DC United @ Toronto FC 8/31/24
DC tries to get back in the playoff picture against one of the teams they could catch
Game Context
In my last newsletter, after DC’s very encouraging road win over Minnesota, I ran through the rest of the schedule and found that despite the momentum, it seemed like it was going to be tough for DC to make the playoffs. The first game back from Leagues Cup, against FC Dallas, seemed like a crucial one to win.
Then this newsletter packed off to vacation while DC had some exciting wins in the Leagues Cup to get out of the group…only to fall to Mazatlan due to a disastrous first half red card. Then came the home match against FC Dallas…and another disastrous first half red card. That loss left DC tied for last place in the Eastern Conference.
Meanwhile, Toronto had clawed their way up into playoff position with three wins in four games. This game presented an opportunity for them to put some distance between them and the pack of bottom-feeding teams. Unfortunately for Toronto, two of their three designated players, Federico Bernardeschi and Jonathan Osorio, were suspended for this game due to yellow card accumulation. Well, in DC we know all about yellow cards.
According to the MLS power rankings, this match pitted #18 (Toronto) against #28 (DC United).
Formation
Once again, the MLS Season Pass commentators got the formation wrong. They talked confidently about DC playing with four at the back since that was the formation Lesesne switched to starting in Leagues Cup. But people who follow DC closely would have questioned playing that way for two reasons. One, finally having an actual, honest-to-god left back in David Schnegg was why Lesesne switched to four at the back, but Schnegg was injured in practice and unavailable for this game. Two, even with Schnegg, DC got absolutely blasted against Dallas playing that way, ending the first half down 4-1.
In fact, with Schnegg out, the red carded Boris Enow suspended, and Dominique Badji on the bench, this was a pre-transfer window lineup and DC played its pre-transfer window formation. Christopher McVey, Lucas Barlett, and Aaron Herrera played as the three central defenders. Pedro Santos and Cristian Dájome were wingbacks who got forward but also could sit back while defending to make a line of five. Mateusz Klich and Matti Peltola played in a double pivot and a much more conservative posture than the first half against Dallas. In front of them, Ted Ku-DiPietro and Jared Stroud flanked Christian Benteke in the front line.
At halftime, Martín Rodríguez replaced McVey and slotted in beside Klich in midfield, moving Peltola back to centerback. As far as I could tell on the broadcast, the formation itself was essentially unchanged throughout the game, to the point that when Garrison Tubbs came on in stoppage time to add some height for set pieces and waste a bit of time, he did his best to play wingback.
Goal Breakdowns
Martín Rodríguez 67’ 1-0
After combining with Klich down the sideline, Dájome gets the ball back and carries it past several Toronto defenders before getting brought down just outside the box. On the free kick, Santos plays it to Stroud, who is running like a wide receiver in motion. He chips it for Ku-Dipietro. It’s a strange design for the play since Ku-Dipietro is hardly dangerous in the air, but Toronto can’t get over to him in time and he heads it toward the six yard box where Benteke is waiting. At least I think that must have been the idea, but the header ended up short…but right into the path of Rodriguez, who hit it first time past Sean Johnson. This was a harder shot than it looked like since his run was outside of the near post, so he had to redirect the ball only slightly while still getting enough power to beat the keeper.
Deandre Kerr 82’ 1-1
DC clears the ball from almost their own endline and then Badji loses the header to a TFC central defender. From there, Toronto carries the ball towards the DC goal with DC players all still sitting back deep. A nit here is that I think Pirani might have gone too far inside and not reacted fast enough after Badji loses the header. That’s why first Deiby Flores and then Richie Laryea had more time on the ball than ideal, but it was still a routine high cross into DC’s set defense. Toronto had flung players forward, of course, but Herrera is marked up against Deandre Kerr and has the right position. I think he just misjudges the flight of the ball and thinks either Barlett or big Toronto forward Prince Owusu are going to get the ball as they both jump for it in the center of the box. But the ball goes just over them to where Kerr has jumped before Herrera and gotten much higher. Kerr’s header goes pretty close to Bono and he gets a hand to it, but he can’t keep it out.
