DC United Remains Undefeated in Weiler’s First Four

New DC United Coach Rene Weiler has led the team to a mini renaissance with three ties and two wins including upsetting the strong Club America in a friendly. The ties against Miami and Orlando featured strong opponents. A major element in all was solid defense.

Let’s take a brief look at that. United has had a reasonably competent group on defense which was bolstered when Lukas MacNaughton returned from a May 3^rd injury as Weiler took over. His presence against Orlando City was highlighted by his clear control of DC’s defensive movements. However, when he left due to earning a red card for a too high use of his foot, the team adjusted well to a new conductor.

Initially, Weiler moved the versatile Matti Peltola briefly to cover MacNaughton’s spot and quickly inserted Kye Rowles replacing Gabriel Pirani. The sacrifice of an attacking midfielder sufficiently bolstered the defense to hold a hard charging City attack without a deciding goal. Christian Benteke also occasionally drifted back into midfield to provide support, rendering a 4-4-1 into a 4-5 formation

Rowles’ insertion maintained a controlled defense as he is an experienced defender who has captained the team in the past. The sacrifice of Pirani rather than possibly less attacking players might be explained by a desire to maintain his freshness as he continues his return from injury. His contributions to scoring have been important and it might be wise to keep him healthy as the team develops consistency under new leadership looking to next year.

In contrast, Weiler has played Jackson Hopkins heavily since his return. The homegrown player has scored three goals in the last four games and added some defensive help as well. Along with Peltola, he plays end-to-end with emphasis on attack while Peltola focuses more on a defensive midfielder role. Both are young and could provide a solid base at the team’s core.

In the absence of Guatemalan Defender Aaron Herrera due to yellow card accumulation, Conor Antley filled in ably on the right side of defense, looking much like his predecessor with a beautiful juke to give himself room to feed Hopkins for the game’s first goal.

As impressive as this was, his age of 30 highlights a weakness in United’s defense as a few are that age or older or approaching it. Long range planning might cause Weiler to look for an impactful young defender over the winter.

The rest of the roster contains a good balance of ages, especially in midfield which could average as low as 22.5 years and as high as 25.75. The attack will require a younger impact player to work with the aging, but still very effective, Christian Benteke next season with an eye to adding a replacement for the designated player and leader in the future.

The team goes to Miami this weekend to face a team which has had problems recently but remains potent. They return to play the highly placed Philadelphia Union at Audi Filed on the 27^th. These tests will provide further insight into where DC United will need to improve.