WASHINGTON -- D.C. United have had barely 48 hours to savor Sunday's 4-1 thrashing of the Los Angeles Galaxy before the onset of their U.S. Open Cup campaign against the Rochester Rhinos in the cozy confines of the Maryland Soccerplex on Tuesday night. Many of D.C.'s starters are injured or drained, whether by Sunday's muggy weather conditions or merely the day-to-day toil required to sustain the team's dramatic recovery in recent weeks.
But there will soon be time to unwind, relatively speaking: Tuesday's match kicks off an unusually calm July for United, with their MLS calendar nearly wiped clean to make space for Open Cup and SuperLiga action. There's only one league match all month -- a July 22 home date with Houston -- and even that is a reschedule from an early June rainout.
"It's totally different, the fact that you just get in the SuperLiga and you focus on that," said D.C. head coach Tom Soehn. "Obviously the beginning and the end of the season get a little more jam-packed, where you're playing every third or fourth day. That can be a good thing or a bad thing, [depending on] if you're getting in a groove."
United has made a habit of crashing in the final stages of the last few seasons, due in part to strenuous stretch runs which began in the heat and toil of late summer action. So the scheduling gods seem to have finally smiled on D.C., allowing the club to focus on two knockout tournaments without requiring Soehn to reach quite as deep into his roster as last year. Twelve months ago, what was essentially a reserve side lost to the Harrisburg City Islanders of the USL Second Division in the first and last game of United's ill-fated Open Cup journey.
While SuperLiga's group format guarantees at least three matches and offers the sort of international glory that D.C. has lusted after for several years, an Open Cup run depends on United navigating a tricky tie against Rochester this week. The Rhinos are presently stuck in the USL-1 basement but history and timing could lead them to fancy their chances of an upset. Rochester is the only non-MLS team to win the Cup since the top-tier league began in 1996, and Sunday's harsh conditions could contribute to dead D.C. legs at the Soccerplex.
"Obviously we had a game today on a hot day, two days before, so my guess would be some reserves," said midfielder Clyde Simms on Sunday, when asked about Soehn's lineup choices for Tuesday. "But we'll have to see."
United's boss faces some intriguing questions. Red-hot goalscorer Luciano Emilio has probably earned a break, but the recent waiving of Franco Niell leaves the front line rather thin at the moment. Jaime Moreno and Santino Quaranta will miss out because of injuries -- so can he afford to rest playmaker Marcelo Gallardo, even though the Argentinean has rounded into excellent form of late? Reserve Rod Dyachenko has been somewhat inconsistent this season. Is he prepared to marshal the D.C. attack?
The Black-and-Red have declared greater enthusiasm for this year's installment of the nation's oldest cup competition, which in recent seasons has all too often been lost in their grinding shuffle of league play and international tourneys. Beyond the normal lust for hardware on East Capitol Street lies another enticement: United are surely eyeing the fact that a Open Cup title would offer a straightforward path back into the 2009 CONCACAF Champions League.
Soehn would surely like his team to maintain their present momentum and mount a legitimate U.S. Open Cup challenge, but his comments after the Los Angeles victory suggested that he's also got his eye further down the road.
"It's important that the last stretch of the season is when you are at your sharpest," he said, "and we still have some room to improve."
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