DC United @ New England Revolution 10/5/24

DC goes to Boston for the penultimate game of the regular season

Game Context

As discussed in the playoff scenarios last time, this was not technically a do-or-die game for DC, nor did they control their own destiny. However, the big difference between DC and other teams scrambling to make the playoffs is strength of schedule, particularly this game against the Revolution. If DC could win, there was an excellent chance other teams would drop points against really tough teams like Inter Miami (Toronto) and Columbus (Philadelphia).

For New England, only a win would keep any hope of making the playoffs alive. However, their bleak situation (they needed to win all three of their remaining games, including two against top teams in the conference, and get lots and lots of help) meant that in reality they were essentially eliminated.

According to the MLS power rankings, this match pitted #22 (DC United) against #26 (New England).

The broadcast reminded me that DC came into this match having not won in Boston since 2012. That’s a crazy stat, not least because I had to be reminded of it. I have a lot more trauma from away games at Philadelphia, to be honest. Since 2012, DC has played 13 games in Boston, lost 8 games and drew 5 by a combined score of 13-24. Just to give you an idea of how long ago this was, their most recent win was a 2-1 victory back in 2012 that featured a goal from Chris Pontius, Josh Wolff as a DC substitute (Austin FC’s inaugural manager in 2021, fired on Sunday), and Branko Bošković as an unused substitute.

Formation

With Christopher McVey suspended and unable to start in his normal centerback spot, I expected Garrison Tubbs to join Lucas Bartlett and Matti Peltola in a back three. In the post-game press conference, Troy Lesesne said he thought the Revolution probably expected a three back. Instead, he went with four at the back. Bartlett and Peltola were the two centerbacks with Pedro Santos and Aaron Herrera playing fullback to the left and right side respectively. Mateusz Klich and Martin Rodriguez started in central midfield. Ted Ku-Dipietro and Jared Stroud were the wide players with Gabriel Pirani in the middle between them and behind Christian Benteke in what I’d call a 4-2-3-1 shape.

Lesesne has been trying to play this way since Leagues Cup and anyone who has watched the last few games can see why: this gets Ku-Dipietro, Stroud, and Pirani all on to the field in a way that plays to each of their strengths: Ku-Dipietro can add some defensive help on the left where Santos is still only pretending to be a fullback, Stroud can combine with Herrera as he has in his best moments all season, and Pirani can play in the middle of the field with slightly less defensive responsibility.

Whenever Lesesne has tried to play this way, however, there’ve been two big problems. The first is that Santos is trying really hard but really is not a fullback, so good right wingers can really make DC pay for playing him out of position while David Schnegg is still hurt. The second is that having Pirani, Klich, and Rodriguez in the center of the field is probably DC’s best combination with the ball, but against the ball, above average midfields just run them over. Maybe even average midfields. Maybe even below average midfields?

Lesesne probably gambled that both of those weaknesses would be mitigated by the fact DC was playing the New England Revolution, a team which on most days looks like Carles Gil and a bunch of bad players. With McVey out, playing Peltola way out of position as one of two centerbacks could also be seen as a personal insult to New England’s DP forward Giacomo Vironi, who has had a few flashes of quality but mostly has been a big disappointment. It’s easy to take Benteke for granted at this point, but DC fans should remember the average MLS DP forward looks a lot more like Vironi than Benteke.

Goal Breakdowns

2’ Pedro Santos 1-0

Ku-Dipietro dribbles through a crowd, then plays it to Pirani. He finds a diagonal ball to Stroud on the right side of the box. His cross is blocked, he tries again, and his second cross is blocked out of bounds. The MLS broadcast then starts showing the replay, but I think Aaron Herrera throws it in to Martin Rodriguez. Rodriguez lobs it across into space on the other side. This initially seems like a mistake since there’s no DC player anywhere close to it. The closest Revolution player, fullback Brandon Bye, jogs casually toward the ball.

