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On paper the home game against DC United looks to be a good prospect to bag all three points. While the Sounders have been one of the surprises of the season in that they’ve had trouble finding any kind of consistency in their game, and as a result dropped some precious points along the way, DC United seems to be out-doing us quite nicely when it comes to dropping points.
However, I doubt if Sigi is taking this game any less seriously than say the Galaxy or Revolution game. We all realize that this is a real chance for the Sounders to build on the momentum from last week’s win and try to get a mini-streak going and hopefully cap this two-game home stand on a high note. However, DC United are also looking for their own mini-streak after coming off a tie with Real Salt Lake.
It’s nice that DC United did us a favor of sorts and took points off Real Salt Lake, but this should also serve as a reminder of what can happen on any given days – and just what DC United is capable of doing, especially if we don’t take the game hard to them and open it up with some scoring early on. While getting the crowd also going has never been an issue, this will certainly help make United’s task all the more insurmountable. Much like the game against the Revolution, early goals are going to be crucial for us as we’ll need to set the tone and hopefully make it clear that we intend to slam the door shut and there’s not going to be any question about the outcome.
Therefore, the players will have to come off the blocks with a sense of mission – showing focus and determination similar to what we saw last Saturday.
Playing Freddie Ljungberg on the flank has been a brilliant stroke on Sigi’s part. It has eased the opponent’s abilty to double team and mark him as was the case earlier in the season when Freddie’s runs from the middle of the pitch seemed to broken up before they could start. This inevitably ended up in broken plays, misplaced passes or loss of possession. With Ljungberg and Zakuani on the flanks, it’ll also help the attack be more effective at stretching DC’s defenders and give us more width.
DC United have yet to earn any points on the road. Let’s keep it that way.
Mark Fields
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