Dominique Badji 88’ 2-1
Toronto is playing the ball around the back in what should be a routine situation, but DC is pressing despite being tied on the road in the 88th minute. Jacob Murrell pressures a defender, then runs to follow the pass to the next player as Dájome pushes up to cause a double-team. The Toronto player dribbles backward past Murrell and at that point could have passed back along the sideline to his centerback, but he unwisely tries to keep dribbling and Dájome steps into win the ball cleanly and then immediately play a perfect through ball to Badji. Since the centerback had gone wide as an outlet, there’s a huge amount of space for Badji to run on to the ball and slot it past Sean Johnson. It’s a cool finish but one obviously made possible by Dájome’s great play.
Gabriel Pirani 90’+3
After a promising attack where Pirani cut it to Klich for a decent shooting opportunity, TFC clears the ball but it only goes as far as Aaron Herrera still inside their half. He carries it forward, draws in two Toronto players, then works a give and go with Tubbs to get past them to the endline. From there he cuts it back to Murrell in so much space Pirani is there too, just as wide open. Murrell’s shot is blocked by a Toronto defender, but the rebound goes straight to Pirani with the goalkeeper on the ground already. It’s about as easy as a goal from the penalty spot can get, but they all count the same, and Pirani scores the insurance goal.
Player Ratings
Alex Bono - 5 - He didn’t have much to do, but maybe should have done better on the goal.
Christopher McVey - 6 - A clean sheet for his time on the field.
Lucas Bartlett - 6 - He was his usual steady presence.
Aaron Herrera - 6 - The weakest part of his game is probably balls in the air and yeah, he got totally dunked on for their goal. But otherwise he was good and managed to push forward and create the game-sealing third goal in stoppage time.
Cristian Dájome - 8 - Seemed to get better as the game went on and ended up being integral to the first two goals, drawing the foul for the first and then winning the ball and playing the assist for the second.
Pedro Santos - 5 - Quiet game, which is usually a good thing when he has a lot of defensive responsibilities.
Mateusz Klich - 6 - One of his best defense games. He created two great chances in the press during the first half and I didn’t notice him losing trailing runners. However, he didn’t do as much with the ball as he sometimes does, perhaps because he was told to play more conservatively?
Matti Peltola - 6 - I thought he played pretty well in midfield, then moved back and played pretty well in central defense. That versatility is really helping Lesesne with his substitutions.
Ted Ku-Dipietro - 6 - Got the assist on the first goal, though that feels more like a team goal to me, and led the team with four shot-creating actions. It’s good that he helps on defense, but he’s kind of a turnover machine and so after hustling back he gave up the ball twice in really dangerous places.
Jared Stroud - 5 - A quiet game by his fairly high standards.
Christian Benteke - 4 - This was off day from Benteke. His most notable play was the 3 on 1 attack in the twentieth minute where he tried to square it to Stroud and missed horribly. It’s great that the team can score 3 goals when he’s having a day like this, though.
Substitutes
Martín Rodríguez - 7 - The commentators made him sound like a League MVP contender and not a borderline bench player on one of the worst teams, but he did well and I do agree he seems like he should be starting. To be honest I wouldn’t mind seeing him and Peltola start together over Klich, but I don’t expect it to happen.
Dominique Badji - 7 - He scored the crucial go-ahead goal and also got another before that called back for offside (which was his fault, to be sure). He also contributes more in the press than Benteke, which is nice. After years of DC bringing in midseason “forwards” who were useless, it’s nice to have an addition who can impact a game!
Gabriel Pirani - 7 - After some struggles early in the season, he’s improved and become a clear impact sub. DC looks a lot more dangerous with him on the pitch. He still doesn’t cover a ton of ground on defense compared to Ku-Dipietro, but otherwise he seems like he should be in contention for a starting role down the stretch.
Jacob Murrell - 5 - Only two touches, but his shot helped lead to the third goal, so that’s something!
Garrison Tubbs - 6 - Just a quick cameo playing very out of position at wingback, but hey, he played Herrera to the end line to set up the third goal. Not bad!
