PBP: DC - Me against the World - 2025 season game thread

I say this as someone who enjoys going to Loudoun games (they’re often much more enjoyable than DCU matches!) and likes them enough to occasionally tune in on the road.

DCU without Benteke is still far better. Definitely not “go through the entire season undefeated and 3+ goal wins better”, but far better nonetheless. Loudoun is currently fighting for the top of the east, as well. They’re doing this with multiple guys who have spent time recently with DCU that are clearly much better fits at the USLC level.

I think it’s important to call this out because the hyperbole can get in the way of the most salient points about what’s wrong with this team. If it’s true our roster would be struggling in the next tier down then it masks Lesesne’s heinous coaching choices, for starters.

So while our roster is in need of much work, I think it’s a mischaracterization to say that the team would be mediocre/average in USLC.

 

Thanks.

 

Outside of a handful of players, this roster is a complete joke. Benteke and Herrera could start for a good number of teams in this league. Give me another player that starts for just half. And I’m talking about a consistent, week to week starter.

 

Schnegg.

 

That’s not the topic at hand though. The question is whether this roster is mid table USLC quality. Players like Peglow and Pirani would be the best players by miles at that level.

 

I absolutely hate how Jonatan Giráldez has the defense play and I won't miss him. Even with success, Michele Kang is rightfully skating on thin ice with fans right now especially with her Kynisca teams potentially taking priority over the Spirit or DC Washington Lion Spirit or whatever she is trying to slowly rebrand this thing.

 

Thats essentially what we're doing right now and its not even close to good enough.

Doyle is an ass an should always be yelled at, esecially since he's probably just foillowing orders from the league office to not drive any positive publicity toward DCU.

Pretty sure I said this on here a week or so ago, that most our starters don't make anyones starting line up and probably don't even make half the teams in the league. DCU really is where careers go to die. restless spirits wandering the soccer limbo, which is Jason Levien's opus, a $150M stadium that he spent half a billion on, waiting for a call from the USL or the 2nd divicsion in Vietnam.

 

He's our modern day Abe Pollin in that he got a stadium/arena built but he drove his team into irrelevancy. Of course Pollin at least got a title out of it.

 

Abe Polin was a far better man than Jason Levien could ever hope to be.

Maybe based on his last 2-3 games, but prior to that he was ass.

 

We have to account for the fact that a lot of our players would look better with a cohesive tactical system to play in if they weren’t stuck here.

 

I know nothing about Levien outside of his ownership of sports teams but there is no doubt about the quality of Abe Polin as a man.

 

I tend to beleive that If they were good enough they would have had options to go elsewhere or their respective clubs wouldn't have let them go for some magic beans.

 

I very much agree with you. This roster just does not have enough talent to compete in MLS. Most of the guys lack the athleticism. I point out Schnegg, the center back, Enow, Pirani, and I'm missing a few.

MLS is similar to the EPL or the Bundesliga in that there is a bar for athleticism and you can have lots of technical strengths but if you can't keep up with the pace of the opponent and can't hold your space, it's a problem. There is no cut-out for a slow but technically gifted player like you might find in Spain or Italy or Mexico.

I blame the wash out on talent on ownership. It's clear that the GM wanted to get cheaper as he (rightly) thought that DC United had been overpaying for guys who'd normally be depth talent because of all the short term signings since 2020 to fill an immediate need. I get wanting to blow up the roster and try to restart. But there is a way to do it without going without a defensive center mid and only one center back (Tubbs) who have the bare minimum level of athleticism for MLS. Pirani not working out has also really blown up this roster construction. There is also a stunning lack of depth after a starting lineup of 4 MLS starters and a bunch of bench players at best.

I also agree about Doyle being an ass.

 

I don't know Jason Levien as a person so I'll stick to commenting about his specific stewardship of DC United.

 

I think you're out way over your skis. Schnegg is probably near the top 10 in the entire league for distance covered. He's often the farthest guy forward and the last defender on the same play. I honestly don't know how anybody could look at him and say he's unathletic. Ditto for Boris Enow.

 

But we pay a premium!

 

Completely agree.

 

Two years ago, the roster was a mess, filled with over paid vets who were past their primes and inexpensive home growns. 2024 was always a throw away year. We all saw it from a mile away. Two years ago the club was committed to almost no one in 2025. A couple of home growns, Birnbaum and 2-3 other vets. 2025 was really the reset year, then somewhere along the line Klich's corpse rolled across the line to vest his 2024 AND 25 option, then they picked up Benteke's option, acquiired Schnegg, extended Herrera, which was the only move I was in favor of.

Here we are in 2025 with a bunch of has beens and never was beens with no coherent or recognizable system of play. 2026 will not be the reset that this year should have been, Its going to be interesting to see if they rebuild or just continue on like they have, there are only handful of guys out of contract - McNaughton, Barazza, Barajas plus club options on Pirani, Leal, Herrera, Dodson, Benteke, Antley, Zouhir, Hopkins, Fletcher, Kajima, Tubbs. Badji will still be under contract next year. If today were decision day in my eyes, Benteke and Kajima are the only options I'd consider picking up mostly because it will now cost more than Benteke's escalated salary to get a guy who can score. I expect that there are some favorable numbers on those contract options which will bring more of these guys back.

 

I would pick up Herrera's option and could be easily persuaded for Hopkins as well because of his youth and relative cost. If, and that is a big if, Fletcher balls out the pick up the option and sell him overseas. I actually wouldn't pick up Kijima's option -- I don't think he has a "natural" position and he is all energy but no production. However, given that most of the mess will be back next year, the absolute minimum is a new coach because Lesesne has been unable to make this group work in any consistent manner.

 

An overlooked aspect of last week’s “performance” is that was the first time since the first weekend in May that the team didn’t have a midweek game. It was also by far the worst result in that time.

In other words, we’ve played much better when we didn’t have an entire week of Lesesne implementing and training a gameplan. Let that settle in.

 

I think that's reading too much into it. The team was light on players and the tactics left too much space open between the mids and backs in the middle third for transitions.

 

Chicago was just as light on players as we were.

“The tactics left too much open space” - this is literally my point. The “tactics” come from Troy.

 

DC is playing the Ethiopian National Team on Saturday, August 2 at Audi Field.