The tie was a tale of an unusual two halves. While DC United totally dominated the first, the second was quite even. One major lapse in concentration led to the Union’s first half goal and a wonder strike in the second half gained them the tie.
Still, United coach Troy Lesesne was very pleased with his team’s play despite the tie. He felt that it, “May have been our best performance of the year. Really, I told the guys just now. I’m very, very proud of what we put together. I think when we look at the end of the season, this will be a point against a a really good side that’s always at the top of the Eastern Conference. That will be an important point and one more time where eleven matches in and what you’re seeing is our identity and what we’re building showing itself in a really positive way.”
He admitted, “There are things that we have to improve on.” Continuing in that vein, he called the performance dominant, but, “In the end, we need to shore up some of the things that we’ve seen be consistent trends, not just dropping points whenever we’re up.”
Referring to the Philadelphia goal against the run of play, he said, “But set pieces and even some with the ball decisions, I think we could have probably made a couple better decisions.” He felt that in the first half the team could hardly have done better except for that goal. He attributed it to a lapse in coverage, “I think of course we could probably step out to the wall earlier and then on the set piece we get set and not allow that passing lane.”
He was pleased to see Captain Steve Birnbaum return to the back line for the final 20 minutes, “Let’s celebrate that Steve is such an integral part of our club. He helps me, he helps our team and he helps everything that we do in more ways than just what shows up in 90 minutes on the weekend. So, it’s a really important moment for us to have him back.”
A highlight of the match was the goal by young Jacob Murrell. Lesesne said, “I was so happy for Jacob again. You know, he was very impactful the other night against Seattle and probably was knocking on the door – – – he’s a good young player, 19 years old and I’m excited to see how he keeps, you know, developing with our team.”
On the flow of play, the coach was asked about an apparent increase in playing the long ball versus building from the back. He believes, “No, I think you’ve seen that all season from Bono. I mean whenever he has the ball for goal kicks we usually look to target Christian Benteke – – – we can advance into the opponents half, it’s all about trying to play in the opponents half as much as possible.” Keeper Alex Bono explained his view, “If it was more than the past, I think that’s a real strong part of our game, using him and allowing him to win headers for us high up the field and win second balls.”
The team has a wealth of good transitions with Aaron Herrera and Jared Stroud down the right side, Cristian Dajome and Matti Peltola occasionally on the other side and Jackson Hopkins down the middle with Mateusz Klich as transitional people. The buildout game allows for great flexibility as Lesesne encourages switching positions with game flow.
The flexibility makes the defenders’ task more difficult. Bono explained the defensive aspect, “I think we talked a lot about how we want to let them fly and get into the game in the attack. And it’s on us to organize defensively behind the ball and make sure that when that ball pops out, there’s no chance for them to get on the ball and transition. So as center backs, as sixes, as a goalkeeper, it’s our job to kind of keep it organized behind the ball and try our best to limit the transitions when those guys are coming forward.”
United travels to Atlanta Saturday and returns to Audi Field on 15 May to host the Red Bulls.
