DC United Leaves Questions Unanswered in 2-2 Tie

The season opener for DC united was a disappointment from two perspectives, the fact that it was a home loss and that Toronto was not expected to give a strong performance. On the night, both teams showed the expected first game inconsistencies. Coach Troy Lesesne accepted the final score of 2-2 a bit ruefully, “Yeah, in the end, I think it’s a fair result.”

In the first half, Toronto played a deep front restraint line which allowed United to play comfortably from the back. Asked if that tactic was adopted by Toronto hoping for errors early in the season, Lesesne averred, “Yeah, probably. I can’t speak for Toronto, but from our standpoint, you know we wanted to pick the right moment to go.”

This caused United to wait for the right moment to attack, thereby slowing the game’s flow. The coach agreed, “It’s probably a combination of being early in the year and feeling some things out, but also the tactics of the game.”

Lesesne has a young roster and featured several prominently on the night, “All these guys are going to continue to grow in our identity and have more and more of an impact – – -They know that tonight we left some points out there and we have to address that, and if we don’t, then we’re not going to be in the position that we want to as the season progresses, and real quick.”

It is not normal for starting goalkeepers to be so young, but the coach was happy with Joon Hong Kim’s performance on the night, “He’s a young goalkeeper but I thought he settled into the game extremely well and he made some very, very good saves and you know, we’re excited to continue to see him grow.”

Although young Hosei Kijima was all over the place from his right midfielder position, he was effective as well as very active. Lesesne commented, “When you look at the physical data, he’s always at the top and he covers so much ground. He does so much dirty work for the team and is a really smart player. It’s a good first start for him, with DC United and we expect more of him throughout the rest of the season.”

From Kijima’s perspective, the youngster emphasized that he has played every position including goalie where he stated that he started in his early days. He moved from his wide midfield position to defensive midfielder when the quick Brandon Servania was substituted in the 80^th Minute.

He was quick to point out that he is happy to play wherever his energy could be employed, a characteristic which he demonstrated with his comprehensive play.

Kijima was not the only young player to have an impact as the second goal was the direct result of Jacob Murrell’s fine cross from the right wing to Christian Benteke. It is ironic that the pass came from a run down the right wing where one would expect Kijima to be found. The Korean’s movement was one way to confuse opponents.

To put a final note from the captain’s perspective, Benteke had this counsel, “I think we have to learn about these moments, those important moments during the game where we can control the game. I feel like we rush, and we have to learn to be comfortable.”

If the younger players can find the balance between aggressive play and wise choosing of times and ways to attack, they may provide DC United with a chance to make the playoffs.

On Saturday, United plays at Chicago where they will face a similarly rebuilding Fire.