D.C. United squeezed out a 3-2 victory on the road against the Colorado Rapids last weekend. These are the underrated wins that are critical to a team’s season.
D.C. United are gunning for a Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup. After an excellent end to the 2018 campaign in which they surged into the playoffs thanks to the help of one Wayne Rooney and the opening of Audi Field, hopes were high for the 2019 campaign. And so far, they have not disappointed.
D.C., after seven matches, sit atop the Eastern Conference with 14 points. They were truly manhandled by Los Angeles FC a couple of weeks ago, but other than, this has been an excellent start to the 2019 season for a team widely tipped to challenge in the playoffs.
But entering their Week 7 trip to Colorado, there was trouble on the horizon. D.C. lost to LAFC, then drew 0-0 in a truly tepid performance with Rooney absent through suspension, and had dropped below the Columbus Crew in the standings. Suddenly, the rosy outlook to the start of the season was not quite so.
And then the players started dropping like flies. Five players were officially listed as unavailable for selection through injury, many of which key starters, especially defensively. Then Russell Canouse dropped to the bench for the starting XI while Leonardo Jara was also unable to go when called upon. Ben Olsen had to make some drastic changes as a result.
D.C. switched to a back-three, with Paul Arriola played at right wing-back. They then proceeded to be outshot by the Colorado Rapids 20 to nine. Only four of their shots were on target and they had just 45% of the possession. Colorado were the better team. And they scored two goals for their efforts.
And yet, it was D.C. United that came away with the victory, one that Rooney understood the value of afterwards:
"“It was a strange game. I thought first half we were excellent. Second half, we didn’t do our jobs properly and allowed them to put us under huge amounts of pressure. I thought our defense and goalkeeper were fantastic, dealt with a lot of their threats. We hung on and getting three points was the most important thing and it was a good victory for us.”"
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This was a match that D.C. United should have lost. But should does not win or lose football matches, and Olsen’s team was able to battle their way to a road victory, at altitude, without a slew of key players. That is nothing to be scoffed at, even if it against the lowly Rapids who have just one two points all season.
You do not always play your best. Form comes and goes. It is unreasonable to expect to play at your best every week. But the great teams are able to win matches even when they do not play their best. This was one of those matches for D.C.
Some of the other great teams in MLS could learn this lesson. Atlanta United have played poorly but not won. The same goes for the New York Red Bulls and Sporting Kansas City. It is not the games that you play well in that determine your success, but the ones where you don’t play well.
For D.C., this was an underrated victory. It seems poor because of the quality of the opposition. But these are the games that determine a successful season. Could this be the year for D.C. United?