DC United was helped and hurt this past weekend as they had the weekend off. Where to start?
Let’s throw out the good news first. New England lost to Columbus, meaning New England is sitting only 2 points ahead of DC for the last spot in the playoff race with 2 matches remaining. What also helps is the Revs play host to Chicago and play away to Columbus. My thoughts are that New England, with this schedule, will not walk away with any points in these 2 matches. DC, however, has to play host to Columbus (where they have lost their last 2 home matches) and play away to Kansas City. I don’t even want to think to think about the outcome for these matches.
Now for the bad news. FC Dallas and Toronto FC have now leap frogged United due to records and goal differential. Dallas’ next 2 matches are home to Colorado and away to Seattle. This is a pretty hard schedule, so United has to hope Jeff Cunningham can’t score any goals. The big problem is Toronto. Their next 2 matches are home to Real Salt Lake and away to New York. This is not the best thing for United, because they have a good chance of walking away with 6 points.
The point is DC UNITED MUST WIN! End of story. The ideal circumstance for DC is to win both matches and New England, FC Dallas, and Toronto to either lose or draw both matches. It’s going to be a very close race coming up!
