D.C. United Tie Chicago Fire In Brian McBride's Final Home Game
by Martin Shatzer on Oct 16, 2025 8:06 PM EDT
in Match Reviews
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This match was billed as two teams in similar situations. DC United and the Chicago Fire are perennial playoff teams. They're two of the most successful clubs in the Eastern Conference. And much more was expected of them this year than their current locations in the standings.
Both teams entered this match without hope of a playoff bid. All that's left to play is their respective retiring superstars: Jaime Moreno and Brian McBride.
Moreno was absent today due to a controversial red card he received last week, and McBride was kept off the scoreboard thanks to solid defensive work by United.
In fact, it was the defense that stood out for both teams. The back four on each side looked like they belonged in MLS, which is more than we can say for the front six. In the end, a 0-0 draw was probably a fair result, as United extended its record number of scoreless matches to 17.
The entire defensive unit deserves some credit for shutting out the talented collection of attacking players on the Fire roster, but the standouts in my opinion were Jed Zayner and Troy Perkins. It didn't matter who he was facing - Freddie Ljungberg, Patrick Nyarko - the result was always the same for Zayner. This was quite definitely his best match in a United uniform. Perkins made a few critical saves, including denying McBride the ultimate send off.
Dejan Jakovic, Julius James, and Devon McTavish also did well to stop McBride, Marco Pappa, and the rest of the Fire attackers. It wasn't always pretty, as they gave up more chances than they should, but someone (usually Jakovic) was always there to clean things up. Even Clyde Simms in his limited minutes in relief of James in central defense made some important stops, including one late save on Calen Carr.
Unfortunately for D.C., the Chicago defense played just as well as ours did. This meant that our top scorers Andy Najar and Danny Allsopp were kept off the board. Najar seemed like he was trying to do too much. He took two or three long shots with little chance of success, as if he was just trying to add some spectacular highlight to his Rookie of the Year campaign. Of course I'll take it all back if just one of those attempts goes in. Allsopp's high work rate was evident in this match, holding possession, starting the break, drawing fouls.
Santino Quaranta just wasn't connecting with his teammates today. He was usually more likely to turn the ball over than create an opportunity on get a shot on target. His job remains safe though, which is more than I can say for Pablo Hernandez, who seems to be playing himself ff this team more and more every week. Hernandez was a nonfactor in this match.
***
Good news. Just one match left. United will be sitting home watching the playoffs, along with seven other MLS teams. No better, no worse at that point.
But first, we have a major event next Saturday. An event every D.C. United fan should do their best to attend. The team has some big things in mind for Jaime Moreno's last match in D.C. Hopefully a win will be part of it.
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Pretty much in agreement
Zayner is reminding me more and more of Bryan Namoff. He’s not quite as good as Namoff, but he has virtually all of the same qualities. Both players a) are tough as nails, b) are utterly fearless and willing to put their body on the line, c) are always amongst the most determined players in any game, d) take real pride in winning their battle defensively and e) show real hops for guys that are only 5’10". It was a real shame to see Zayner sprain his ankle at the end (a pain I know all too well), because he’s exactly the kind of player we need defensively. Peter Nowak’s favorite quality in players, both back when he was our coach and nowadays, is “mentality,” and Zayner has it in spades. In my book, Zayner’s a starter next season. Our younger defenders, like Jordan Graye and Rodney Wallace, should spend a lot of time trying to mimic Zayner’s approach.
Perkins was (and has been over the past couple road games) the guy we traded Fred and a 1st round pick for. If he can eliminate the stuff like his swing-and-miss against Houston (if you come for that, you bowl Ching over and get to the ball; Perkins didn’t come hard enough), he’ll live up to his salary and what it took to get him.
I think the 4 rating for our other defenders is fair, but I’m a little concerned with Jakovic. There were too many peaks and valleys in his game for my liking. He made some big plays, no doubt, but he also made our biggest mistakes. I’d really prefer our center backs to earn their good ratings by being quiet; against a sharper team, we pay for one or two of those errors, no matter how awesome Jakovic’s recovering ability is.
Najar had an off game in my book, and I agree that he was trying to do too much. It seemed to me like he was lacking in ideas in “normal” play, so his approach became all-or-nothing. When you’re as gifted as he is, you can try that approach sometimes, but it can’t become a habit. Of course, I don’t know if we did enough to give him options, either; King and Hernandez needed to get closer to him, and that didn’t happen.
Allsopp had a couple of really nice lay-offs (that cushioned header to Quaranta was arguably the best piece of skill Allsopp’s shown us all season), but as Thomas Rongen pointed out, he was not functioning as our striker. Too often, he was acting as our set-up man, and he’s just not cut out for that job. I applaud his desire to find a way to make a difference, but I’d really prefer that he stick to his role. We didn’t have much of a goal threat, and that’s his #1 task.
Quaranta’s got to finish the 1v1 chance that Allsopp set up. It’s an easy chance, too, because Dykstra went low too early. A little clipped shot would have gotten over him and gone in provided it had any power. Instead, Tino went for all power and blasted the ball into Dykstra’s legs. For all the years Quaranta has been close to Moreno, you’d think he would have learned a little subtlety just by osmosis.
by ChestRockwell on Oct 17, 2025 5:36 PM EDT reply actions
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