It wasn’t perfect and it wasn’t pretty, but D.C. United salvaged a point at RFK Stadium against the Montreal Impact. The obvious story of the night was Eddie Johnson’s gorgeous header off a Fabian Espindola cross in the 84th minute, his first goal for United this season which prevented a heartbreaking home loss to the visiting cellar dwellers. Johnson told United’s commentators before the match that he felt the elusive first goal was coming that night.
It was truly only a matter of time before his first goal this season; he’d been making dangerous shots for several matches in a row and had two goals unfairly called offside in each of United’s previous matches. It is likely (and United fans should hope) that this marks the end of Eddie Johnson’s scoring woes as United’s opponents over the next several weeks are missing several key players to national team play and the World Cup, while United remains at basically full strength.
A more important takeaway this week is that D.C. United’s midfield is really missing Chris Pontius right when the rest of the team seems to have found their groove. For the most part, the defense has a firm anchor in it’s veterans and the attacking duo of Espindola and Johnson seem primed to make life difficult for every team’s back four. The midfield seems to be lacking in composure and experience, however. At this point in the season a strong game by Chris Rolfe is crucial to any United victory and, except for a few moments, Montreal was able to keep Rolfe from effective distribution and dangerous runs into the final third.
Perry Kitchen and Nick DeLeon also inexcusably failed to capitalize on several “gimme” opportunities. Kitchen and DeLeon will have to put in some work before the midweek match against Houston and Saturday’s game against New England’s talented midfield. D.C. United cannot afford to be the team that shoot themselves in the foot by missing easy chances. The longer this problem persists, the more likely a fall out of playoff contention becomes for the Black and Red. It’s one thing to be excited about the game but when you’re missing wide-open shots by whiffing the ball 20 yards over the post, you’re lacking a certain level of finesse and composure (I’m talking to you Nick).
It’s not all bad news though, considering United were denied by the crossbar more often against Montreal than they were by their defenders or their own lack of composure. In fact, for the most part all the pieces are there; United spent more time putting pressure on Montreal than defending, and only on the counterattack was Montreal able to put any sort of pressure on United’s defense. Ben Olsen will undoubtedly be working on defending the counterattack in the coming days, and doing so starting in the midfield.
As a last resort, the defense will smother most attempts against United’s goal and Bill Hamid will somehow make a magic save for many of the rest, but it is critical that the ball stays out of the final third altogether to secure wins. Most forwards will be hard-pressed to get shots past Hamid when they’re shooting from 20 yards out, and that’s what United’s defense and midfield should force them to do.
On most nights efforts like the one against Montreal will be unlikely: it is difficult to contain Rolfe without putting two people on him, forcing open space elsewhere for United to make plays. Still, Saturday’s match serves as a warning: games will be won or lost in the middle third.
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