D.C. United’s schedule is open this weekend, and the resulting two-week break from league play is probably the best thing that’s happened to the struggling squad thus far this season.
Owners of the worst record (0-4), lowest point total (0) and worst goal differential (-9) in MLS, United have no shortage of issues to address and wounds to heal, both physical and psychological. The club’s substantial injury list grew even longer with Monday’s news that attacker Chris Pontius will miss about a month of action due to a torn hamstring.
One notable absentee is hauling himself back to fitness, however. Few players have been missed more—in terms of performance as well as leadership—than Clyde Simms, the steady central midfielder who’s been an ever-present force in the D.C. lineup for years, only to be bitten badly by the injury bug in this campaign. Simms sustained a knee meniscus injury during preseason, then rushed back from surgery just in time to strain his hamstring in the season opener in Kansas City.
Known as the team’s "iron man" since his club-record-setting 3,849 minutes of play in 2008, Simms is renowned for taking good care of his body but is surprisingly philosophical about his recent string of setbacks.
“I feel I’ve been fortunate my whole career, really. Maybe it’s catching up to me a little bit,” he said in the wake of United’s loss to Chicago on Saturday night. “I try to stay on top of my regimen in training and do the little extra work outside of training to stay healthy.”
The 27-year-old began hard running last week and plans to test his legs with sprint work in the days ahead, with an eye toward being in uniform for United’s next match, a U.S. Open Cup play-in against FC Dallas next Wednesday. He’s done his best to stay involved with the squad during his recovery, and has occasionally even done his stationary bike workouts behind the north goal at the RFK Stadium auxiliary fields so he can watch his teammates train.
“I try to make it out to training even though I have to do my rehab," he explained. "I try to get in here a little early so I can go out and watch training and just be with the team, walk to the field with the guys and back. I try to stay in as much as possible. And I think it’s good to actually be out there during training because when you’re in the locker room all the time, you kind of lose that speed of play, but you can still keep up with it a little bit just by watching.”
Discussing his side’s abject start to the season, Simms lamented the vacuum left by the retirement of charismatic midfielder Ben Olsen, who brought personality and intensity to the D.C. locker room for more than a decade. Long-term injuries have prevented veterans like Bryan Namoff, Marc Burch and Simms himself from addressing that gap, just one of several areas in which head coach Curt Onalfo’s options have been limited by circumstance.
“Curt’s been doing a good job of keeping the guys positive. Really that’s the only thing we can do right now. We’ve had some injuries, we have a lot of new faces on the field and in the locker room and it’s tough, especially in the beginning of the season,” said Simms, who nonetheless offered an optimistic take on United’s future.
“It’s a long season. I remember in ‘07 we started off 0-3 and we won the Supporters’ Shield. So it’s definitely possible to turn things around in a big way and I think we can do it, get guys back and get some more competition in the team.”
