D.C. United snatches a late win from the jaws of defeat, or at least from the jaws of a draw, this past weekend against the defending champions, LA Galaxy. D.C. United coach Ben Olsen admitted that this perhaps wasn’t the strongest Galaxy team of the season; however, the win was a big deal after coming off such a lackluster performance the week before. A late Chris Pontius goal in injury time, assisted by some quality ball control by Nick DeLeon, gave D.C. the 1-0 win and second place in the Eastern Conference with six points in three games. In a game in which the focus was on the players who were missing, more so than the ones actually on the field, the longest tenured player on D.C.’s team scored his first goal of the season, and first since October 18, 2014 v. Chicago.
D.C. United Snatches a Late Win
Pontius missed the majority of the 2014 season recovering from hamstring surgery, and until last week in New Jersey against the Red Bulls, he had not played a full 90 minutes since 2013. Playing up top as a starting forward alongside Jairo Arrieta, Pontius is one of the few options D.C. has in the forward position. Fabian Espindola is still sitting out with his suspension while Luis Silva is working his way back to game shape after sitting with a hamstring injury, while Conor Doyle’s preferred role by coach Ben Olsen is still coming off the bench, leaving Arrieta and Pontius as the only viable starting options for Olsen. Pontius took a bigger role on the offensive end, which Olsen was happy to see, “I thought Chris in a lot of ways worked too hard last week and did too much on the defensive side…He looked like he had juice today and was in good spots. And constantly threatening and as season goes he’ll start to do well with those opportunities.”
The other big story of the game for D.C. was the early loss of second year center back ,and rising US Men’s National Team member, Steve Birnbaum to an apparent ankle injury, the severity of the injury has not yet been determined,. Birnbaum landed awkwardly after jumping for a header early in the game off a corner from teammate Chris Rolfe, he was subbed out in the fifth minute and replaced by Kofi Opare. Opare made his debut for D.C. after arriving to the club in a trade from LA Galaxy last summer. It was Olsen’s first chance to see Opare in MLS game action, he had four starts in CONCACAF Champions League with the club last Fall, “Kofi is big storyline today. He hasn’t had a lot of minutes, not only for us, but in the league. What I have seen from Kofi in the league is that he is a gamer.” Depending on how the Birnbaum injury turns out, Olsen may see more of Opare in the immediate future.
Despite the loss of Birnbaum and being outshot 17-6 by the Galaxy, D.C.’s defense did a good job of keeping LA off the scoring sheet. Bill Hamid had another spectacular night in the net as he made five saves, while captain Bobby Boswell did an excellent job of being everywhere when a defensive play needed to be made.
D.C. now shifts their attention to Orlando City SC and their superstar Kaka, who had a goal and an assist this past week. Orlando has been a surprise team so far in the early part of this season and is getting results while having key players out with injuries or out on national duty. This will be D.C.’s first trip to Orlando so a bit of unchartered territory for the club. Orlando City sits in fourth place in the table with five points on four games, therefore trailing D.C. by one point in the standings.
Ben Olsen’s team will need to build on the win over the Galaxy and continue to have all 11 players on the field show up to help contribute to the team’s 2015 campaign. This team has played two high intense games against two of the better clubs in the league, now it’s time to take that intensity and sustain in throughout every game.
Main Photo Brad Mills – USA Today Sports
