Three months into their first full season at Audi Field, DC United looks like a club trying to figure out their identity.
United began their campaign outscoring their opponents nine goals to one, punctuated by a decisive win over Atlanta United to start the season’s campaign, looking every bit the MLS Cup contender that many pundits believed them to be.
However, the team’s momentum came to a screeching halt in a Sunday matchup against LAFC in a deflating 4-0 loss that deflated United’s bubble back down to earth. Since that loss, the team has been the definition of middle of the road with a record of 4-3-5.
As United is in the middle of a nearly four week break from MLS play, here are a few takeaways from the first half of the season:
Wayne Rooney avoids sophomore slump, still is waiting for the rest of the team to help
Wayne Rooney has been equally as impressive in year two with DC United (photo credit: Josh Ganzermiller)
In year two of his time with the team, Rooney has been just as pivotal and effective of an attacking player as he was in year one. With eight goals and five assists on the season so far, the former Manchester United striker remains the main source of goal scoring opportunities.
Much like the rest of the club, Rooney started out the season in blistering fashion with a hat trick in United’s bludgeoning of Real Salt Lake in March. His form, much like the rest of the club, has dipped since that opening month but, for better or worse, DC’s fortunes still revolve around Rooney and so far this season, Rooney has been the key man in their victories. In their seven wins this season, the Englishman is tied for the league lead with four game winning goals and two game winning assists.
While Rooney has been as effective as he was last year, the same cannot be said for some of his teammates that paced United’s run to the playoffs last year. Most notable has been the lack of impact that DC’s creative dynamo, Luciano Acosta, has had on the season so far. While Acosta has scored goals in the past two matches, the Argentinian has been a shadow of the creative dynamo he was last year where he amassed 17 assists on the season (good enough for second in the MLS in 2018).
Part of Acosta’s dip in form could be attributed to the distraction of a possible transfer to European giants, Paris Saint-Germain, that was nixed by United earlier in the year. With the opportunity to play for one of the world’s biggest clubs taken away and contract uncertainty looming over his season may have been a distraction for Acosta in the first half of the season. Acosta has slowly turned his form towards the better, and United will hope he continues to improve and recapture the excellent form he had in DC’s push to the playoffs.
As United embark on the second half of their season, they will need to also find attacking production beyond just Acosta and Rooney. The offseason investments in attacking talents like Lucas Rodriguez and Quincy Amarikwa have yet to bear fruit for Washington. Rodriguez, the young loanee from vaunted Argentinian side, Estudiantes, has yet to acclimate himself to the United attack. The Argentinian has produced two goals and two assists on the season but has not developed the attacking partnership with his former Estudiantes teammate, Acosta, just yet in his time with Washington. Rodriguez has immense talent, as seen above, and when he’s able to put it all together for United, he will be a marvel. The chemistry between Rodriguez and the rest of the midfield should continue to grow but with currently just a one year loan with DC United, hopefully that midfield relationship blossoms sooner rather than later.
Amarikwa has barely featured for United, having appeared in just 114 minutes this season for the team. He has yet to score for United and when he does feature for the team, it is mostly as a late substitute with very little chance of having an impact on the game. As the season gets longer and the minutes add up on an aging Rooney, United will need to be more reliant on a somewhat so far unproductive Amarikwa or look to find the Englishman help via a midseason acquisition.
Bill Hamid has been excellent, the defending in front of him…not so much
Bill Hamid has been one of the best keepers in the MLS this season (photo credit: Julie Jackson)
Bill Hamid has put together a season in 2019 that makes you wonder: why isn’t he in the USMNT goalkeeping picture? Hamid leads the league with the fewest goals scored against average in the league amongst starting keepers, saves, and shots defended, and has been perfect so far against penalty shots. The homegrown DC United keeper kept this impressive stats even as he faces unbelievable pressure from his opposition. According to Americansocceranylsis.com, United has faced 283 shot attempts, the highest of any team in the league. Their average of shot attempts per game of 16.6 is nearly double that of league leader, LAFC. He has been stunning under this kind of adverse pressure, most notably in a nil-nil May draw against Toronto where Hamid faced 36 shots (the most in MLS history without scoring a goal) and 13 shots on goal, yet maintained a clean sheet.
The defending around Hamid has seen some decent play, especially from the likes of youngsters Donovan Pines and Chris Odoi-Atsem but the team’s inability to maintain possession has put Washington in the position of relying on Hamid to bail them out. With midfielder-defenders like Russell Canouse and Joseph Mora getting their fitness back, United’ back line should start to see improvement and can help aid a heroic season from Hamid.
DC United needs to get its groove back
For the past few weeks, United has looked like a side that seems to have lost some confidence. The thrashing they took at the hands of LAFC pushed the team back down to earth and the results since then have been mixed. The Gold Cup break comes at a perfect time, as United entered the break on a five game winless streak. While some of the key players may be on international duty (Paul Arriola), this should be a time for the team to rest and reset their mindset.
A good start to the reset of that mindset was the 2-1 extra time victory over Philadelphia Union in the U.S Open Cup last week. A victory over a team ahead of them in the MLS East standings, could hopefully be the spark to get United going again. Washington will need that momentum, as they face a difficult second half of the season with two fixtures against the Union, another matchup against defending MLS champions in Atlanta United and fixtures against some of the best in the west: LA Galaxy and the Portland Timber.
DC United have the talent to excel against that difficult slate only if they get focused and return to the form they started the season and not the form they ended the first half of the season.
DC United
MLS Eastern
