DC United reported Friday to RFK Stadium for the first day of workouts before the beginning of the 2011 season. The team returns trying to forget last season, where they finished dead last in the Eastern Conference–and the entire league for that matter–only mustering six wins out of 30 games, 22 points in total and a -26 goal differential. That’s just ugly.
As DC United fans know, however, the team’s normal stomping groups are at the top of North-American soccer. Four-time Major League Soccer (MLS) champs, two US Open Cups and one CONCACAF title rightly make the team the franchise club of the MLS. Wallowing in the basement is not where they belong or where La Barra Brava wants them to be, and thankfully the front office appears to feel the same.
After some confusing vacillation by President Kevin Payne about whom would lead the club after dismissing the woeful Curt Onalfo at the end of last year, he finally settled on DC United legend Ben Olsen, to the collective sigh of all observers. While young and inexperienced, Olsen knows soccer and has the respect and confidence of the players (having taken the field with some of them as a player). This is not August 2010 anymore, where he had to take the steering wheel of a car careening off the side of a cliff. This is his own car, with parts and paint of his own design. This is now his team.
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Coach Olsen has had a busy off-season, bringing in a number of new players and giving early hope to the DC faithful that this season won’t be lost trudging along with the normal MLS bottom-dwellers. Looking to replace the irreplaceable Jaime Moreno, forwards Josh Wolff and Joseph Ngwenya will be counted on to provide the firepower upfront. Dax McCarty is a welcome addition to the midfield, and everyone is hoping Chris Pontius can have a healthy 2011 campaign.
It was painfully obvious that United’s Achilles heel last season was the defense, so the team has aggressively tried to address this by making eighteen-year-old Defender/Defensive Midfielder Perry Kitchen, an Indianapolis native and winner of the 2010 NCAA Division 1 National Championship with the University of Akron, its first round draft pick (and third overall). Despite his age, he is an incredible talent and may compete for a starting spot with incumbents Julius James and Dejan Jakovic, not to mention recently signed Rodrigo Brasesco from Uruguay and the hopeful return of Marc Burch, injured and out for most of 2010. At the very least we can finally expect to have depth, and the resulting competition that it breeds, across the back line, to the benefit of the team.
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So where will the team place at season’s end? While I will leave the predicting game to the Ms. Cleo’s of the world, I don’t fear in venturing out to say they will be competitive and will put up a fight for a playoff spot; a deep run toward a fifth MLS Championship is not far-fetched.
Coach Olsen has appeared to make all the right moves, both on and off the field. The roster is strong, motivated and, most importantly, healthy. As with the start of any campaign, confidence and hope are in abundance around RFK, and the dream of hoisting the 2011 MLS Cup trophy is within realistic grasp.
The season kicks off at RFK on Saturday, Mar. 19 against the Columbus Crew.