HARRISON, NJ – Shortly after the final whistle of United’s 2-1 loss to New York on Saturday evening, D.C. United’s players retreated to the relative privacy of the visitor’s locker room at Red Bull Arena.
Just ten months ago — in that very same locker room — many of the very same players who took the pitch on Saturday took part in a raucous, unrestrained celebration following a dramatic playoff victory. On that November evening, goalkeeper Bill Hamid marched into the locker room, pounding his chest wildly and bellowing out the teams mantra: “They can’t hold us back.”
This past weekend, the scene was much darker. Most players sat in front of their lockers, staring blankly at whatever was in front of them, others burying their faces in their hands, looking more like actors in a debt relief commercial than professional athletes. Hamid himself looked to be among the least consolable, slumping down in his chair before disappearing to the showers.
And who could blame them? Saturday night’s match was more of the same, the sort of inconsistent, erratic performance that so many United fans have grown accustomed to this year. Offensively, the black and red created several quality chances, but couldn’t finish. On the other side of the ball, United’s defense once again proved maddeningly irresponsible, allowing two soft goals en route to the loss.
Playing without Thierry Henry — who was mysteriously omitted from the starting XI — New York would take the lead early on a cheeky strike from Englishman Lloyd Sam. Sam, who started his first home match of the season, cut back in the box and played a lofting ball across the face of goal. Caught out of position, Hamid could only watch as the ball clanged off the post behind him, bouncing off of his back and into the goal mouth.
Half an hour later, United would equalize. Midfielder Nick Deleon found himself on the end of a cross-field pass from Dwayne De Rosario. Settling the ball at the near edge of the area, Deleon cut back sharply, leaving defender David Carney on the ground, and struck the ball just past an onrushing Luis Robles.
D.C.’s joy would be short-lived. Just moments from the half-time whistle, Australian international Tim Cahill would notch his eighth goal of the year, rising over a hapless Daniel Woolard and powering home a header.
United would be thrown a lifeline in the second half, given a golden opportunity to equalize in the 70th minute via penalty kick. De Rosario found himself in alone on goal, only to be brought down in the area by Ibrahim Sekagya, who was immediately red carded. Normally a sure bet on PK’s, De Rosario’s attempt was expertly saved by Robles. It would turn out to be United’s best chance to salvage a point.
After seeing the morgue-like atmosphere in the locker room, one has to wonder if this team is finally starting to come apart at the seams. Trudging through the worst season in MLS history, United’s players had remained remarkably upbeat through most of it. But there’s been a noticeable change in mood the past couple of weeks. With precious few weeks remaining before United takes on Real Salt Lake in the US Open Cup Final — the only truly meaningful match that remains in their season — we asked United head coach Ben Olsen if he thought his team could pull together.
“Players have short memories,” Olsen said. “We’ll bounce back. It’s a tough loss tonight; again, I feel like we deserved a little bit more but in a day or two they’ll be over and it we’ll get back to work. We go out west for a game and there is still a goal here and it is to get better each week and obviously is to prepare ourselves for Salt Lake.”
De Rosario was similarly optimistic. “Stay positive — that’s the only thing you can do,” United’s captain told DCist after the match. “As a senior guy, I often have to make sure that our heads stay high. There’s still a lot to play for. That cup is huge. We have to build momentum going into that game. We can’t continue to lose every game and then just show up in Utah and expect to win. It’s important that we put together some decent performances.”
United will get a prime opportunity to bounce back in their next game, as they face lowly Chivas USA, perhaps the only team in MLS that approaches the black and red in futility. Should they manage to salvage some points out of that match, they may well have a stepping stone towards bigger and better things. Dropping that match, however, would sink United’s already downtrodden spirits even deeper into the basement.
