D.C. United once again left points on the table last night—and did so in a particularly deflating fashion, giving up an 88th minute goal en route to a 2-2 draw with the New York Red Bulls. For the second time in a week-long span, United played to a draw that felt more like a loss.
On a night when team captain Dwayne De Rosario netted his 100th goal, a feat achieved by only seven other MLS players, the mood in the locker room after the game was one of disappointment, not jubilation.
“We talked all week about teams earning goals against us and not just giving them goals,” United Head Coach Ben Olsen said. “They earned one there at the end. He hit a bomb and it was a tough one to take for a group that I thought did enough to win tonight.”
The bomb, which came just four minutes from the final whistle, came courtesy of Red Bulls defensive back Wilman Conde, who ran onto a deflection and absolutely crushed the ball from 25 yards out. The Colombian picked a perfect time to net his first of the year—on his 30th birthday and against a hated rival. As the ball sailed into the upper 90, United goalkeeper Bill Hamid could only watch it hit the back of the net.
“There’s not much you can say,” Hamid said. “It was tough and it was through traffic as well. Maybe if I had a clearer vision I could have gotten there. It was a great hit.”
United put itself in a hole early on, as Joel Lindpere found himself on the end of a Thierry Henry feeder pass. Dribbling into the area, the Red Bulls midfielder drilled it past Hamid at the near post. United answered just moments later—midfielder Nick DeLeon redirected a De Rosario chip, leveling the match. Both goals were easily saveable—Hamid’s positioning could have been better, and he’d likely love to get that one back. Red Bulls goalie Bill Gaudette, well, just watch the clip below.
De Rosario hit the century mark midway through the second half. DeLeon played a long, bending cross towards the top of the 18 yard box, and De Rosario went all in. Charging forward, he arrived at the service just before Gaudette’s fist, and the Canadian headed it home for his 7th goal of the year.
“The ball [was] in the air and I figured ‘I’m either going to wake up tomorrow and wonder what happened or I’ll put it in the back of the net,'” De Rosario after the match. “It was a [risk] that I was willing to take. I’ve seen a lot of players get on the wrong side of it, but I was able to put my head under it and score that goal and get my 100th off my back.”
I asked the United captain if he’d felt any pressure after being hung up first on 98 and then on 99 goals for several months.
“That’s pressure that I never try to put on myself,” De Rosario said. “I know the media has been putting it out there—‘when is DeRo going to score his 100th?’—but I just try to focus on working hard for my team and getting a win. I knew it was going to come; you don’t get to a hundred [goals] by being lucky.”
It was Conde’s late blast, however, that sucked the air out of the stadium, sending the announced crowd of 10,303 home disappointed. After the match, De Rosario was handed the Atlantic Cup, which United won on a total goals tiebreaker. He hoisted the silver chalice above his head, displaying it to the supporters assembled on the far side of the stadium, but it was plain to see that he’d gladly have traded the largely symbolic trophy for an additional two points.
The black and red can ill afford to dwell on their latest setback. The team will round out its busiest stretch of the year with a visit to Salt Lake City on Saturday evening (9 p.m., Comcast SportsNet.) While I’ve hesitated to call any game to this point a “must win,” United certainly has entered into the territory where it needs to start accumulating points. In an increasingly congested Eastern Conference, the possibility that United may miss the playoffs—something that was borderline unthinkable several weeks ago—is now beginning to enter the realm of reality.
Team Notes: De Rosario joins the following six players who’ve passed the 100-goal mark: Taylor Twellman, Jason Kreis, Ante Razov, Landon Donovan, former United great Jaime Moreno and Jeff Cunningham … Earlier in the week, Olsen was fined an undisclosed amount by the league for his post-match comments on Mark Geiger, the referee for the teams controversial 1-1 draw with Philadelphia last week … Dejan Jakovic, De Rosario and Hamdi Salihi all received international call-ups for World Cup qualifying matches in September with their respective Canadian and Albanian national teams … Former United player Bryan Namoff filed a $12 million lawsuit against his former club on Wednesday, reports The Washington Post’s Soccer Insider. Namoff alleges that United’s medical staff and head coach were negligent in their handling of a concussion he suffered in 2009. The injury forced him into retirement, and he’s lived with the after-effects of the injury since (sensitivity to light, constant headaches, blurred vision.)
