Sunday evening’s match-up between D.C. United and the Colorado Rapids was not a pretty one.

You’d expect that much given the two teams involved: United, who’ve made fiscal prudence paramount over the past several years as they look towards an eventual move into their new stadium at Buzzard Point, and the Rapids, perennial Western Conference bottom-dwellers who are among Major League Soccer’s least consumable products.

The two sides played to a predictable result: a hard-fought, scrappy 1-1 draw that left most of the 15,314 [announced] fans in attendance wanting. Colorado pulled ahead mid-way through the second half on a Dillon Powers header, while United crawled back into it ten minutes from time on an opportunistic strike from Argentine forward Fabian Espindola.

The Good: Fabian Espindola and Patrick Nyarko. Nyarko seems to have fit in nicely since arriving from Chicago in the off-season; throughout both halves, the speedy winger put himself in dangerous spots, stretching the Rapids defense and drawing several key fouls to boot. D.C. have badly missed speed on the flanks in recent years, and they appear to have found their answer, at the moment, in Nyarko.

Espindola, who missed last weeks 0-0 draw against New England while recovering from a hamstring ailment, provided a much-needed spark upon entering the match in the 60th minute. The former Real Salt Lake attacker was well-positioned on United’s only goal of the match, lacing home the game-tying strike from eight yards out. Not bad for a guy who didn’t train during most of the week leading up to the match; Fabi and his wife welcomed a daughter into the fold earlier last week.

“He [brings] something that not a lot of guys have for us—he roams around and finds ways to overload and kind of unbalance [our opponent],” United defender Taylor Kemp told reporters after the match. “I think he’d be the first to say he was lacking a little bit of sharpness with certain stuff, but he’s someone who no matter what kind of game he’s having, he can find ways to be dangerous for us.”

The Bad: Lamar Neagle up top, Nick DeLeon centrally: Neagle struggled throughout the match and looked out of sync with Luciano Acosta, D.C.’s featured off-season acquisition. In fairness, Neagle will probably cede that starting forward spot to Espindola when the Argentine is fully fit.

DeLeon also looked a bit woeful in central midfield. That much is to be expected at this point—United have repurposed the winger, sliding him into a playmaking role in the middle of the pitch, expecting him to fill the void left by Perry Kitchen and Davy Arnaud (Kitchen moved abroad several weeks ago, while Arnaud announced his retirement.) His transition to a center mid will take time‐hopefully not too long.

And one other detail: D.C. gave up their third set piece goal of a still-young season. Certainly not something they need to make a habit of.

The Ugly: This banner at RFK Stadium. United went ahead and moved their “Hall of Tradition” to the opposite end of the stadium, consolidating several banners into one large one. That’s fine. They also decided to hang another, equally large banner at the east end of the stadium, featuring United’s trophy haul over the years. Not a bad idea.

Unfortunately it had a couple of issues. A) United have never won “CONCACAF Champions League.” They won Champions Cup, which was a completely different competition with a far less challenging format. And B) perhaps even more jarring, the banner highlights D.C.’s “Supporter’s Shield” victories. It’s Supporters’ Shield, though. The copy editor inside all of us just died a little bit.

Filed Under: Colorado Rapids, DC United, DCU, MLS, Ugly Soccer,