DC United Works Together for 2-1 Win

DC United 2-1 Columbus Crew

WASHINGTON, DC–DC United coach Rene Weiler described why his team continues to contend for a playoff spot, “We played a good game, and all the players came in. They had an impact today, and that is what they have to do, they have to help when we have tight games like today. And I’m happy with all the players that came in, and at the end they helped to win that game at the end.” It’s the contributions of everybody.

United has not brought in an impact player as such in the transfer window. However, the newest addition, Kimito Nono, has added a vital element of danger to their attack. Acquired as a defensive back, he has been moved to a wide midfield role with great effect. Among several talents, his specialty is the penetrating pass.

Weiler indicated, “Nono is a good player, so he proved it in all the games he played so far for us. He has a good feel how to play the ball, how to run. He’s calm. He played two, three times the right pass, not too strong to the right player.”

Tai Baribo, the scorer of both DC goals, complemented Nono on his rapid adjustment to the team in MLS play, “It took me time to adapt to the league, and it takes time to adapt to the league. But he’s doing this really fast.”

Both Nono and Baribo have begun to interact with Louis Munteanu effectively as well. Weiler explained that, despite not scoring, “Munteanu is always active. He was angry because I took him out of the 70 minutes, so that is another signal that he always wants to play and to win games, very ambitious, and yeah, another good player in our squad and an important one.”

The effectiveness of the trio’s interplay is illustrated by Baribo’s comment on his role and how their insights set him up for success, “If you will see the two goals, you will see that when I recognize that the good first goal, let the ball go to Louis, I immediately sprint in front of the defender, and also the second goal. I came from the back and sprint in front of the defender. I recognize the area that it was alone. So again, I’m trying to put myself always in the best position to score. But again, Louis gave me an amazing pass. Kimi gave me an amazing pass. It’s, you know, maybe I’m finishing, but everybody does their job.”

He also expressed appreciation for his fellow attackers’ defensive efforts, “Today Joao (Peglow) and Louis did a lot of defense work, you know, and because of that we created chances. So, it’s not only about the assist, about the goal, about shooting to the goal. It’s about everybody was committed to the team, everybody was fighting, and because of this we won.”

Kye Rowles provided some insight on how the team adjusted from a 4-3-3 formation to 4-4-2, “They were switching the play pretty easy in the first half, albeit still in the middle of the field, so we were able to recover. But once we shifted into the you know that 4-4-2, it felt like we had a bit better balance in those wider areas.”

That approach paid off in the second half when, “They started to creep further and further into our back third, and I think we just worked on pushing up a little bit more, and you know keeping them further away from our box, the less danger there was.”

Rowles credited his keeper for his major contribution, “Sean made some big saves, and we made some big blocks. All, everyone, out there tonight, and yeah, it was good fighting spirit.”

United takes on Atlanta on Saturday with a good feeling about their team play and their ability to prosper despite other teams’ bringing in high profile impact players such as Atlanta’s Camerounian forward, Breel Embolo. Rowles is impressed, but loves the challenge, “A lot of teams are stacked up top, and they have those superstars. So, I’m excited. – – – It’s a new challenge, and it’s always good to come up against players that you haven’t played against before.”

Rowles seems to express the feelings of a team united in its determination to succeed together, “You know we’ve been tough team to beat this year, but at the same time we haven’t won as many games as I think we probably should have, and tonight goes a long way to instilling that belief in the side that you know the hard work does pay off, and it feels really good to you know get that reward at the end of a really tough game, and when you put so much into it.”

The defense has held well with the exception of the two 3-goal losses a few weeks ago but the attackers still lag. Will they break out Saturday?