One of the excellent MLS storylines mostly lost in the oversaturation created by playing through two major summer tournaments last weekend was Houston Dynamo manager Ben Olsen’s triumphant return to D.C. United, where he spent all of his MLS playing career and his first decade as a manager.
Despite the influential Adalberto Carrasquilla’s absence on international duty, Olsen’s Dynamo were masterful after halftime as they fought from a goal down to earn a thoroughly deserved 4-1 victory over struggling D.C.
For those who remembered most of Olsen’s time with the Black-and-Red, the sight of one of his team’s out-shooting, out-passing and out-styling an opponent on their home ground may have been a shock to the system, and was definitely a far cry from the pragmatic “Bennyball” of some of his overachieving D.C. teams.
And with the gift of hindsight, Olsen said afterward that part of the reason he needed to take the Houston job was to inhabit a club environment where everyone hadn’t already formed opinions based on literal decades of information.
“This was a fresh start in so many ways,” Olsen said on Saturday. “For me to go into a city where they didn’t know me. To work with a new GM, a new sporting director, a new owner. To be able to wipe a team down basically completely, 17, 18, 19 new players, the year I came in.”
Olsen’s words are worth remembering for D.C. supporters who are understandably frustrated with their club’s current form. Because it’s one thing to bring in new leadership, and another thing to completely begin anew from a personnel standpoint. And while D.C. did the former last off-season, the latter process probably won’t really gain momentum until this coming winter.
And there’s one big difference from Olsen’s situation to what the Black-and-Red are wading through: While Olsen brought immediate improvement, he did so in club GM Pat Onstad’s second season in charge, after a year of assessing the needs of a team that had been wandering for some time.
“It wasn’t an expansion team the year I came in,” Olsen said. “The infrastructure was better and all that. But it felt new and fresh to design something and have a real plan on how to go about that. Not better or worse, never. These experiences here were wonderful. … I’m proud of my time here, but completely different projects in that way.”
Even then, there have been missteps. After winning the 2023 U.S. Open Cup and advancing to the Western Conference final, the Dynamo were slow in enacting the next step of their roster evolution and left somewhat depleted for their early season. They’ve gotten healthier since, and will address one major need when the secondary transfer window opens and newly signed striker Ezequiel Ponce can be activated.
By contrast, first-year D.C. GM Ally Mackay and first-year head coach Troy Lesesne are for the moment more saddled by the roster problems of the club’s previous decision makers.
Even Christian Benteke, undeniably their most important player, is probably not worth the $4.25 million annual salary he currently commands. The former Liverpool and Crystal Palace striker is nowhere near as commercially influential as other older former European stars in a similar earnings bracket. Even taking Lionel Messi out of it, Toronto’s Lorenzo Insigne, Miami’s Sergio Busquets, Houston’s Hector Herrera all move the needle considerably further.
And despite MLS-second-best 14 goals, he’s also no bargain from a production standpoint. You could sign both MLS scoring leader Cristian Arango and transformational LA Galaxy midfielder Riqui Puig for the same cost. Not to mention that the transfer value for Benteke at this stage of his long career is far lower.
Yet Benteke is probably the best big move the club made since its last playoff appearance in 2019.
Mateusz Klich is a good box-to-box midfielder, but feels like a luxury player for a rebuilding team at a pricepoint of $1.9 million and also limited transfer value.
And the recent signings D.C. made with Targeted Allocation Money have gone unequivocally poorly. Fullback Mohammed Jeahze has made only one appearance in 2024 and hasn’t surfaced since he was suspended in April by MLS amid assault allegations. Martin Rodriguez has been good enough to earn the start only once in his 11 appearances. And although he’s technically a U22 Initiative signing, you can also lump Brazilian attacking midfielder Gabriel Pirani into that mix in the same category as Rodriguez.
Maybe Mackay should’ve been more aggressive in trying to unload some of those names as soon as when he arrived. But that volume of bad investments makes it nearly impossible to make immediate progress.
Olsen alluded to the need for time for both men to implement a plan.
“I had a good conversation with Troy, and I’m rooting for him,” Olsen said. “And I think he’s a good young coach with a clear vision on where he wants to go. And I think they’re down on their luck right now. So I’m looking forward to watching him over the next couple years.”
Perhaps the secondary point here is that it’s very hard to be the first manager hired by a new GM or sporting director. The latter can’t realistically implement his vision until a couple of full transfer windows into his tenure, and in the interim the former is left to be the face of a fresh start that isn’t quite taking in the results department.
You can ask Olsen’s Houston predecessor Paulo Nagamura all about that. He didn’t last a full season for Onstad. But he also obviously wasn’t the only problem if the Dynamo turned over two-thirds of their roster prior to Olsen’s arrival.
Lesesne may not be the guy to lead the successful rebuild. Mackay may not be the right choice either. And there’s another different in D.C.: their new technical staff did not accompany the takeover of a new majority owner.
But as reasonable as fans’ frustrations are over the club’s failure to launch after its long-awaited move to a new stadium in 2018, this is not the season to judge. That time will come about 12 months from now, when Lesesne might find himself searching for a new job. Or if the vision takes shape, the former New York Red Bulls assistant and interim head coach might be making his own triumphant return to a stadium where he used to be on the payroll.
