DC United continues to play the role of a mid-level team hoping to sneak into the playoffs. They rarely win or lose by more than one goal, tending to beat the teams below them and lose to those above them. Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the lower ranked Real Salt Lake (RSL) violated that norm because of the dynamics of ball movement and a common error flowing from the failure to take it into account.
The game started as one would expect with DC employing their now common flat back five with the sweeper role filled by the goalkeeper. This has become common in Major League Soccer (MLS) as it long ago evolved from the diamond approach.
In the beginning MLS teams would break down the 4-4-2 into a stopper defender backed by a sweeper while the midfield was similarly diamond shaped with a defensive midfielder behind a creative midfielder. This mingling of the lines foreshadowed the double defensive midfielder roles of the intervening years.
With a flattened back line, the goalkeeper will necessarily play further from his goal in a sweeping role. This creates an opportunity for an enterprising opponent to lob over the keeper. United keeper, Tyler Miller, was well aware of the trade-off. After admitting that the referee’s Denial of an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity (DOGSO) call against Captain Steven Birnbaum, which set the tone in the 26th minute, was “Fair.”, Miller went on to say that, “I do believe that I would have gotten the ball.”
To understand the significance of that remark it is necessary to look at the movement of the attacker who was fouled, the keeper advancing toward the ball, and the motion of the ball itself toward the keeper.
It is easy to take a mental snapshot of the relative positions of the three and conclude that, with the ball being closer to the attacker when the snapshot is taken, the attacker would reach it first thereby satisfying the probability of a goal scoring opportunity. That fails to include the motion of the ball and is a common error made by keepers and sometimes referees. Proper interpretation demands a dynamic view.
In the event, Steven Birnbaum was ejected and Miller took a lesson which would burn him later. The first RSL goal came about as Pablo Ruiz saw Miller off his line in the 40th minute and lobbed the ball from fifty yards over him into the net. Miller pointed out the risk, “I’ve gotten burned once the entire season.” In perspective, he noted that, “I’ve had a lot of opportunities that I’ve been able to clear for the team.”
Playing a man down, Coach Wayne Rooney elected to go with a flat back four which placed even more stress on the wide defenders, Chris Durkin and Gaoussou Samake. They were required to stay at home on defense more often while still contributing to the attack on fewer occasions.
The wearing effect of this stress may have contributed to Samake’s choosing to shadow Carlos Gomez’s run down the flank to cross to a closing Danny Musovski who scored the winning goal in the 51st minute. The better choice would have been to cut inside (a shorter route) to prevent the cross.
On two good notes, Rooney was pleased with the team’s fight as they created a few good chances to score, including Durkin’s finish in the 53rd minute. Further, in an illustration of the progress of United’s youngsters, Kristian Fletcher showed confidence and good aggression as he came on late.
The team takes on a strong Cincinnati side this Saturday and can look forward to the return of Taxi Fountas and Victor Palsson from service in Europe with Greece and Iceland respectively. Palsson will be especially useful in Birnbaum’s absence
