In their first midweek game of this MLS season, D.C. United welcomes Seattle Sounders FC to RFK Stadium. It is also the team's last game before the Copa America Centenario break, in which United will stop play until Wednesday, June 16, when they are back in action taking on the winner of Richmond Kickers-Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the US Open Cup. A win at home against a depleted Sounders would give United some momentum going into the break, and some much needed points to help keep pace in the messy Eastern Conference.
This game's lineup is pretty easy to figure out, as it is likely to be the exact same group who started the game for United against Sporting Kansas City. With Chris Rolfe and Patrick Nyarko likely to still be out with concussions, Lamar Neagle and Nick DeLeon will start in their places. I would prefer to see Miguel Aguilar get the spot on the wing and keep DeLeon central, but moving DeLeon wide does allow for Marcelo Sarvas to play a little closer to his natural position with Jared Jeffrey playing deeper.
Fabian Espindola will start up top again, with Luciano Acosta playing just underneath him. The star of the show last week, Alhaji Kamara, is obviously not fit enough to play 90 minutes, but I hope to see his appearance go from 5 minutes in the last game to 10 minutes in this game.
The back line will also remain the same, with Sean Franklin, Kofi Opare, Bobby Boswell, and Taylor Kemp, all in front of Bill Hamid (Isn't it wonderful to have Bill back?). With these starters, the substitutes will be Travis Worra, Jalen Robinson, Luke Mishu, Miguel Aguilar, Julian Buescher, Alhaji Kamara, and Rob Vincent.
What do you want to see Ben Olsen do on Wednesday?