But Pedro Santos, despite being much farther away than Bye (he’s the one standing out in space on the lower right side of that shot), sprints like he’s going for gold in the 100 meters. Bye doesn’t realize the danger until too late. Santos not only reaches the ball first, he absolutely smashes it first-time toward goal the moment he gets there. To the goalkeeper’s credit, he’s alert enough to be down in a crouch, but this just means he has even less chance to get to the ball, for Santos hits it with enormous pace just under the crossbar. Great skill from Santos, even greater hustle, and DC is ahead in this critical game after only two minutes.

10’ Christian Benteke 2-0

Perhaps concerned Brandon Bye will feel bad about that first goal, the central defenders decide to give up a far worse one. After Vironi is called offisde, Bono kicks it long. One New England player holds of Benteke while the other heads it back into DC’s half. Lucas Bartlett just volleys it forward with his in-step in the general direction of Benteke. Both New England centerbacks judge that it’s overhit and let it go over their heads. One of them gestures to the goalkeeper. This looks really bad, like they don’t even care, and under the circumstances I guess they must wish they’d run after it immediately, but I’m pretty sure they were right to leave it. The problem is that Aljaž Ivačič, the Revolution goalkeeper, reacts late, very late, to this situation, and that means Benteke’s hard run gets him to the ball just a half-second before Ivačič and heads it past him and in. It’s DC’s second goal in the first ten minutes and another that can be attributed to a combination of hustle and skill.

73’ Matti Peltola (og) 2-1

New England is passing around the edge of the box, but it doesn’t feel like a dangerous situation. Dave Romney plays it wide to former DC United player Ian Harkes. Harkes swings in a cross, but the Revolution’s attackers are bunched near the top of the box on the far side and not in a position to make a play on the ball. Peltola has his back to them, however, and (correctly I believe) feels he has to play it safe and head the ball out for a corner. Trouble is, he doesn’t get quite enough contact, so instead he hits a glancing header into the goal at the near post. Bono was re-positioning in case the ball somehow reached the attacking players and had no chance to stop it. Call it bad luck, or call it a mistake by a player having to think about too much because he was playing an unfamiliar position. Either way, the crowd gets back into the game and the Revolution really start pushing, setting up a white-knuckle finish for DC fans.

Expected Goals

DC United won the expected goals battle 0.95 - 0.59 despite being out-shot 10 - 13. As you’ll have guessed, the majority of DC’s expected goals were in the first half, which was .73 - .3 and about even in possession. Then, in the second half, New England had a tiny edge in expected goals (0.29 to 0.23) and a massive edge in possession, 73% to 27%.

Pedro Santos’ goal was worth only 0.03 xG, while Benteke’s was 0.31 (I don’t think xG models really take into account how ridiculous the situation was for Benteke’s shot, however). DC’s highest xG shot otherwise was Ted Ku-Dipietro’s tenth minute chance, a 0.26 shot he missed wide at the far post after being played in by Pirani.

New England’s highest xG shot was Carles Gil’s 21st minute shot well over the bar after Vironi outmuscled Peltola to start a breakaway.

Player Ratings

Alex Bono - 6 - I didn’t notice any big mistakes, though he got away with parrying a hard shot through a lot of traffic. This was another game where there was some danger from the opponent but Bono only had to make one save. 

Lucas Bartlett - 6 - Solid throughout and very good in desperate moments, as usual. Gets credited with an assist on Benteke’s goal, which is silly, but hey, he deserves something for his strong play over the past few games.

Matti Peltola - 3 - Before the game, I commented on the DC United subreddit I didn’t think he should play centerback in a back four. I stand by that assessment. The own goal might just be bad luck, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he misjudges a ball while struggling to play a position he’s not accustomed to playing. The bigger issue was that Giacomo Vironi, an average MLS forward on his best day, made Peltola look like a lower-division player. I don’t blame Peltola for this, it’s not his position, but it wasn’t a good game. If this situation happens again for some reason, let’s give Tubbs a start.

Pedro Santos - 8 - Throughout the season, my big complaint about Santos have been (a) this guy is not actually a fullback and (b) sub-70% passing is unfortunate when he’s playing so far from goal and supposed to be a steadying veteran presence. Well, he passed a bit better than usual and, obviously, provided absolute best case “I am really not a fullback” game by scoring a “Did you know that five years ago I was a DP winger who scored 11 goals?” goal, an absolute, stone-cold golazo. It’s not the first goal like that he’s scored this season, but the 100% effort he gave to get to the ball made it a really great moment. And hey, he did his part to help the team set the yellow card record by getting a very dumb dissent yellow (just kidding, that was another bad thing he did).

