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Even if D.C. United had won both of these games, there would not be much meaning that we could gather from them. So the fact that they lost both of their Indonesian friendlies, against Persib Bandung and Arema FC, should similarly have little meaning. Travel time, humidity, and lack of practice time together are all the reasons that these games should be taken with a grain of salt.
It wasn't until the second half of the second game that United finally started to show its skill. The team started to press with more energy and speed, quickness of thought increased, and D.C. United actually looked like the team that should be dictating the flow of play in these games.
Is there anything that we can learn from these friendlies? I continue to be excited about Michael Seaton, and these games continued to confirm that. Seaton looked big, strong, and fast while scoring a goal in the first match against Persib Bandung. His header took a deflection off of the back of a Persib player, but he made a good run and rose over everyone to put the header on frame.
The other thing that these games continued to indicate to me is that Ben Olsen needs a new assistant coach going into next season, preferably one with a lot of experience and who has been a head coach at some level previously. There are a lot of young players on this team, with most of them playing in Indonesia, and an experienced voice would be a useful addition. With the departure of Josh Wolff, an assistant in that mold should be the team's priority; they have apparently been interviewing candidates, so it shouldn't be long before we hear the team's choice.
UPDATE: According to the team, D.C. United's game against Persib Bandung got a 5.0 Nielsen rating and an 18.8 share, which estimates to approximately 40 million viewers.
