Three things to watch for against DC United: Espindola, strikers, and revenge

Last week we watched for...

Can we best a team that we aren't only rivals with, but who are three points behind us?

Why, yes! We can, actually, and there's every reason to be happy and excited about that fact, even if the match was a bit lousy in terms of our attacking play. But once we grabbed that ever-important goal, we defended well, maintained a lead, and exited Colorado with a win.

Who starts at forward, and how many times are we going to ask this?

We'll be asking it at least a few more times until we play FC Dallas, but the picture is becoming a bit more clear. Obviously Sebastian Jaime enters this picture with an opportunity to cement himself into the team. We don't know that he'll do it immediately, but we can be hopeful that it comes soon. Regardless, the picture's clearing up by virtue of addition. It's odd and exciting.

How many times do we have to find ourselves scuppered before we rethink our approach?

We only put one goal past Colorado, but that worked out alright, yeah? We need more strong, gritty performances like we saw.

This week, let's watch for...

Which strikers have a fire lit under them pending the arrival of Sebastian Jaime?

The hopeful answer is "all of them -- or at least most of them," because at this point, only Joao Plata has well and truly impressed. But everyone's place will be up for questioning, so maybe this changes something -- and this is the case even if every striker we have on the books remains at the club.

Will Fabian Espindola play, and will he be the villain again?

It's funny. The game after we announce the signing of an Argentine striker, we come up against the Argentine striker we'd called our own for six years. He's obviously been a bit of a villain against us before, and we'll be hoping that isn't the case again. Remember, if you will, his dive against us when he played for New York Red Bulls -- that was a bit of a shameful moment.

How strong will the desire for revenge be?

If you haven't remembered, DC did that thing last year when they won some cup final at our stadium, having been the worst team in MLS along the way. So, um, we won't be happy. Throw in the fact that they may or may not have beat us early on. The three teams they beat: San Jose Earthquakes, Montreal Impact, and Real Salt Lake.

So, yeah, revenge sounds nice.