Let’s start with a word from our guy Taylor Twellman on current MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi leader – and let’s face it, a mortal lock to win it – Christian Benteke:
The big man has been monumental this year: not only is he going to win the Golden Boot, but he’s leading all of MLS by a mile in both aerials attempted and aerials won. Watch any D.C. United game and it becomes apparent that their first, second and third options are all to launch it in Benteke’s general direction and then play for the knockdown.
It’s worked well all season. United have scored 50 goals on 51.2 xG, with both those numbers being solidly mid-table in the Eastern Conference. It’s not pretty soccer, but it’s pretty effective soccer.
So why, then, are D.C. down in 11th place, desperately trying to scrap their way into the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time this decade? The main issue is the defense. They’ve conceded 66 goals on an xGA of 48.1, which is just a massive underperformance in goal and along the backline.
The second issue is the rest of the attack, which has been somewhere between “disappointing” and “non-existent” all season long. Benteke, in other words, has been pulling off a legendary carry job.
Here's the thing, though: over the past nine regular-season games, which includes the final two matches before Leagues Cup and everything that’s happened since, D.C. are 5W-2L-2D. Benteke has continued his Best XI-caliber performances, as he’s factored into 65% of the goals D.C. have scored during this run. That’s slightly higher than the season-long 60% mark TT cited in the video.
The defense, meanwhile, has continued to be subpar. Even with the good record during this run, United have conceded 19 goals on 13.5 xGA. That’s in keeping with what they’d done in the first 23 games of the year, and maybe actually a little worse.
The difference is the rest of the attackers have finally started to show up and pull a little of their own weight:
- Gabriel Pirani had 2g/0a in the season’s first 22 games. He’s got 4g/1a in the past nine.
- Ted Ku-DiPietro had 2g/1a before this streak. He’s got 3a since.
- Mateusz Klich had 2g/8a over his first 21 games and has registered 5a in the past nine games.
- Other guys like Cristian Dájome, Jacob Murrell and Martín Rodríguez have had match-winning moments during this run, the types of which were nowhere to be found until mid-July.
It all still revolves around Benteke, and if D.C. actually make the playoffs, he’ll be the single biggest reason why. This is still a carry job.
But other guys developing into viable match-winners is why Troy Lesesne's team still has a better-than-decent shot at jumping into the Wild Card. The performance of Pirani in Wednesday's 4-3 thriller at Nashville SC, when his two stoppage-time goals rescued United’s hopes for at least one more matchday, seems proof positive of that.
Pirani, by the way, is very clearly never going to be worthy of that No. 10 on his back when it comes to chance creation. Even with his marginally improved playmaking performance recently…
