WASHINGTON – D.C. United are unsure of what type of opponent they'll face in Tuesday night’s US Open Cup play-in clash with the New England Revolution. Scouting for such games is always tricky.
Different coaches prepare for play-in matches in different ways, so it’s hard to know whether the Revolution will send out a team of reserves or starters — or a mixture of the two.
“It’s a little different [than regular season games] in the sense that you can’t prepare too much,” head coach Ben Olsen said. “You can’t really cut up film because it’s a guessing game.”
With that in mind, Olsen can focus only on his team and making sure it is ready to perform in Tuesday night’s game. After Monday’s training session, he seemed confident in achieving that after players had a couple of days off on the weekend.
“You make sure you prepare your own team to be at their best, and that’s what we’ve done,” he said. “We worked on it a little bit [Monday] and we’ll be ready to go.”
Midfielder Stephen King (pictured above), who will hope to start for the second straight play-in game, shared those sentiments.
“We don’t really know what to expect from New England,” he said. “We don’t know who they’re going to play, who they’re going to reset, that sort of thing. You have to focus just on yourself and making sure you’re ready.”
The kind of lineup Olsen fields Tuesday is likely to be similar to what DC sent out against Philadelphia in their first play-in game back on April 6, using a combination of starters and regulars. Pat Onstad is expected to start in goal for DC, giving current starter Bill Hamid the night off.
Andy Najar, who has sat out the last two games, is another looking for playing time, as are forwards Joseph Ngwenya and Blake Brettschneider. Defenders like Rodrigo Brasesco and Daniel Woolard, who haven’t seen much of the field in league play, could also be called into action.
“It’s going to be a tough game," King said. "[New England] had a game this weekend, so maybe they’ll be a little more heavy-legged than we are, but we’re not going to be naïve and think it’s going to be an easy game."
