loss at RFK, a 4-0 playoff drubbing by the Chicago Fire that ended United's promising 2005 season.
On that October night, D.C. could no longer fight off the mental and physical exhaustion accumulated over a long season that included participation in two international competitions. The results of the past month suggest a similar fatigue, and though none of Nowak's players use it as an excuse, they have been forced to consider their own limits.
"Yeah, I would definitely agree with that," said midfielder Clyde Simms of his team's weariness. "But that's why we're professionals. We've got to try to overcome that, and when we're feeling like that, try to let the ball do the work as much as possible and use our brains a little bit more."
After Saturday's match, Nowak surprised media by declaring that inspirational midfielder Ben Olsen, whose work rate and effective transition play have been a key to United's success, has never recovered from the strain of his June World Cup duties.
"He never got really fit after he comes back from the national team camp," said the former Polish international, "and he plays all these games because of his heart. Sometimes it's difficult to go week by week, and let him play 90 minutes. At the end of the day, when we've got an important stretch in front of us, he will not be 100 percent fit."
Add in lingering injuries to Freddy Adu and Christian Gomez, and D.C.'s talented midfield suddenly looks dangerously undermanned. Club officials are hoping that Matias Donnet, their latest Argentinean addition, can change that.
The ex-Boca Juniors midfielder's transfer and work permit paperwork was completed last week, and he made his first United appearance in Wednesday's weather-abbreviated friendly against the Richmond Kickers. Donnet prefers the right wing but can fill a number of attacking roles for the Black-and-Red, who are clearly hoping to replicate the late-season boost inspired by Gomez's entrance in 2004 - and like Gomez did, he faces a race against time to improve his conditioning as only eight league matches remain.
"Really, my fitness level is not good at all," admitted Donnet. "We have to begin from zero because at Boca I didn't do much of the preseason, and I hadn't had a chance to play lately."
Having been confined to the bench for the latter part of his Boca career, Donnet arrives in the nation's capital with ample motivation to perform. Like many MLS imports, his knowledge of the league is limited, but his experiences on the Buenos Aires club's past U.S. preseason tours left a strong impression.
Even if fitness concerns limit him to a substitute's role, Donnet's quality could inject life into a slumping side that remains a leading MLS Cup contender.
"There's eight games left, and we've just got to get it right," said Eskandarian. "We can't think about the past anymore. We've got to take a long look in the mirror, maybe watch the video and look at all our mistakes, and fix it. There's no excuses."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
