D.C. United traveled to Fort Myers, Fla. to take onthe Chicago Fire at Florida Gulf Coast University in front of a sellout crowdof 1,800. The match marked the first test of the year for Ben Olsen and hisplayers, who delivered a solid defensive performance and a clean sheet, asUnited tied 0-0 with the Fire.
“I was very pleased with the way the guys went about today,”said Head Coach Ben Olsen. “First and foremost, we’ve been preaching cleansheets and not giving up as many goals as we did last year. To get out of therewithout them [Chicago Fire] scoring is a big positive. Overall, it was a reallygood exercise today.”
D.C. United’s technical staff sent out a different team foreach half. In the first half, the Black-and-Red stepped onto the field withWillis, Russell, Jakovic, McDonald, Woolard, Najar, Kitchen, Richter, Boskovic,Brettschneider and Maicon Santos. De Rosario was kept on the bench as aprecautionary measure.
“DeRo took a little knock in his calf [during practice], soI was just being cautious with him,” said Olsen. “I would expect him to getsometime on Thursday against Malmo. I’m very cautious with everyone at thispoint, it’s not a time to push people.”
In the second half, United put its trialists to test as theteam faced the Fire with Willis, Korb, Svard [trialist], Dudar, Zayner[trialist], C’deBaca [trialist], Saragosa [trialist], Richter [trialist], King,Brettschneider and Jerome [trialist]. Supplemental Draft picks Rozeboom andRodriguez also saw minutes in the second half, as well as Conor Shanosky.
The United coaches had the chance to see their newestacquisitions in action. Maicon Santos was active in the offensive end, holdingup the ball and driving defenders out to create spaces for his teammates.Emiliano Dudar demonstrated his quality touch by setting up long balls for thewingers and taking a free kick at the top of the box, which forced Chicago’sgoalkeeper Alec Kann to make a diving save.
“Maicon [Santos] did great, he held the ball up very well forus,” continued Olsen. “It was great to get [Emiliano] Dudar some minutes. He’sbeen out of action for a little bit, but each day he gets more comfortablehere, more comfortable playing. We saw many good things out of him as well.”
D.C. United will resume training sessions on Monday ahead ofthe next preseason scrimmage against Swedish club Malmo FF on Thursday,February 2.
Scoring Summary
DC - none
CHI - none
Misconduct Summary:
DC -- Perry Kitchen (caution; Reckless Foul) 32
Lineups:
D.C. UNITED
First Half: Joe Willis; Robbie Russell (Chris Korb 30'), Brandon McDonald, Dejan Jakovic, Daniel Woolard; Andy Najar, Perry Kitchen, Ryan Richter [trialist], Branko Boskovic (Stephen King 30'); Blake Brettschneider, Maicon Santos (Stefan Jerome [trialist] 43')
Second Half: Joe Willis (Andrew Dykstra [trialist] 74'); Chris Korb (Charles Rodriguez [trialist] 64'), Sebastian Svard [trialist], Emiliano Dudar (Josey Portillo [guest player] 80'), Jed Zayner [trialist]; Seth C'deBaca [trialist], Marcelo Saragosa [trialist], Ryan Richter [trialist] (Conor Shanosky 64'), Stephen King; Blake Brettschneider (Lance Rozeboom [trialist] 71'), Stefan Jerome [trialist].
CHICAGO FIRE
Minutes 1 - 33: Woszczynski; Gargan, Anibaba, Gibbs, Segares; Pause, Pardo, Nyarko; Grazzini; Barouch, Oduro
Minutes 34 - 61: Tornaghi; Videira, Berry, Watson-Siriboe, Jumper; Paladini, Bone, Guerrero; Alex; Mkosana, Dube
Minutes 62 - 90: Kann; Okafor, Watson-Siriboe, Chavez, Pantazopoulos; Walls, Pineda, Pittaluga (Persad 78'); Restrepo; Frimpong, Gulley
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