With just a few days to rest, DC United will come back out to the pitch to face off against Eastern Conference foe Toronto FC. United is coming off a solid 2-0 win over the Colorado Rapids on Wednesday night in league play, while the winless Toronto FC drew Vancouver 1-1 which included an amazing golazo from Eric Hassli in extra time to deny the Reds a victory in the Canadian Championship Tournament.
Okay, so let’s face it. Toronto FC is desperate. They’ve played eight matches so far this season and have lost all eight of them. Players are down, coaches are down, and the entire organization must be feeling the heat. So it would be easy to say this is a sure-fire win right? Even all the MLS writers picked United to beat the last place club in the Eastern Conference. But I’m not so quick to agree. Let’s remember this is MLS, where any club can win no matter what happens.
Eventually Toronto will break out and get a win. But in order for that to not happen against United, what needs to happen? The biggest factor for Toronto is Ryan Johnson, who was a dangerous player earlier this season against DC. The defense has to keep tabs on him and Joao Plata to keep the shutout. Most teams have had success with this, since Toronto has only scored six league goals this season. Robbie Russell could be out of this match after picking up an injury during the Colorado match (yes another defensive injury), but if Russell sits out, Andy Najar has shown well at the outside back position, and our depth at midfield is pretty good at the moment.
Hopefully we’ll see some more Boskovic and Salihi action. Boskovic did great against Colorado and should be rewarded for that effort with another start. Salihi now has three goals which have all come recently. The Albanian striker is hopefully past the adjustment phase and can now move on to goal-scoring greatness. De Rosario should start back up at forward again to keep Toronto on their toes. It’s easy to mark one man, but it could be hard to mark multiple threats, which is what United has. Oh, and Toronto is a former club of De Rosario, and we all are well aware of what he does to former clubs.
I encourage anyone and everyone who can make it to this match to come watch. United are heavily favored to win, and hopefully that result holds. Another three points at home is extremely important and taking advantages of opportunities such as this is imperative for playoff clubs. I’m hoping for another solid 2-0 or 3-0 win here and I would be willing to bet one of the goals will be from the feet of De Rosario.
(image courtesy of dcunited.com)
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