Final Score: DCU 3 – 1 NE
Quick Hits:
- The Good: It is hard to not start with Christian Benteke who registered a hat-trick tonight and was thoroughly dominant all night. He won balls in the air and showed finishing chops in the box. In 2024, as he goes this year so will DC. The right side of the field saw Jared Stroud and Aaron Herrera press and occupy space as well as providing some good service. Stroud especially impressed with his high work rate and tendency to slow some things down when needed. Herrera looks like a clear upgrade at RWB. From the first whistle, DC United dominated and generated an astounding 5.01 xG. Yes, they were a man up, but they consistently found pockets of space and got good chances. Now, about that finishing.
- The Not-So-Good: 3 goals on 5.01 xG is not a bad ratio. There is a lot that stat can’t account for. However, DC United were extra levels of wasteful tonight in the final third. Hat-trick hero Benteke had one moment, but Stroud, Ted, Pirani, and even Feltecher all had moments where you would expect a finish. For now, we will pass if off to early season rustiness. On that offensive front, it should be mentioned that Priani and Ted Ku-Dipietro were not sharp. They had a few moments, but generally either had a missed pass, a weak shot. Priani is under the microscope right now, but I expected a bit better from Ted. Santos does get an assist on the first Benteke goal, but he proved to be very precarious in transition. Twice a missed pass lead directly to a decent opportunity for New England coming the other direction. He was very fortunate not to have a penalty on the second opportunity. Whether it is Jeahze (who is a suspicious absence tonight) or Antley the left side could be a weak point for this team.
- The Turning Point: It is easy to point out the red card on Vrioni. However I think Benteke’s second goal was important for several reasons. As wasteful as DC United was, the feeling was evident. DC United were up by 1, but we have become all too used to this team not capitalizing and teams with better talent show why that makes a difference. Here it all seemed to come to fruition as Gil powered home an excellent goal to level the game. However, Benteke’s goal off of Antley’s header nearly immediately after was crucial to wrestle the game back under control.
- Player Spotlight: I have talked about Benteke at length here, and he was truly excellent. The stat sheet tonight will do the talking for him. I want to highlight Jared Stroud. He came in as a guy who was expected to get minutes right now, but unsure whether he would be here long term. His work rate tonight was excellent and he tracked back defensively to allow DC United to continue to press. He won over a lot of fans tonight with his work rate.
- Looking Ahead: Next DC United travel out west to Portland next weekend. They won’t be back in Audi Field until March 16th against you know who. This year is very much about the journey and not the destination, and it is a small sample size right now. I have no doubt there could be some rough times ahead for DC United. They look susceptible on the counter, especially if Santos is out there and Antley becomes the starter instead of Jeahze. Also this team has to hope for another injury free year from Benteke has he was the only player who effectively finished tonight. That being said, this team looks fun to start out. Their pressing produced chances and opportunities. There seems to be complete buy in from all players. They weren’t Losada smash and grab but the mid-press with Klich and Peltola looks excellent and seems like they can turn those defensive wins into attacking chances quickly. Peltola also had a great start to his DC United career. I was extremely pleased to see how comfortable he looked out there. Nearly everything I saw in November for HJK was on display tonight. Safe to say that he is the favorite to be the starter once Canouse comes back from injury. The center backs as well should not go without a mention. Most importantly, they dominated the air on all long balls over the top and stepped up to press the game high up the field. They were crucial to keeping the field short allowing DC United to continue to press. Early days, but right now it looked like a clear upgrade from Birnbaum.
Final Thoughts:
It is strange as bad as DC United has been in 5 years, they seem to always find ways to win their openers. They haven’t lost or drawn an opener since 2020. This one has felt different however. This team didn’t play poorly, but somehow squeeze out a win. They didn’t scramble to come back like last year or rely on a wonder goal from a center back. They played an effective style, and executed a game plan to generate the chances to win. They got a fortuitous sending off from their opponent, but they still kept the pressure up and we have seen several times when DC United were unable to break down a bunkering team. They could have put this away in the first half. They still made it hard on themselves, but it is a good first step to see this team look effective executing a game plan instead of relying on heroics.