The match report with quotes from D.C. United’s 1-1 draw with the Colorado Rapids at RFK Stadium.
Charlie Davies strained his right hamstring and will be reevaluated this week. Josh Wolff suffered a groin injury. Presumably disappointed with the injury and his missed opportunity to impress U.S. Coach Bob Bradley, Davies left the locker room before reporters arrived. (To cap his forgettable evening, Davies lost the MLS scoring lead after Landon Donovan’s two-goal performance against Kansas City.)
Wolff said he didn’t feel anything pop and hopes to return soon.
United, which will play Ajax next Sunday in a friendly at RFK, doesn’t have another MLS match until May 29 at Portland, giving the frontline duo extra time to recover.
Meantime, Honduras has requested Andy Najar for a May 29 friendly against El Salvador in Houston, a Gold Cup tuneup.
I was under the impression that the Gold Cup falls under the FIFA guideline allowing national teams to call up players 14 days ahead of a major tournament. However, from what I’ve been able to gather, United is trying to retain him for the May 29 match at Portland and June 3 against the Los Angeles Galaxy at Home Depot Center, the same location as Honduras’ Gold Cup opener three days later against Guatemala. This could get interesting.
Bonus quotes on the continuation .....
Rapids Coach Gary Smith: “The circumstances surrounding [United’s] goal and how they got their point was disappointing because when we all look back on it, it’s not a penalty.”
Okay, now about that non-call five minutes earlier, Gary.....
United Coach Ben Olsen: “We weren’t sharp enough from the get-go. This is part of this process that needs to get better with our young group. The complacency. Do we think we are a little better than we are because we had two games, so now we can go out and forget about the commitment, the fight, all the little things that got us the results we had in the last two games? We started off in an unacceptable manner. The response was fantastic. I had to rile them up a little bit [in the locker room at halftime]. It was much better.”
Said Chris Pontius of Olsen’s halftime rant: “He lit a fire under us.”
