D.C. United continues its resurgence with CONCACAF Champions League bow
PORTLAND, Ore.
When Sean Franklin first linked up with D.C. United earlier this year, he asked his new teammates a simple question.
Franklin said he wanted to know if United had somehow managed to win just three games in 34 attempts last season. His new teammates reluctantly confirmed the number and then told him how badly the year unfolded.
It did not take long for this revamped group -- bolstered by seasoned MLS campaigners unaccustomed to toiling through such disaster -- to draw a line under the calamitous year and lay the groundwork for the most comprehensive revival act in league history.
“We said it right away,” United defender Bobby Boswell told Inside MLS after his appearance in the MLS All-Star Game earlier this month. “We had a meeting about last year. To be exact, we said, ‘That (stuff) is not going to happen.’ And that was it. This isn’t an experiment. This isn’t bringing us together for some kind of test run. We’re here to win. We hold ourselves accountable. We hold ourselves to a higher standard.”
United general manager Dave Kasper and coach Ben Olsen sought players capable of implementing those strictures from the outset. They imported established figures like Boswell, Franklin, Davy Arnaud, Fabian Espindola and Eddie Johnson and trusted them to establish the proper tone on and off the field with a talented group of young players.
D.C. United defender Bobby Boswell is a leading candidate for Defender of the Year in his first year back with the club.
The combination of old and new created a framework capable of bearing the weight of the protracted MLS campaign and grappling with the CONCACAF Champions League obligations poised to start tonight against Jamaican side Waterhouse FC (8:00p.m. ET, FOX Sports 2).
“The thing about this year is that we’ve got a good group of guys, a young group with a lot of veterans that came in,” Franklin said before his own All-Star appearance. “It’s a good locker room. That goes a long way on and off the field.”
The camaraderie and the cohesiveness developed the sort of mix relied upon time after time to produce success in this league. The flimsiness of last year yielded to a hardened core capable of marching through match after match without losing collective focus no matter the circumstances.
“We’re a competitive group,” Boswell said. “We’re not going in and blowing teams out of the water. But no one’s coming in and blowing us out of the water, either. We’re no pushovers. We’ve got some guys who can play. We have some guys who can make the game ugly if you need to. That’s what you want.”
It is a blend increasingly capable of withstanding the inevitable injuries and variances presented over the course of a season. Espindola darted out of the gates with seven goals and eight assists in his first 15 appearances, but United still survived when he missed six games in the wake of a crude Felipe Martins challenge in June. Eddie Johnson scored once before the end of June, but Chris Rolfe’s arrival in April provided Johnson with some additional latitude to find his footing. Taylor Kemp (starter in two of the last three matches) and Chris Korb filled the void at left back when Cristian Fernandez returned to Spain in June. Steven Birnbaum stepped up in central defense when Jeff Parke went to the sidelines in June with foot and head injuries.
Despite the upheaval, the bedrock remained firm. Olsen relies on a straightforward, yet consistent and defined, 4-4-2 structure to organize things. Boswell and fellow All-Star selection Bill Hamid lead the third-best defense in the league. Davy Arnaud and Perry Kitchen provide reliable work in central midfield. Nick DeLeon and Luis Silva supply ample support to Espindola, Johnson and Rolfe moving forward.
“A lot of us have been there, have been in the playoffs, been in big championship games. We know exactly what it takes to be successful,” Franklin said. “Ben has brought a bunch of guys in who have that experience. It’s nice to be able to talk to the young guys and let them know how it is to be successful. You can tell they’re buying into everything.”
The investment must continue to navigate through the gauntlet created by Champions League and MLS commitments. The credit accumulated in the first 23 matches creates some latitude for error domestically, but the extra strain of a schedule including 11 games between Aug. 17 and Sept. 27 will extract a toll. The bounds of this squad -- particularly in terms of its defensive depth with Parke’s short- and medium-term status still in question -- face a thorough examination with the postseason around the corner.
All-Star goalkeeper Bill Hamid is one of the few holdovers from the squad that struggled so mightily last season.
If there is a silver lining to the toil ahead, it is United’s renewed ability to churn out results so far this season. There are no extended losing streaks permitted for a team that has lost consecutive matches just twice this season. It is all about finding draws from losses and wringing victories from stalemates. This set of results does not occur by accident or happenstance. The persistent tendency to procure points reflects the confluence of ability and desire within a group driven to maintain its playoff pursuit.
“If you were to be in our locker room, you wouldn’t think we are where we are,” Boswell said recently. “We’re hungry. We’re almost chip-on-our-shoulder angry still, even though we’re up near the top.”
It is no surprise, really. A few of them remember the pain caused by the travails of a year ago and proceed accordingly. The rest vowed to make sure it would not occur again.
