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D.C. United has played five preseason games so far and guess what, D.C. United has won five preseason games.
Of course these wins have generally come against rec-league players, college kids, and pets. But a win is a win right?
The cake-walk is over though. United plays against Chivas USA on Friday, and then they'll travel back to the east coast to defender their title in the Carolina Challenge Cup, including matches against two more MLS opponents.
So I figure now is the perfect time to take a quick step back and look at how each United player has done so far in the preseason. I compiled the statistics for each player from each game, and you might be surprised by some of the results. For example, here's the correct answers to my questions on Twitter this morning:
1. As guessed by bartlett84 , rookie Chris Korb is tied for the team lead in minutes played so far.
2. As guessed by brendanukkah , Daniel Woolard has the highest plus-minus total so far this preseason.
3. And as guessed again by brendanukkah , Colombian trialist Sergio Villarreal leads the team in points per game (Goals + Assists) / (Minutes/90).
| Player | Minutes | Goals | Assists | +/- | PPG |
| Barklage | 210 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 1.71 |
| Boskovic | 240 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 1.5 |
| Brasesco | 210 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| Brettschneider | 130 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 2.08 |
| Burch | 180 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Cronin | 90 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Davies | 209 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 2.15 |
| Fred | 45 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Harrison | 120 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Jakovic | 90 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| James | 120 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Junior | 60 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| King | 154 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1.17 |
| Kitchen | 180 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Korb | 240 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| McCarty | 90 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| McTavish | 60 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Men | 53 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1.7 |
| Morsink | 196 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 0.92 |
| Najar | 195 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.46 |
| Ngwenya | 180 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
| Onstad | 90 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pontius | 181 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 1.49 |
| Quaranta | 180 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Shanosky | 195 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| Simms | 135 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Villarreal | 16 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5.63 |
| White | 90 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Willis | 120 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Wolff | 180 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Woolard | 210 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| Zayner | 180 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
While compiling these statistics, a few things jumped out at me:
1. Perry Kitchen and Dejan Jakovic have partnered together in central defense each of the last two matches. Those look to be our starters at the moment.
2. Don’t assume that Marc Burch is our automatic starter at left back. Woolard seems to be in direct competition for that job. Let the best man win, I say.
3. Those of us who thought our starting back line would feature Rodrigo Brasesco on the right and Jed Zayner on the left were clearly mistaken. Brasesco has only played in the middle and Zayner has only played on the right.
4. Boskovic has played sometimes at left midfield and sometimes in the center. Looks like Coach Olsen hasn’t decided yet where he wants his Montenegran to line up.
5. Joseph Ngwenya has been very inconsistent. He hasn’t scored a goal yet against anyone over the age of 19. Meanwhile, Chris Pontius is tied with Boskovic and Brandon Barklage for the team lead in assists with three. He looks to be the favorite to start next to Charlie Davies at forward.
6. Dax McCarty has missed the past two preseason matches with a minor ankle injury, but why hasn’t Devon McTavish played since Game 2 vs. FIU?