Aaron Herrera - 6 - A quiet game by his standards. He had a little trouble with Esmir Bajraktarevic in the second half.

Mateusz Klich - 6 - I’ve been whining about his defense all season, but this game he and Rodriguez really tracked back and helped defend. That’s great, but now I know you can do it when you want to, guys. They also bossed the midfield until the Revolution very belatedly started chasing the game after the own goal.

Martin Rodriguez - 6 - As with Klich, I’m pleased with his defensive contributions for once. Like Bartlett, he gets an undeserved assist out of this game, but we’ll call it a participation trophy for the important minutes he’s played.

Ted Ku-Dipietro - 5 - Usually he gets one promising chance per game that he then shoots meekly into the goalkeeper’s chest. This time, he got a promising chance and he missed wide. Progress?

Jared Stroud - 5 - For whatever reason, he hasn’t been able to find the space or crossing opportunities he did early in the season. With Pirani on the field, it seemed like DC’s attacks often went more central than the usual right-sided bias, so that could be a factor.

Gabriel Pirani - 6 - Didn’t get on the scoresheet and seemed to get a lot less effective in the second half, but in the first half he set up Ku-Dipietro’s chance with a great flick, achieved a high usage rate (by the standards of DC attackers, at least), and got off a few shots himself. The only problem was he wasn’t available to come on to the pitch as a substitute to help hold the ball and run counterattacks as the Revolution pressed near the end of the game!

Christian Benteke - 7 - Kind of the standard Benteke experience as of late: utterly dominant in the air, mostly starved of service, but aggressive enough to seize on one of his few moments and score.

Cristian Dájome - 4 - He played an entire half without making any case that he should be starting (or back next year, to be blunt). Definitely didn’t appreciate him giving up a dangerous free kick in stoppage time.

Boris Enow - 5 - No DC players really looked good in the last phase of the game, but he fought hard and also came within a half-inch of icing the game with his long shot that hit the crossbar in the seventy-first minute.

Dominique Badji - 4 - Five touches in twenty-seven minutes. That’s certainly not all his fault, but man.

Jacob Murrell - 5 - Not much more impact than Badji, but he at least he got into a good shooting position in stoppage time…though he blasted it right into the keeper.

Garrison Tubbs - 5 - Came on in the eighty-fifth minute with the bus completely parked and helped see out the game.

Does DC Usually Finish Strong?

Since we’re approaching the last game of DC’s 2024 regular season and find DC needing a result to ensure it’s not the last game of the season itself, I thought it might be interesting to look back at previous seasons’ last games to see how DC fared. I didn’t quite intend to do this much work when I started, but I ended up looking at every final regular season game in DC United history.

Why? Well, in the very first edition of this newsletter, I noted DC has been surprisingly good in its opening games, going 6-1 since Audi Field opened despite many of those teams turning out to be pretty bad. I can only assume that somehow DC secured great opening day success by making a terrible sacrifice when it comes to the final games in a regular season. DC has played 28 seasons prior to this one, and while there’s been some real stinkers, there are a lot of good teams in there too. How many successful last games do you think there were?

A quick note on definition: to me, a successful last game means DC’s result improved its playoff position or, if playoffs were already secured, then DC won the game to enter the playoffs with some momentum. This year, DC needs a draw or a win to have a successful last game, since either will ensure it makes the playoffs.

So how many times has DC been successful? You’ll have to read and find out.

2023: 2-0 home win over NYCFC. Goals from Klich and Chris Durkin. DC was mathematically alive going into this game, but other results combined with the fact DC ended its season the week before Decision Day meant DC was eliminated despite winning the game and despite being temporarily over the playoff line at the end of the day. Yes, wins are good, but this doesn’t count as a successful outcome. Rooney was fired immediately afterward and a new front office team was finally hired a month later.

