Preview: DC United at San Jose Earthquakes
Is the third time the charm as DC tries to snap its winless skid?
Before getting into this week’s game, I want to note that I ran through the data on MLS team age, playing style, and building from the back this week. You can take a look at the post for full charts and details, but I wanted to call out a couple DC-specific takeaways here.
So far in 2025 DC’s minutes-adjusted age is a year and a half younger than it was across all of last season. So far I think if anything that’s been a negative as a lot of the young players have made mistakes, but it may be a reason to think the team won’t have the horrible mid-season slump they had last year.
Meanwhile DC has been playing much less direct and playing more out of the back. They still send goal kicks long more than all but two MLS teams, but most teams are kicking short more frequently this year for some reason. I don’t think the goal kicks themselves have been an issue, but you wonder if it’s wasting Benteke to kick short? Also, there have been some bad turnovers under pressure near DC’s box from players like Boris Enow and Gabriel Pirani, turnovers that might not have happened if the coaches weren’t emphasizing this more possession-oriented style.
Still, I prefer that DC try to use the ball and not just play energy drink chaosball, so I appreciate the effort. Maybe they could get a few more points by playing in a more boring way, but I’d rather the front office improve the roster until it becomes an asset and not a liability to the style of play.
Projected Lineup
Unlike most fans, Troy professed himself happy with the team’s overall performance in the Columbus game (the argument is that DC got more xG than a good Columbus team and was let down by finishing and—depending on your perspective—either a Kim mistake or an unlucky deflection).
The latest injury news is that Aaron Herrera sounds like he trained and will be ready to start despite his early, precautionary substitution against Columbus. Randall Leal was “almost” fully training as well. I’m just going to guess Lesesne will roll out the same lineup as last week and the same bench except with Leal back on it:
Backup Goalkeeper: Luis Barraza
Attacking Subs: Jacob Murrell, Dominique Badji, Fidel Barajas, Randall Leal
Defensive Subs: Boris Enow, Brandon Servania, Derek Dodson, Lukas MacNaughton
Not Selected: Rida Zouhir, Garrison Tubbs, Gavin Turner
If Leal really makes the bench and no one else turns out to be injured, we’ll learn more about how Lesesne values players at the end of his bench. Having been with the team since training camp, Rida Zouhir has gotten a few more minutes than Fidel Barajas, but I’m going to guess Barajas wins out.
The Opposition: San Jose Earthquakes
Here’s the preview card from my week 7 previews post:
The big story about San Jose is that they “won” the Wooden Spoon last year and initiated a massive overhaul. To serve as both coach and GM, they brought in legendary coach Bruce Arena in the offseason, the league apparently having forgiven Arena for what seems to have been the literally unspeakable crime that got him fired from New England (as in, it’s been ages and still no one has spoken about it).
Most MLS teams doing big overhauls recently have relied heavily on buying foreign players, with varied results. Chicago seems to have executed this pretty well, New England seems like it might have struck out, and, uh, DC United isn’t doing so hot either. Arena at San Jose has mostly gone with the mid-2010s Dave Kasper formula: bring in MLS veterans, motivate them, and get as many points as you can before the wheels fall off.
Over a decade ago Kasper was able to produce some very good seasons using that strategy, albeit always followed by a bad season as the form of the older players tailed off. I have been assuming that the league has changed such that this no longer works. It certainly stopped working for Kasper! But Bruce Arena is a better coach than Ben Olsen and a better general manager than Dave Kasper, so if anyone can make it work, it’s him.
After the first two games of 2025, it looked like he really was making it work. Chicho Arango and Josef Martínez were scoring goals and holdovers Cristian Espinoza and Ousseni Bouda seemed reinvigorated. But those first two games were against Real Salt Lake and Sporting Kansas City. Playing better teams has resulted in much worse outcomes. DC fans can relate! San Jose also lost one of their DPs, Hernán López, to a shoulder injury after week 2 and he’s still a month or two away from returning.
Unfortunately, the DC 2025 opponent San Jose’s overall profile resembles most is Orlando City since they have a strong attack and a weak defense. But San Jose has only two healthy DPs, not three, their offense isn’t quite as good as Orlando’s, and their defense is a fair amount worse (though San Jose goalkeeper Daniel is quite good). I guess most importantly, while I haven’t seen San Jose play outside of highlights, I don’t think their older attackers can play the fast counterattack style that Orlando used against DC to such devastating effect.
Longtime DC United fans might enjoy seeing Ian Harkes, a likely starter in San Jose’s midfield who played two thousand minutes for DC back in 2017. If you’re like me, though, you might not enjoy finding out he just turned 30. Yikes. It’s disconcerting to see children of DC United players who are veterans exiting their prime (Ariel Lassiter of the Portland Timbers is also 30).
What I’ll Be Watching For
This is a rematch of the very first MLS match back in 1996, so a bunch of players from DC history like John Harkes and Marco Etcheverry are going to be on hand. I kind of doubt that means much to the current roster, most of whom weren’t alive when that game was played, but Lesesne is trying to make them care and good for him.
But if team morale is anything like fan morale after these last few matches, it’s a tough time to fly across the country. Lesesne seems pretty good about keeping players bought in, but I’ll be watching to see if they can play with the intensity he wants from the outset.
Past that, we’ll see how the defense holds up to San Jose’s attack, but like many fans I’ll be especially focused on the midfield when DC is in possession. Lesesne has been tinkering in there in the last two games, moving Pirani further back to help support the build-out, but I haven’t written about it since the team hasn’t managed to get a result.
San Jose will see this as a very winnable game to help get their season back on track, but for DC United, this is probably the easiest opponent until they play Toronto again on May 10th. I’ll see you back here if they manage to get at least a point!