Preview: DC United at Real Salt Lake

DC gets a few players back for a long road trip

So…yeah, that Chicago game was a really bad loss. Especially considering it was at home. That said, I don’t think it was the worst of the season. Losing 1-6 to San Jose with what was nearly a full strength lineup is a lot worse in my book. DC was missing just a ton of players against Chicago due to both injury and callups, and yes, Chicago was missing guys too, but not nearly to the same degree.

I don’t have any qualifications as a soccer coach except the only one that matters (I’m posting on the Internet) so I really think Troy Lesesne should have used the formation I suggested in my preview: three centerbacks. Okay, really what I wish is that he would figure out how to have any semblance of rest defense with a four man back-line. Thousands of soccer teams around the world can play with a four man backline without any defensive issues, yet when DC plays it, you’d think it was a 2-3-5 from the 1890s.

All I can figure is that Troy really doesn’t rate Conner Antley at centerback and didn’t want to use him there?

The good news is some players are back. The bad news is it’s really only two starters, Kye Rowles and Boris Enow, plus a serviceable bench player in Kristian Fletcher. DC will still be missing its top three players: Christian Benteke, Aaron Herrera, and Peglow.

It sounds like there is some hope that Benteke, Peglow, and Jackson Hopkins could be back after the bye week. Really hope that’s the case!

The Lineup

After the San Jose game, Troy made some big changes, but other than throwing in Rowles and Enow (and once again hoping Dominique Badji is ready to start) there’s not much opportunity to change things. Except for the obvious: three centerbacks. Surely Lesesne won’t try to play with two again…

Backup goalkeeper: Jordan Farr

Backup defenders: Rida Zouhir, Derek Dodson

Backup attackers: Randall Leal, Jared Stroud, Jacob Murrell, Kristian Fletcher, Gavin Turner, Fidel Barajas

Injured: Kim Joon Hong, Christian Benteke, Peglow, Jackson Hopkines, Lukas MacNaughton

Away at the Gold Cup: Aaron Herrera

Away at the UEFA Euro Under-21 Championship: Matti Peltola

The Opposition: Real Salt Lake

This is not a tough opponent, but this is always a tough fixture. DC United has to fly thousands of miles and then play at altitude. Real Salt Lake isn’t exactly a perennial powerhouse, but they have 8 wins, 4 draws, and just 1 loss at home against DC.

The loss was back in 2005 when RSL was an expansion team. DC won 3-1 with an opening goal from a rookie named Bobby Boswell, an insurance goal from Christian Gómez, and best of all, a game-winning goal by a 16-year-old Freddy Adu.

Still, when RSL isn't that great, a draw is doable. DC has one loss and two draws in its last three visits: 0-0 in 2022, 2-3 in 2018, and 1-1 in 2016. Yes, this trip is rare enough that DC has only played in Salt Lake City three times in the past ten years.

Real Salt Lake is, indeed, not that great. We can go farther: they are quite bad. Last season they were third in the West, had the fifth best record in the league, and had a very strong offense. Then they tried the unorthodox offseason maneuver of getting rid of almost all their good offensive players. Cristian Arango (17g/6a) went to San Jose, Andrés Gómez (13g/7a) was sold to Rennes, and Anderson Julio (9g/3a) went to Dallas.

I guess the idea was they had already reloaded in last season's summer transfer window with Diogo Gonçalves (a $3m DP attacking midfielder) and Dominik Marczuk (a $1.5m forward). Take those guys and add a young homegrown attacker, Diego Luna, who was playing better and better and maybe it would work! There'd be a changing of the guard, but they got the replacements in before the old attackers left, so they'd have time to settle in and then be effective in the 2025 season.

Interesting theory, but it hasn’t worked out. Diego Luna is holding up his end up the bargain with 8 goals (6 non-penalty goals), but Marczuk and Goncalves each have just one goal. In fact, no one on the roster besides Luna has more than one goal.

So RSL is on 15 points. That’s 3 fewer than DC despite playing in the weaker Western Conference. Their offense, so good last season, has scored just 16 goals, one fewer than DC. Their defense has given up 25 goals, which is not great but not terrible either. Besides Luna, maybe their most impressive player has been Rafael Cabral, their 34-year-old Brazilian goalkeeper. He's 8th in the league in shotstopping.

They got a surprising road win against San Diego at the end of April, but since then they've been winless in 7 games: 4 losses, 3 draws. Most recently, they have the distinction of having been the first team to lose to the LA Galaxy.

That humiliation might mean they are extra-motivated for this game, and they are coming off a bye, so they'll be rested. However, they will be missing their only good attacking player since Diego Luna is with the US Men’s National Team at the Gold Cup.

What I’m Looking For

If DC was healthier, this would be a great chance for a road win, but RSL is catching DC at a great time. With both teams missing their good attackers, it seems like 0-0 could be in the cards (unless Lesesne rolls out another two-centerback lineup, in which case RSL’s struggling attackers will finally get a big lift).

On paper a road point is a good outcome in MLS, but when you’re as far out of the playoff spots as DC United is, they really need some wins. Despite the difficulty of the long road trip, this is one of the easiest opponents left on the schedule (and the other bottom-feeder games, against LA Galaxy and CF Montréal, are also on the road). A real push for the playoffs, and potentially saving Lesesne’s job, needs to start with a win here.

It seemed like Gabriel Pirani might have turned a corner against FC Cincinnati. Last season he was impact sub at times. Against Cincinnati, he was an impact starter. His next challenge: can he be effective when he’s DC’s best attacker on the field? That’s asking a lot and I’m not optimistic, but if Badji can start that might help a tiny bit.