2022: 2-5 home loss to FC Cincinnati. DC had already clinched the Wooden Spoon going into this game. Cincinnati got a hat trick from Brenner (who is now playing in Serie A for Udinese) plus goals from Brandon Vasquez (called up to the upcoming US National Team camp) and Lucho Acosta (potential future US national team player?). Cincinnati would eliminate the New York Red Bulls in the first round (cheers!) but lose to Philadelphia Union in the conference semifinals (boo). DC’s goals in this game came from, believe it or not, Ravel Morrison and Kristian Fletcher. Yes. Really. I wouldn’t lie to you about a thing like that.

2021: 3-1 road win over Toronto FC. DC got a brace from Ola Kamara (only one of them a penalty!) as well as a goal from Steve Birnbaum. In combination with a Red Bulls loss, this would have seen DC reach the playoffs in its first season under Hernan Losada. Alas, the Red Bulls tied Nashville and got the last place instead, so this win also doesn’t make for a successful last game. Brutal. This was before the face-saving innovation of the 8/9 play-in game, so DC finished 8th with 47 points (even with a win against Charlotte, DC can only reach 43 points this season). At least the Red Bulls lost in the first round, even if it was to the Union.

2020: 2-3 home loss to the Montreal Impact. DC under Chad Ashton’s first interim management tour was leading 2-1 and would have made the playoffs (thanks to the weird system used due to the shortened season) but gave up two goals, allowing Thierry Henry’s Montreal to sneak into the playoffs, where they lost immediately to the New England Revolution. DC’s goals in this match were from Donovan Pines and Ola Kamara. Not only was Kamara’s goal not a penalty, it was assisted by Edison Flores!

2019: 0-0 home draw against FC Cincinnati. Not a terrible result, some of you are thinking. Maybe it will count as a success? Oh, but this isn’t the terrifying, Lucho Acosta-led FC Cincinnati of the last few years. This was the expansion FC Cincinnati that would win the Wooden Spoon this season as well as the next two. They lost twenty two games in 2019. But not this game. DC had to start Quincy Amerikwa at forward because Wayne Rooney was suspended for yellow card accumulation and, perhaps not coincidentally, couldn’t score a goal despite tallying 2.7 xG and FC Cincinnati having two players get red cards not long before half-time. Because DC didn’t win, they finished 5th instead of 4th and had to travel to Toronto for the first round of the playoffs instead of hosting Toronto instead. DC would then go on to lose 5-1 in Toronto after drawing in regulation but conceding four goals in extra time.

2018: 0-0 road draw against the Chicago Fire. The Fire were about as bad in 2018 as they are this season, so this wasn’t a good result for the first Rooney team that until that point had been storming into the playoffs after overcoming a huge points deficit thanks to Rooney’s arrival, Lucho Acosta leveling up, and a hugely backloaded home schedule caused by the need to finish Audi Field. The good news was that the point ensured DC would host their first round playoff game, so I guess by my criteria this was a successful last game despite the poor quality of the opponent. The bad news was that even though playoffs were assured, Olsen didn’t rotate players and in fact only made a single substitution in the 85th minute. Maybe that was the right call, since a loss would have meant starting the playoffs on the road, but the playoffs started three days later and DC lost at home in the first round to Gregg Berhalter’s Crew in a penalty shoot-out where Rooney and Acosta both looked exhausted and missed.

2017: 1-2 home loss to the New York Red Bulls. This season was a already disaster. DC ended tied on points with the LA Galaxy for worst in the league but lost the Wooden Spoon on tiebreakers, so they didn’t even claim that “trophy”. To me this didn’t feel quite as bad as DC’s many other terrible seasons at the time because Audi Field was on the horizon. But that meant this was the last DC game played in RFK stadium, so losing the game to DC’s original rival after going up 1-0 on a Paul Arriola goal was grim to say the least. DC gave up two goals in the last twenty-five minutes with Lucho Acosta getting a red card between them. Current DC player Russell Canouse started the game while Ian Harkes subbed in for DC (he played for New England this past weekend). US men’s national team player Tyler Adams came on as a sub for the Red Bulls while MLS Season Pass most valuable commentator Lloyd Sam came on as a substitute for DC in what would be his final MLS game.