DC’s Yellow Card Habit
So we all know that DC United has gotten more cards this year than a Magic: The Gathering player. But as always, it’s good to check our intuitions with statistics.
For example, DC is leading the league in yellow cards, right? Wrong! I know this will be a tough blow for fans since DC has been leading in so few ways this year, but they’ve dropped to second. Gabriel Pirani showed why he’s an impact sub and earned a yellow card in second half stoppage time, but Toronto still out-yellowed DC 3-1 on the day and now leads the league with 80, one more than DC’s 79. This is grim news. But hope remains! DC has a game in hand on Toronto, so they are still ahead on yellows per game. They’re also still leading the league in red cards, tied for Seattle with 7.
Since they’re tied for the league in red cards and not even leading the league, technically, in yellow cards, one might think this is just another example of mediocrity. However, it’s more uncommon than it sounds. 2024’s DC United already has more yellow cards than any DC team in history by a pretty good margin. This year’s team has 79, in 2022 and 2000 they had 73, and in 2023, 2021, and 2002 they had 70. And those other years’ numbers are for complete seasons, so between five and seven more games played.
Part of what’s going on here is that, the 2000 and 2002 team’s figures notwithstanding, there seems to have been a pretty big increase in yellow cards issued over the past few years. When you look at total yellow cards in a season for all MLS teams, 16 of the top 20 are from 2021 or later. VAR probably is part of that, but also I have watched MLS for twenty years and there were a ton of rough challenges considered fair play in the old days that today would not just be fouls but yellow cards (kids these days, old man yells at clouds, game’s gone, I know the clichés, but, actually, the stricter officiating makes the modern game much more fun to watch).
As a quick side note, for whatever reason red cards don’t show the same uptick. Maybe there was more unmistakable violent in the early days of the league. But the all-time leader in red cards is the 2000 MetroStars with 11. DC’s 1999 team is the highest DC team with 9, two more than the current team. Hmm. Seven games left…two red cards, the all-time team record seems very doable. The all-time league record is going to be tough though.
What about yellows? The 2022 and 2023 Houston Dynamo are tied with the all-time record of 95. DC has 79 in 27 games, so just under 3 per game. 3 yellows per remaining game would get DC to an even 100 yellow cards, smashing the record and earning this year’s team their place in league history. They’re going to have to work harder than this past weekend’s miserly 1 yellow card performance, however.
One last note: Alex Bono is the only DC United player to play significant minutes without getting a yellow card. Time to shape up, Alex! You’ve played pretty well this season, but this is embarrassing. Boris Enow has only played 44 minutes and he has two yellow cards already! The league record is in sight, so come on, Alex, from now on I want to see those feet dragging on stoppage time goal kicks when we’re ahead. Pretend you’re in the Matrix and go into ultra slow motion. Sing that Coldplay song to yourself during the game so that you’re ready.
Standings
The win jumped DC from 15th up to 11th. They’re now just two points out of playoff position! But…also only three points from last in the east. There’s not much separating these last spaces, but boy, it’s going to make a big difference in how the season is remembered! At least they are now 12 points ahead of San Jose for the league-wide wooden spoon.
Coming Up
DC’s quest for the playoffs continues with a trip to Chicago, who are now tied for last in the Eastern Conference. Their season has been so bad that Matt Doyle gave them an A+ for the transfer window for firing their star player and their general manager! Still, any team in MLS can still make the playoffs with a run of results, so they still have something to play for.
Next, DC hosts NYCFC, which is fifth in the conference but hasn’t won a league game since the beginning of July. Okay, partly that’s the Leagues Cup break, but NYCFC has lost twice and drew four times in their last six games, including two ties against Chicago, so a result is achievable here.
After that, it’s a fixture DC fans have generally dreaded: a trip to Philadelphia. Of course, the Union struggling mightily this year and are just one point ahead of DC in the standings, but they’ve been doing well lately, winning three of their last four.
Then DC comes home to play Columbus. They aren’t quite at the top of the standings but they won Leagues Cup and have a case to make for being the best team in MLS. That’s nice, I guess. But how many yellow cards do they have? Why, they’re last in the league with only 30! Pitiful.