Frustrated with his team’s performance following its third straight loss, D.C. United coach Ben Olsen said Saturday that the club needed to fix something. He went so far as to suggest looking within the league for a trade partner.
A solution to United’s scoring woes (two goals in six matches), however, could possibly come from within as forward Casey Townsend, on loan to the Richmond Kickers, scored twice in a 4-1 victory against Charleston on Saturday.
“Every person we send down there, there’s different reasons they’re going down, different timelines. Casey’s a guy we could choose to pull back for good, but in the meantime we think games are important for him,” Olsen said. “We haven’t scored a lot of goals, so we’re always looking for guys that are in form and he certainly looks to be progressing pretty good with that group. We know he can score goals. Nothing is off the table.”
Townsend was acquired by United this offseason for a draft pick in a trade with Chivas USA. The 23-year-old University of Maryland product was the fifth overall pick in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft and played in 17 matches last season, starting 10. He scored one goal and assisted two others while taking 17 shots.
“I think I’ve been playing well, working hard and doing what the coaches ask of me,” Townsend said. “Obviously there are people ahead of me on the depth chart, and it’s a business. That’s the way it goes. I just keep my head down, come in and do my job. Hopefully they notice that and I can get my chance.”
In training sessions, Townsend has looked crisp and scored Tuesday in a 6v6 short-field session. He said it’s been good for him to play the full 90 minutes in Richmond as opposed to 10 or 15 minutes off the bench.
“Obviously my job is to score goals and I did that last week in Richmond,” Townsend said. “I haven’t spoken to [the coaching staff] that much this week in regards to this weekend [against Philadelphia], but I’m sure we’ll have that conversation at some point.”
