D.C. United are traveling to Colorado this weekend to take on the Rapids, and this even though it is a road game this could be a great chance to get a win: a similarly bad team that just fired its coach and hasn’t made the same kind of midseason moves that United has. For a team that hasn’t won in two months, it could be a good time to break their slide.
The main question is how many of the new players will start in this game. Paul Arriola is a lock and Zoltan Stieber isn’t quite eligible yet, but what about Russell Canouse and Bruno Miranda?
I think that Canouse gets the start, replacing Marcelo Sarvas next to Jared Jeffrey. Ian Harkes has been training, but is listed as out for this game; he should hopefully be an option for next week. They will both start behind Luciano Acosta, who looked very good against Real Salt Lake.
Miranda will start the game on the bench, again behind Nick DeLeon; however, if the offense continues to sputter, he will get subbed on even earlier than last week in an attempt to shake loose some goals. Patrick Mullins will start up top, given the concussion that Deshorn Brown has suffered.
The back line will remain the same as against RSL with Taylor Kemp still sidelined with a hip injury: Sean Franklin and Chris Odoi-Atsem as the fullbacks, and Steve Birnbaum and Kofi Opare in the middle. The fact that Odoi-Atsem has pulled ahead of Chris Korb is a good sign for his development and his potential.
What do you want to see Ben Olsen do tomorrow?