Must-wins? In April? Say what?
D.C. United coach Ben Olsen scoffed at the idea his team had a “must-win” game against Columbus Crew SC Saturday in Annapolis (7 pm ET | ESPN+) despite an 0-3-2 start to the season and eight straight road matches on the horizon before the long anticipated opening of Audi Field on July 14.
With that in mind, we asked Senior Editors Ben Couch and Nicholas Rosano, New Media Editor Ben Baer, National Writer Sam Stejskal and contributors Dylan Butler and Alicia Rodriguez, and former MLS player Bobby Warshaw this question:
Do you agree with Olsen’s assessment?
COUCH: Olsen's assessment is the one you should give as a coach; you're basically down to either that or "every game is must-win" at this point. But the rest of us get to call it as it is: This is must-win as must-win gets. You don't want to enter an eight-game road trip with negative momentum, because even if – best case, you go something like 2-2-4 after that – you're sitting at 10 points heading into your shiny new stadium.
BAER: Twelve of D.C.’s first 14 matches are on the road and they only were able to get one point in their other home match during the stretch. There are 28 more matches after this one so it’s tough to say this is a “must-win,” but anything other than three points will set them pretty far behind the eight-ball, especially since their opponent is expected to be among the East’s Top 6.
STEJSKAL: All due respect to basic math and Ben Olsen, but he's wrong. After Saturday, D.C. are staring down eight consecutive road games, five of which are at Western Conference opponents. It's not that hard to imagine D.C. losing all eight of them. They need all three points this weekend.
BUTLER: It depends on the definition of success for D.C. United this year. If it’s make the MLS Cup playoffs, which it should be, then absolutely this is a must-win game. The Eastern Conference is ridiculous again with arguably the league’s top three teams — Toronto FC, NYCFC and Atlanta United — among your competitors. Barring some colossal collapse from the big dogs, that’s half the playoff spots in the East booked already. Points are at a premium for Olsen’s crew.
RODRIGUEZ: I can't say I agree with Olsen, although I understand why he has to remain upbeat in case D.C. lose. But the road to July 14 is very long, and I think even a good team would have a tough time with United's schedule. We know anything can happen, but if D.C. United don't win on Saturday, it could be a long time before they see victory this season.
ROSANO: It's not a must-win in the sense that there will more than enough points on offer down the road for D.C. to make the playoffs even if they lose. But they're in a situation where, realistically, they could find themselves a shade too far behind the eight-ball to catch up by the time Audi Field opens. (Think RSL and their second-half resurgence last year – if they had picked up just one more point somewhere along the road in the first half, they'd have been in the playoffs.)
WARSHAW: There’s no such thing as a must-win in April.
