For all intents and purposes, Saturday night’s clash against the Montreal Impact was the biggest game of United’s season. It was the match that was circled a month out, a match that many said would define their season.
After the Black-and-Red’s 5-0 deconstruction of the Impact, head coach Ben Olsen celebrated for a minute, then laid out one simple fact: they’re not done yet.
“This win doesn’t do any good if we don’t take care of Chicago next weekend,” Olsen said. “It was a great night though and I think most of our fans went home happy…it’s a big boost.”
The win brought United within two points of the Impact for the sixth and final playoff spot in the East. Saturday’s victory didn’t displace Montreal, but it shifted the momentum to United, who have two games in hand on the Impact and only one road game left in the regular season.
Next, they will welcome the Chicago Fire to Audi Field on Sunday at 1 PM, with a chance to take control of the race.
Last weekend's result was all well and good, but it still means the job is not yet done. Olsen was proud of the group for rising to the occasion in one of the biggest games of the season, but the seasoned coach was quick to remind everyone that there’s still work to be done.
The Black-and-Red did well enough to control their own destiny moving forward, the challenge now is to fulfill it.
“I like the group’s mentality and I hope they understand what we need to do over the next month to reach our goal,” Olsen said. “We need to forget about this very quickly and focus on Chicago. We’re not there yet. We’re closer to our goal, but still far from where we need to be.”
It’s a fact that is not lost among the players. As media crowded into the locker room following the match, the team was happy, but goalkeeper Bill Hamid noted that they cannot drop things now.
Though Chicago has been eliminated from postseason contention, Hamid pointed out that they are a team playing for pride, and teams looking to play spoiler will always pose a significant threat.
“It’s nerve-racking but it’s good. We’ve got Chicago next and we’re only looking one game at a time,” Hamid said. “Chicago won [Saturday], so we know they’re going to walk into this stadium with confidence and we have to do our best to kill off their confidence as quickly and early as possible.”
Confidence was the key word in Hamid’s quote. Following United’s win, confidence was high, and it’s a resource that will be needed to carry the momentum toward grabbing the final playoff spot in the East.
Like Hamid, United captain Wayne Rooney was pleased with the performance, but was quick to look ahead to the Chicago matchup. Rooney is no stranger to championship runs—after leading Manchester United to title after title, the forward has a good grasp on what it takes for a team to make the leap into contention. Rooney praised the team’s effort after the win, and noted that he’s made it known to the players that the playoff spot is theirs to take if they want it.
“I think, deep down, we’ve felt that anyway,” Rooney said. “We’ve been building momentum at the right time. I think that’s what we’ve needed. We’ve put ourselves in a great position, and we knew, we didn’t want to let all our hard work slip tonight.”
There is still some hard work to do if the Black-and-Red want to make the postseason. But after Saturday’s victory, they know that everyone on the team is ready to make that last push.
“We are playing well as a team, as a unit. We have good chemistry, we’re together,” Hamid said. “The coaching staff, the team, the medical staff, everybody, we’re all together in this. The camaraderie is good and let’s hope this continues.”