2016: 2-4 road loss to Orlando City. There was no drama in this one; DC was pretty good this season, going on a tear after trading for Patrick Mullins. They entered Decision Day locked into a fourth place finish and hosting a playoff game. Orlando was already eliminated. Ben Olsen gave nearly every starter the day off, retaining only defensive midfielder Rob Vincent. The backups lost 2-4. The well-rested starters then hosted Montreal in the first round and…lost 2-4 (a flattering scoreline seeing as both DC goals came in second half stoppage time).

2015: 0-5 road loss to Columbus. Oof. This DC team, which featured Chris Rolfe and Fabian Espindola (and Steve Birnbaum, though he only appeared as a substitute in this game for some reason), finished fourth in the East and would go on to host a playoff game. But talk about backing into the playoffs! Despite this loss, DC would take care of business, winning 2-1 against the New England Revolution in the first round. When people say DC hasn’t won a playoff game since 2015, well, that was it! Alas, they went on to lose a pair of games to the Shield-winning New York Red Bulls, both with a 0-1 scoreline. Even a point in this Columbus game would have seen DC finish second in the conference and having home field advantage against Montreal in the semifinals instead of lacking it against the Red Bulls.

2014: 1-1 road draw against Montreal Impact. No one talks about this DC team any more, but they entered this game having already locked up the number #1 spot in the Eastern conference. Montreal was in last place. Most of DC’s starters played, but it took an eighty-sixth minute goal from Fabian Espindola to salvage a draw. In this era of MLS, home field advantage meant going on the road to start a two game series, so after this game DC went to New York Red Bulls, lost 2-0, and then “won” the next game 2-1 to crash out of the playoffs 3-2 on aggregate. So yeah, that’s why no one talks about them these days.

2013: 1-2 home loss to the Houston Dynamo. DC only won three games in this Spoon season. This wasn’t one of them. Just a completely dreadful team, the 2013 edition of DC United is best remembered for also winning the US Open Cup, DC’s most recent major trophy. MLS is weird. This was the last game that MLS legend Dwayne De Rosario played for DC United. It was also the last game for Lionard Pajoy, who is still mentioned these days sometimes so I guess counts as a kind of legend as well. He was an unused substitute, however.

2012: 1-1 road draw to the Chicago Fire. DC entered this needing at least a point to secure second place in the East behind Sporting Kansas City, which was going through an Eastern Conference phase. They got the point thanks to a goal from, yes, club legend Lionard Pajoy, assisted by Branko Bošković. So even though this wasn’t a win, I’m going to count this as a successful last game of the season. Wow. We had to go twelve years back just to get to the second one. DC would go on to beat the Red Bulls in a wild two game series chronicled by Pablo Maurer before losing to the Houston Dynamo in the Eastern Conference finals (yeah, Houston was also going through a easterly phase).

2011: 0-1 home loss to Sporting Kansas City. KC finished top of the East, DC was already eliminated going into this game and finished seventh, well out of the playoffs in this era where there were only nine teams in the Eastern Confernece. Clyde Simms was substituted in the 16th minute, I assume due to injury, and this was the last game he would play for DC United. It was also the last game of Santino Quaranta’s career.

2010: 2-3 home loss to Toronto FC. This was another Spoon year, with DC finishing a mere 24 points out playoff position. Toronto was already eliminated as well. Toronto’s goals came from two future DC United players: a brace from Dwayne De Rosario and another from Maicon Santos. Santino Quaranta got things started with a goal in the second minute and Jaime Moreno scored a penalty.

2009: 2-2 road draw against Kansas City Wizards. DC entered this match needing a win to make the playoffs. They went up 2-1 in the 82nd minute after injured centerback Julias James (“playing” forward because he couldn’t run and DC was out of substitutes) managed to head the ball in on a corner kick. Even though Kansas City was already eliminated, Peter Vermes was a good coach back then (this was his first season managing Kansas City) and his team kept fighting. In stoppage time, DC’s Fred stopped a Wizards shot from going into the goal with his arm, earning a DOGSO red card and a penalty that KC converted. More crazy trivia about this game: Kansas City’s first goal was scored by Kei Kamara, already in his sixth MLS season. Kamara played almost a thousand minutes for LAFC this season, yes, not a typo, in 2024, and notched three goals and three assists. Ben Olsen entered the game at halftime for Danny Szetela; this was Olsen’s last game as a player.

