Consistency is of pinnacle importance to a team’s success at the highest level of club soccer. Unfortunately for D.C. United, finding consistency and keeping it has been this season’s significant challenge. After dropping three points on the road to the New England Revolution midweek, the squad had alternated wins and losses in their previous five matches. On the plus side, their opponents on Saturday night were their Western Conference mirror image – the Colorado Rapids had succeeded in taking the maximum return in only three matches since the beginning of June. With both teams on the fringes of the MLS playoff race – United currently in seventh position, and the Rapids four points off the pace – something had to give.

And it did. United found the required consistency in their attack, dispatching the Rapids 3-0 on Saturday night, and spoiling the return of former United MVP Christian Gomez to RFK.

With a crowd of 17,283 watching (including a moderately-sized contingency from Philadelphia, assumedly scouting their rivals ahead of entering the league in 2010), United fielded a team bereft of usual first-teamers Fred, Marcelo Gallardo, Gonzalo Peralta, and keeper Zack Wells – so a large amount of the game hinged on the newest member of the squad, goalie Louis Crayton. The Liberian national team captain, who joined United earlier this month from Swiss outfit FC Basel, was active and vocal – cementing his reputation as a solid leader behind United’s back line.