There are comeback seasons and then there is DC United’s 2014 comeback season. After a 2013 campaign which saw the club win just three games, score just twenty-two goals, and allow fifty-nine, expectations were not particularly high for 2014. Sure, improvement was expected because, well, things could not have gone any worse than they did in 2013. Aside from the club’s U.S. Open Cup title, there was very little to cheer for at RFK Stadium.
It is interesting how within one year United has gone from Open Cup champion to being in the driver seat of the Eastern Conference and a serious contender for the CONCACAF Champions League. Last night’s victory over Tauro FC sealed United’s spot in the quarter-finals and capped off a comeback year for the ages.
So what are the reasons for this turn-around? Let’s take a look!
#1 Improved roster depth. One of D.C. United’s biggest problems last season was that the club lacked depth. While it is easy to point to the 2012 campaign as shining example of DC United soccer, that club was largely successful at avoiding the injury bug. That was certainly not the case in 2013 with defender Chris Korb, midfielders Dwayne De Rosario, Perry Kitchen, and Nick De Leon, and forward Chris Pontius all missing extended periods of time due to injury. These injuries, coupled with the retirement of defender Robbie Russell and the poor performances by Raphael Augusto and Lionard Pajoy led to United coach Ben Olsen playing sides largely made up of journeyman and homegrown players.
Over the winter, United management spent a considerable of time and resources in trading for and drafting veteran MLS players. During the Supplemental Draft, United were able to pick up defenders Jeff Parke (13 appearances before inner ear surgery,) and Bobby Boswell (29 appearances,) midfielder Davy Arnaud (27 appearances,) and forward Fabian Espindola (9 goals). These moves, coupled with the early season trade of Chris Rolfe have given the squad depth and created a solid mixture of youth and experience.
#2 An impenetrable defense. While it would be easy to say that it is the offense that has helped propel this team to the top of the league, the credit should really go to the defense. At the beginning of the season, while their new pieces up front will still figuring out how to work with one another, DC United’s defense were holding the team together and keeping them in matches that they really had no business being in. In matches against the Chicago Fire and Philadelphia Union, United were able to hold the line under immense pressure and managed to gain valuable points in the standing. Credit for their resolute should begin with the skipper, Bobby Boswell. Boswell’s ability to communicate with his fellow defenders and goalkeeper Bill Hamid has created a line that works in sync with one another. It is also his relationship with defensive-midfielder Perry Kitchen that helps set up the attack and changes the field of play. Between Boswell, Korb, rookie center-back Steve Birnbaum, and Taylor Kemp have built a defensive set that can snuff out attacks and punish their opponents on the counter. #3 The kids are alright. If there was a silver lining to last season’s debacle (aside from the aforementioned Open Cup trophy) it was that DC United’s young players were given ample opportunities to grow and learn the professional game the hard way. Players like Hamid, Kemp, Kitchen, Korb, De Leon, and forward Luis Silva were all thrown to the wolves last season and, more often than not, eaten alive by far more experienced teams.
While it was great that the club added some veteran depth in the off-season, much of this season’s success depended upon those players as well as the likes of Jared Jeffrey, Collin Martin, and Conor Doyle making that next step in their professional careers. Aside from Doyle, all of these players have had important moments for DC United in 2014. In particular the play of Kitchen as the play-maker in the United midfield and Silva as the solid number two scoring option behind Espindola (he actually leads the team with ten goals) have given this side an added complexion just beyond the typical MLS team.
Perhaps the best young player to wear the red and the black this season though is Birnbaum. After having been drafted in the MLS SuperDraft this season, not much was expected of him, aside from a few late minute substitutions. But with the injury to Parke, Birnbaum has thrived as starting center-back marking some of the best forwards in the league and holding his own. The key for United in the next couple of months will be if these players can handle the rigors of playoff football. As evidenced by their Open Cup win last season and their domination of Group 5 in the CONCACAF Champions League, it appears that they are ready and able.
#4 Adaptation. While a lot has gone right for DC, it has not exactly been smooth sailing. Designated Player Eddie Johnson has largely been a failure this season (although he has become an asset in CCL play, scoring two goals,) and starting defender Cristian Fernandez left the club midway through the season. These losses coupled with the early season injury of Pontius, and injuries to backup Korb, Parke, Espindola, Rolfe, Doyle, Caskey prodigy Michael Seaton, and backup goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra have forced United to scramble at times to field a full roster.
Credit in this situation should go to coach Ben Olsen for being able to manage all of these situations and still put a team that can earn points in pretty much every match. Olsen gets an incredible amount of criticism for some of his tactical decisions and sometimes they are warranted. But he has proven to do the essential thing that all good coaches can do: get the best possible performance out of his players.
#5 Bill Hamid. ‘Nuff Said. Did you think we forgot about him? Perhaps the biggest reason for United’s success in 2014, Hamid has turned the corner from being just another prospect who might be a good goalkeeper to a legitimate candidate for a spot on the US Men’s National Team. Rather go on about statistics and strategy, let’s just take a look at some of his highlights:
So what do you think are the reasons for DC United’s success in 2014? Do you think that they can ride this wave into the playoffs? Let us know!