It was nearly a year ago when Ben Olsen and D.C. United began preparing for this exact moment.
After a home stretch last fall devoid of true urgency, top-seeded United fell flat in its playoff opener against the New York Red Bulls and never recovered, falling, 3-2 in the two-game, total-goals series.
As the offseason kicked off earlier than expected, the coaching staff had a long look in the mirror and tried to pinpoint exactly what went wrong in the buildup to the postseason.
“I’ve analyzed last year quite a bit,” Olsen said. “That’s what I think the offseason is for — to kind of exhale and really have an honest dialogue with yourself and your staff about what you need to do better. That was certainly one of the issues: How do we get ourselves ready and in the right mindset for the playoffs?”
In 2014, United clinched a playoff berth with three matches to spare. The club secured a postseason spot with two games remaining this season, thanks to a 2-1 win over New York City FC on Oct. 2 that snapped an 0-5-1 stretch.
After a weekend off, United (14-12-6) returns to RFK Stadium for its regular-season home finale against the league-worst Chicago Fire (8-18-6) on Sunday.
“We had our pretty bad spell before last week,” defender Steve Birnbaum said. “Hopefully, that’s out of the way and we can keep just picking up points and winning games from here on out.”
Although there was a sense that United peaked too early last season, there is optimism that the club could be hitting its stride in the coming weeks.
Key cogs Bill Hamid, Sean Franklin, Chris Pontius and Fabian Espindola are back at 100 percent after dealing with injuries throughout the summer. Midfielder Davy Arnaud is the only regular starter currently sidelined, as the veteran deals with concussion symptoms.
In defeating NYCFC, United controlled 60 percent of the possession and held an 8-2 advantage in shots on goal while playing its best soccer in months.
“I think people underestimate how big confidence is in sports,” Pontius said. “I definitely felt like we were playing with it last game and it’s something we’ve carried on into training.”
Unlike last year, when United clinched the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed Oct. 18, the team’s remaining games are packed with meaning this time around. United is one point back of second-place Toronto FC, and just three points separate Olsen’s team from the sixth-place Montreal Impact.
By jumping to second place, United would earn a bye to the conference semifinals. Finishing third or fourth means hosting a play-in game, while the fifth- and sixth-place finishers must travel for that preliminary round.
“You don’t want to go on the road in the first round and play a play-in game,” Pontius said. “It’s not a place you want to be at.”
Yet Olsen isn’t dwelling on those various permutations. As far as he’s concerned, the final two matches against Chicago and the Columbus Crew are about building momentum and pinpointing his best lineup for the playoffs.
If United succeeds in that regard, everything else should fall into place.
“Our focus is Chicago and winning that game,” Olsen said. “Then we’ll focus on Columbus and getting the result we want there. I’m not so concerned about where we end. It’s just about moving forward and having the right mentality when the playoffs do hit.”
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