WASHINGTON — Most head coaches don’t begin interviews while drenched in sweat and gasping for air with hands on knees, but that was Ben Olsen’s state as he spoke to a member of the media after D.C. United’s Wednesday morning practice.
The former United midfielder had every reason to be winded. He took an active part in much of his team’s training session before joining the rest of the technical staff for their weekly small-sided game after practice.
Hearing him tell it, though, it wasn't the training that took its toll.
“I’ve been using my brain,” Olsen said as a form of apology for being out of breath. “I can either use my body or my brain and unfortunately, I’ve been trying to use my brain a little bit.”
There’s no comeback on the horizon – for the second week running, Olsen just didn’t have enough fully healthy bodies to work with, prompting him and assistant coach Chad Ashton to wade in and roll back the years as best they could.
“We have 13 [field] players to train with today,” Olsen explained.
Important starters like Dejan Jakovic, Andy Najar and Pablo Hernandez were held out of team drills as they nurse minor strains and knocks. The list of long-term absentees, meanwhile, remains lengthy as Bill Hamid underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in Alabama on Wednesday and Chris Pontius prepared to travel to California for a hamstring operation on Friday.
“I guess in this situation you have to be a little bit more cautious with guys like Andy and Dejan who’ve had a little something, and Pablo’s got a bruise on his foot,” Olsen said. “So we’re just making sure we’re smart about getting our numbers up for the weekend.”
United tweaked their numbers on Wednesday, finally signing long-term trialist Junior Carreiro and sending Carey Talley to New York for a future draft pick. Barring unforeseen difficulties with paperwork, Carreiro and Spaniard Carlos Varela should be available to face the Galaxy on Saturday.