2008: 0-1 road loss to the Columbus Crew. The Crew won the Supporter’s Shield that year and would go on to win MLS Cup, so this was a tough assignment, but DC needed a win to make the playoffs. They didn’t get one. Brian Carroll played in this match for the Crew, part of his streak of four straight Supporter’s Shields (two for DC, then two for the Crew).

2007: 2-3 home loss to the Columbus Crew. This was DC’s most recent Supporter’s Shield team! You’d think they, at least, would have a good final game! But no! The Crew led 2-0 in the 89th minute, but Christian Gomez scored two goals (the second a penalty) before the end the game. The problem was the Crew’s Robbie Rogers scored in between Gomez’s two goals. DC went on to lose 3-2 on aggregate to the Chicago Fire in the first round of the playoffs, with two of Chicago’s three goals coming from Chris Rolfe.

2006: 2-3 home loss to the Chicago Fire. This was Nowak’s other Supporter’s Shield team, but they also backed into the playoffs with a loss. Christian Gomez scored a brace, both of his goals assisted by Freddy Adu, but it wasn’t enough. This season wasn’t a total loss since DC eliminated the Red Bulls 2-1 in the first round, but they lost 0-1 to the New England Revolution in the Eastern Conference final.

2005: 2-2 home draw to Columbus Crew. DC entered this game with #2 in the Eastern Conference locked in, so a home draw against the last place Crew doesn’t count as a success. The most interesting thing I can note about this game is that Nick Rimando was the goalkeeper. This was his last season as a starter, though he would play two more games for DC in 2006. Oh? You want to know what happened in the playoffs? Fine. DC went on to draw Chicago 0-0 away, then lose 4-0 at home. Longtime fans will remember that as the game Christian Gomez got a red card for spitting on someone. Former DC player and future Red Bull and Canada national team coach Jesse Marsch scored the fourth goal for Chicago.

2004: 3-2 home win over the Metrostars. Here it is. We finally got to another successful last game! DC needed to win to ensure home field advantage in the first round against…the Metrostars. So between this game and the first round of the playoffs, DC played the Metrostars three times. They won three times, 3-2 in this game, then 2-0 on the road, then 2-0 at home. What a season this was! Actually DC was thoroughly mediocre for most of it, but massively improved following the arrival of Christian Gomez and went on to win MLS Cup. Christian Gomez got a brace and Mike Petke scored as well for DC in this game. Eddie Pope played for the Metrostars, as did Bruce Arena’s son Kenny Arena.

2003: 1-1 home draw against the Kansas City Wizards. If you think MLS’s playoff format is forgiving now, in 2003 there were 10 teams total in MLS and 8 of them made the playoffs. DC’s point in this game ensured they met these rigorous criteria and finished in eighth, so this was a successful last game of the season. Hristo Stoichkov scored this vital goal for DC. Preki scored for the Wizards. This was Marco Etcheverry’s last regular season game for DC, who went on to lose both games of their home and away series 0-2 to the Shield-winning Chicago Fire.

2002: 3-4 home loss to the Dallas Burn. Eight out of ten teams getting in wasn’t enough: DC finished tenth. At least the Metrostars didn’t make it either. DC’s goals came from Bobby Convey, Henry Zambrano, and Ali Curtis. Future DC player Eddie Johnson scored for Dallas.

2001: 1-3 road loss to the Miami Fusion. DC wasn’t the worst team in the league, at least (that was the Tampa Bay Mutiny) but they were still plenty bad and already eliminated from the playoffs. The Miami Fusion were tied for the league’s best record. Álex Pineda Chacón scored a hat trick for Miami. Mark Lisi scored DC’s goal. DC got the last laugh, though, since the league contracted Miami and Tampa after the season, so this was the last regular season game the Fusion would ever play.

