I considered making the hour drive to RFK on Sunday morning to see the DC Reserves in action, but decided to play an impromptu game of tennis for the first time in 8 years against by brother-in-law. The good news: I still got it. The bad news: The Reserves lost.

But just in reading the summary of the match, there are several juicy tidbits that could have an impact on the first team:

1. Rod Dyachenko didn't even start. In a Reserve match that already had the team short-handed due to injuries, you would expect the team's supposed #2 CAM to be in the starting lineup, right? Nope, he entered in the 70th minute. Starting in his place was a guest player named Kenny Anaba. To Rod's credit, he did earn the team's second goal. But unless he has some injury that's yet to be disclosed publicly, this is a REAL BAD sign for Rod. He may have played his last match in a United uniform.

2. Two players returned from injuries in this match. Dan Stratford played about 30 minutes. And then there was the shocking appearance of Jeff Carroll for 15 minutes! It's possible that United will have a lot of players getting healthy for the stretch run into the playoffs.


3. If the lineup was posted correctly in the team's write-up of the match, then Gonzalo Martinez started this game as the central defensive midfielder. Very interesting.

4. The center back combination of Dane Murphy and Brandon Owens doesn't appear to be very effective.