DC United met familiar defeat Saturday night against Toronto FC. DC continued the losing trend with a hard fought 1-0 defeat. While another defeat looks bad, there are some positives to note. DC United showed a huge improvement from their first match to this one. There were many promising moments for the black and red, unlike in the first match. However, the point remains: DC United has started the season 0-2-0 and has yet to score a goal.
DC United controlled the majority of the match and ended with 62.8% of the possession, but still struggled to create realscoring chances. While DC looked much better going forward than they did last week, they only managed two, tame shots on target. Bill Hamid saved DC from giving up more than one goal in this one. He came up with several big saves to preserve a 0-0 match going into the second half. However, in the 60th minute of play, Toronto’s Gilberto took a shot at Hamid who parried the ball away, DC defender Bobby Boswell attempted to clear the ball away, but it fell to Jermain Defoe’ feet who put the ball away for his third goal of the season.
Bill Hamid was United’s best player on the night. He came up with several big saves on Defoe throughout the match, but ultimately did not keep a clean sheet. Perry Kitchen looked solid as usual for DC United in his midfield role. Fabian Espindola was very active on the ball in the final third, but surrendered possession far too often. Luis Silva was one again invisible for most of the match. As was Davy Arnaud until he collided with a bit of a reckless headed attempted from Michael Bradley andwas forced to be subbed out of the match. Nick DeLeon showed improvement since the first match and got into some dangerous attacking areas. Kyle Porter’s substitute appearance was one he will wish he could forget, losing possession in bad spots and playing several awful passes.
DC has shown progression, but will need to step up soon if they want to stay in the Eastern Conference race. As the team chemistry continues to grow, DC will have to show some grit in order to get some points early on. DC United will look to remedy their faults when they welcome Chicago to town next Saturday. The Chicago Fire currently hold a 0-1-2 record, and should be a real chance for DC to get a favorable result.
(image courtesy of dcunited.com)
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