2000: 2-6 home loss to the Miami Fusion. Ouch. DC was one point better than the league’s worst team so had nothing to play for, but ouch. Miami got a hat trick from Diego Serna. Geoff Aunger scored for DC, as did Pablo Mastroeni (an own goal, that is, he played for Miami).

1999: 1-1 home draw shootout loss (2-3) to the New England Revolution. We are back into the years of the First Dynasty, albeit its Rongen year after Bruce Arena went to coach the national team. DC came into this game having already sealed the Supporter’s Shield, so I don’t consider it a successful game. DC’s only goal was a second minute own goal by New England’s Ted Chronopoulos. Marco Etcheverry and Jeff Agoos converted in the shootout for DC, A.J. Wood, Roy Lassiter, and Carey Talley didn’t. DC went on defeat LA to win MLS Cup to go along with the Shield.

1998: 2-2 home draw shootout win (3-2) over the Columbus Crew. DC entered this game having already wrapped up first place in the East, so sorry, I’m not going to consider the draw shootout win a success. But not bad for Bruce’s last season in charge. A.J. Wood scored for DC and they got another own goal, this one from Rob Smith. Columbus got a brace from Stern John. American national team legend Brian MacBride failed to convert in the shootout.

1997: 1-3 road loss to the New York/New Jersey Metrostars. DC entered the game with the Supporters’ Shield locked up and ended up winning MLS Cup, but they still didn’t have a good last game of the season. It doesn’t look like starters were rested, either. Jaime Moreno scored DC United’s goal. Giovanni Savarese, recently manager of the Portland Timbers, scored for the Metrostars, whose win in this game still was not enough to get them into the elite tier of teams who made the playoffs (eight out of ten).

1996: 3-1 home win over the Colorado Rapids. Somehow, despite everything that followed, DC United’s first last game was successful. After some early struggles, DC was hot at the end of the season, winning 6 of its last 8 before going undefeated in the playoffs and winning the inaugural MLS Cup. Raul Diaz Arce scored a brace against Colorado (the second a penalty) and Shawn Medved scored as well. As far as I know (I certainly didn’t try to check), this is the only game in DC United history where the opposing coach was a future DC United player, since Roy Wegerle was apparently Colorado’s interim manager for this game.

So there you have it. Only five of those twenty-eight results meet my criteria of a successful final game. If you just want to look at outcomes, DC only won four out of 28 final games (5 if you count that shoot-out win), otherwise getting nine draws and fifteen losses. Let’s hope this new era of Troy Lesesne and Ally Mackay brings a new era of final game success!

Standings

Attention! DC is #8 in the Eastern Conference and in playoff position. This is not a drill.

Christian Benteke is four goals ahead of LAFC’s Denis Bouanga and Columbus’ Cucho Hernandez in the race for the golden boot. They each have two games left, so it’s not impossible one of them could draw level, and they both have a lot more assists, which I believe is the tiebreaker. But still, it’s looking very promising for Benteke. But hey, a hat trick in the last game of the season wouldn’t hurt!

Coming Up

Decision Day. It hasn’t often been a happy time for DC fans, but this could be a new chapter.

The situation is simple. Win against Charlotte FC and DC will host the play-in game on Tuesday, October 22nd and potentially go on to play a three game series against Lionel Messi and Inter Miami. Draw against Charlotte, and DC will definitely play in the play-in game and could host it, depending on FC Montreal’s outcome against NYCFC, who have won three straight games. If DC loses…

Well, come on, surely they aren’t going to lose, are they?

But if they lose, they could still get into the play-in game. It depends on the results of the CF Montreal game, Philadelphia’s match against a slumping FC Cincinatti who have lost three straight, and Atlanta’s game against an Orlando City that has won six of its last seven. If DC loses, they are eliminated if two of the following three things happen: CF Montreal draw or win, Philadelphia win, and Atlanta win.

Charlotte has won 3 and drawn one of its last four games. The draw was against Inter Miami, so it was also a good result. Two of the wins were against bottom-feeders New England and Chicago. The other was against CF Montreal, tied on points with DC. It won’t be an easy game, but a team that deserves to be in the playoffs should get at least a point at home with everything on the line!