D.C. United looks to keep up their winning ways against the San Jose Earthquakes tonight. Coming off a 4-0 statement win against Chicago Fire FC last weekend, the Black-and-Red will continue their playoff quest. As for San Jose, they’ll be looking for more points on the road after a 1-1 draw with Minnesota in their last match.
The Black-and-Red and the Quakes will be missing several players for international duty. D.C.’s Andy Najar (Honduras), Eric Davis (Panama), and Jose Fajardo (Panama) will all be unavailable for selection this evening.
Regardless of absences, the Black-and-Red have their sights set on making the playoffs and will need to dig deep in the final weeks of the 2023 season.
Goalkeeper Alex Bono is all about D.C. United leaning into their gritty side and being “a tough team to play against.” (Check out everything Alex Bono had to say here.)
We hope the Black-and-Red capitalize on the home-field advantage tonight to pull off another stunner.
Let us know what you think about tonight’s must-win match in the comments.
Key Players: Christian Benteke and Ted Ku-DiPietro
Veteran striker Benteke and homegrown talent Ku-DiPietro have been shredding it on the pitch, bringing ample excitement to match day. We’re looking forward to them continuing the trend tonight.
Watch Out For: Cristian Espinoza and Jeremy Ebobisse
Quakes top goal scorers Espinoza and Ebobisse will be out to cause Alex Bono trouble tonight. Espinoza and Ebobisse have 12 and 8 goals this season, respectively.
Challenges: The Black-and-Red have several players out for injury and international duty, giving Wayne Rooney fewer choices for tonight’s roster.
Previously: D.C. hasn’t faced San Jose since 2021, when the Quakes overwhelmed the Black-and-Red 4-1 at Earthquakes Stadium.
San Jose Earthquakes Availability:
Out: Nathan (ACL), Judson (lower body)
Questionable: Jack Skahan (lower body)
International Duty: Ousseni Bouda (Burkina Faso), Cade Cowell (USA), Carlos Gruezo (Ecuador), and Miguel Trauco (Peru)
D.C. United Availability:
Out: Martin Rodriguez (knee), Mohanad Jeahze (leg), Tyler Miller (abdomen)
Questionable: Derrick Williams (calf)
International Duty: Andy Najar (Honduras), Eric Davis (Panama), Jose Fajardo (Panama)
Location: Audi Field, Washington, DC
Kickoff time: 7:30 pm ET
Referee: Tori Penso
Available streaming: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
OT: Can we get Alijonov?
For real, was thinking the same thing. Although hard to know if he’s actually quality, or if we’re really not prepared for a wingback who cuts inside and shoots
I was impressed that he was giving Pulisic fits one-on-one even before he went on his forward strafing runs. I’d definitely take a flyer.
Man, watching the USMNT game before the United game.
I hate Gregg and the way they play. 1-0 to the Us at halftime, but towards the end, we’re giving away high percentage breakaway chances to Uzbekistan.
Slow build up? Check
Possession without movement high up the field? Check
Conceding really bad transition plays with lots of space to run into? You bet.
The scariest thing is, this is exactly what Berhalter seems to engender, and we’re already there. All that seems left is stagnation, and blaming the players. And he STILL has not talked to Gio, so he’s also a fucking coward. Awesome.
Lineup is out, looks like the same deal except for the back four (obviously). Ruan, Birnbaum, Hines-Ike, Santos. I continue to be concerned by Santos’ complete lack of pace and motor going forward, but hopefully he can provide just enough width and we can maintain some semblance of what we did last game
Anyway, I can’t believe I’m saying this, let’s get BJ back.
US Soccer officials watching this game and seeing the difference with Gregg back:
It’s a good thing they let Berhalter ease back into the job without worrying about coaching duties. Has given him plenty of time to not reconcile with the one player he needed to, and dwell on how he would evolve his tactics in no way whatsoever.
Pepi with a damn good goal. Hammers it into the net through the goalkeepers grasp.
But don’t get it twisted, this was pathetic for huge swaths of the game.
Tillman glides in and gets chopped down in the box, Pulisic converts well.
3-0 thanks to the immense depth of this squad that Berhalter will absolutely waste.
Why is Pines on the bench? Does he have a nick? Or does Rooney rate him only in a 3-back alignment?
Rooney seems to value low-mistake play more than high risk high reward. Pine’s probably has better passing range and is arguably better dribbling out of the back when compared to Birnbaum/BHI, but the ball frequently gets stuck at his feet and he pretty much always has a mistake or two in him. Playing three at a back gives him a little more cover, but he was even dropped the last games we played with three in the back.
I know Santos is old, but is his dying wish to take (and waste) all promising set pieces down the stretch of this season?
What’s his contract again?
He’s signed through next year.
He’s just one of those players, of whom we’ve had many over the years, who when you see he’s starting, you think, we’re not going to win this one. And when Robertha and (alas) Asad are coming in off the bench, ugh.
United, under Olsen, had a pretty consistent habit of getting really good returns from MLS veterans in their first season with DC, and then they stuck around for another season or two and really dropped off.
