Offensively-Challenged United Succumb To Colorado, 1-0
by DCist contributor Travis Clark
The hustle is there. The willingness to fight tooth-and-nail is prevalent. But what D.C. United has lacked all season, mired in one of their worst starts in league history, is goal scoring. And once again, that failure to produce a goal cost them, this time losing at the hands of the Colorado Rapids, 1-0.
United took to the RFK Stadium pitch with a similar lineup, featuring the same kind of physical players who had delivered a 2-1 win against Kansas City on April 28. Australian forward Danny Allsopp was paired with Adam Cristman, while teenager Bill Hamid once again manned the goal. Going up against Colorado would provide a difficult challenge to the maligned defense - the attacking pair of Conor Casey and Omar Cummings a threat to any MLS defense, let along United's injury-plagued unit.
But like other games at the crumbling façade of RFK Stadium, United held fast in the first half. The 0-0 scoreline might have been different if Allsopp could have beaten Rapids’ goalie Matt Pickens, or if Casey had managed to glance a header past Bill Hamid on the other end; but Pickens got the better of Allsopp and Casey only rattled the sideboards to the side of the net.
Again, however, the familiar formula crept into sight. The three shots tallied in the first half, shrank to zero in the second. That game-changing moment which the RFK faithful was waiting for never came.
Instead, in what is becoming an all-too-familiar sight in front of the Barra Brava, that one moment arrived for the opposition -- all the hard work undone, those missed chances coming back to haunt the Black-and-Red. Rapids midfielder Wells Thompson lunged in towards Rodney Wallace, winning enough of the ball to satisfy referee Jorge Gonzalez. The ball rolled to Casey, who found Moroccan Mehdi Ballouchy open on the right-hand side. Carrying the ball into the box, Ballouchy flashed his feet over the ball to open enough room in front of Juan Manuel Pena, and whip the ball past Hamid to score the game’s first goal. Like that, the air was sucked out of the stadium, as the Barra and Screaming Eagles fell mute. Once again, the opposition had struck first.
Soon after, Curt Onalfo tried to make the right tactical adjustments, throwing on the offensive options. He swapped Jaime Moreno in for Pena in the 72nd minute and Andy Najar for the defensive-minded Kurt Morsink shortly thereafter. But even with those players on, possessing the creative flair and ability to make something out of nothing, United still came up firing blanks.
The Rapids' physical presence of Julian Baudet and Drew Moor proved to be too much to overcome - United’s tired legs couldn’t complete the knifing passes and hoofing long balls needed to fight back for a point. And with the Rapids looking dangerous on the counter - Omar Cummings was denied by Bill Hamid in the 83rd minute, keeping it close - the game’s final minutes petered out as they had before, minus the second goal.
With the final whistle, a sixth loss in seventh game was dealt, and Colorado left RFK Stadium victorious for the very first time since 1999. Even at this early stage of the season, time is running out for D.C. as they continue their search for answers.
NOTE: DCist inadvertently wrote over the photos to this post and pulled the entry from the site momentarily to correct the problem.