There's just one problem with the plan.

DC United coach Tom Soehn has the perfect plan to come back from 2-0 down against Pachuca in tomorrow night's Champions Cup tie:

"If you let them have control of possession, [Pachuca star midfielder Giménez] is a big problem," said Soehn. "If you can dictate the terms a little bit more and have control of the ball, I think that in some ways he becomes a liability because his first thought isn't always defending."
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=523916&root=mls&cc=5901

I think Soehn's certainly right. If DC can dictate the terms to Pachuca and have control of the ball, they might just have a chance.

There's just a small problem with that scenario. MLS teams, so far, haven't shown that they know what to do with possession. It's a flaw that stretches from the MLS dregs all the way to the US national team: if you let American teams have possession, they don't know what to do with it and you can counter them mercilessly. By and large, you can even foul American teams pretty hard and be safe because you know they haven't traditionally been all that strong on set pieces.

I've seen evidence that this is changing. Witness the US crushing Poland on set pieces. Or even look at DC's first half in Mexico. And, with all of DC United's new additions, does it even make sense to compare them with MLS clubs of the past?

I'm optimistic that United is capable of a stronger, more dangerous possession game than we've ever seen from American teams. But if they do succeed in dictating the game to Pachuca instead of just racking up garbage possession, make no mistake: it will be a first for the league. Yes, the Mexican league is still stronger than MLS, but isn't it time for an upset? I'll be at the match tomorrow, undoubtedly standing on my chair yelling if it is so.