So, imagine Santos “dropping off.” It could be a danger for Ruan, Williams, or Dajome too, but they’re at least right around 30 and will probably be okay. We might see that with Tyler Miller or Alex Bono too, but they’ve had a history of ups and downs prior to their arrival in DC.
DC gets a pretty lead through Pirani and a savvy Birnbaum assist!
Shit, Benteke offside. Dammit.
Or Pirani, rather
I was sitting behind the goal, so couldn’t quite tell. Though from my not great angle it looked close.
Rather daring of the fan cam to allow that Kasper Out sign on AppleTV 🙂
Well, not like Apple knows anything about the context of a DC United protest sign. They barely know the lineup.
I loved it, but I’d be pretty amazed if we ever see it again. Surely the FO will complain via MLS to Apple. There must be a list of prohibited content.
This team has to find a goal. Can’t afford to drop points at home yet again.
Tamil Asad on with ten minutes to go feels like such a “settle for the draw” substitute. I don’t hate Asad, but Samake or Hopkins would provide more fire and pace. Let’s hope he can prove me wrong.
Ugh. Then Robertha on for Canouse instead of Durkin. Rooney really seems to just think that adding more forwards will create goals but it really just messes up our shape.
Formation ended up in a half decent 4-3-3 with KDP and Asad next to Klich in the midfield. I would have rather had Durkin or Hopkins on in place of Asad because Robertha/Hurtado aren’t really suited to being wingers but KDP/Dajome/Pirani are really our only decent wingers. Ruan showed several times that he’s pretty abysmal in the final third and Santos is too slow. Maybe give Najar a shot there?
Ruan on at 60′ for Najar (or 75′ for Alijonov!) is my idea of Ruan’s role, His pace brings a lot. Starting him wouldn’t be the end of the world if we didn’t have to start Santos or Dajome.
Agreed. You can get away with two of Santos/Ruan/Dajome/Durkin/Robertha level players on the field at a time. But they each have weaknesses that need to be covered by their teammates and if there’s more than two of them on at once then the team level is less than the sum of its parts.
Canouse comes off for Robertha… let’s spin that formation wheel!
Arrrgh
Well, a day after the FO dropped a 31% increase on season tickets for the seats I formerly held (I’m out after this year), the team laid this turd. The season is over. Miami is 6 points back with 2 games in hand. Miami beat SKC tonight while missing 10 players on international duty. Can you imagine what the DCU lineup would look like if its 10 “best” players were missing? When you can actually write that Samake or Hopkins (or Dunkin’ for that matter) could be game changing subs, you are simply adding another paragraph to the bill of particulars against Dumpster Diving Dave Kasper. This team will never be anything but barely mediocre so long as he is running soccer operations and Jason Levien is the managing partner. Best advice to all fans of this once storied club — stop giving you money to these grifters. Let them shrivel like slugs sprinkled with salt.
Well, when you’re still fielding Busquets and Alba, it’s not quite accurate to say “missing their 10 best players.” And I actually think DCU looked good for much of the night. San Jose cleared two balls off the line and Daniel stood on his head for a lot of the match.
San Jose is an awful mediocre team in the weaker conference. DCU couldn’t figure out how to break down a team that had won twice in its last 13 matches. If you think DCU “looked good”, I really don’t know what your sense of “looked bad” can be. Ruan missed a sitter at the end, the ball movement in the final third was slow. Dàjome was hopeless both offensively and defensively (problem is that his replacements are apparently Hurtado or Robertha who are even more hopeless). This is a garbage roster severely impacted by losing Najar (a part-timer due to injury) and Davis (a guy just picked up because all the other left back options in house suck donkey balls). This is a bad team, do you really think they can make the playoffs? And how can they possibly win a game playing one of Nashville, Montreal or Miami in that opening round?
Wow, Arena has resigned from his position with NER. Unlike Arena typically, this is a very conciliatory statement. I’m sure this investigation was resolved weeks ago but it took a few weeks to reach an agreement where MLS agrees to reveal nothing, Bruce agrees to go peacefully and sit out for a bit before someone like maybe Denver approaches him and offers a gig.
Nobody should hire him. 1) Racism is unacceptable. 2) Dude is 71, his impulse control is going downhill at this point, not up.
First, Arena has always been an a-hole. I’ve talked to numerous people who dealt with him personally/soccer-wise. He’s arrogant and often has little regard for people he disagrees with. But in the past, he was “our a-hole.” So that side of him was often ignored.
Second, after there are a couple of months for this to die down and the focus is on something else (Messi! Messi! Messi!), then someone will take a chance on him. Regardless of what you say. I’m not disagreeing with you, I’m only saying that Arena won’t like how his coaching career ended and will his competitiveness will drive him to take another job (even at 71 or 72). And some team (Denver, Portland, LAG) will make him an offer.
I said nobody should, not nobody will. On top of it not being a good thing to do, he’s just gonna do it again at some point during his tenure. Which, you’re gonna have to fire him too, if you hire him.
Does KDP score on the break but for the red card foul? I think he does. If San Jose were an Eastern Conference team, the red card would have been worth it to keep us out of the playoffs, which I think it may well have.