This week, signs were hung up with the words “Take Back RFK” in big letters. DC United did just that putting together a dominating performance beating FC Dallas 4-1 on Friday night at RFK. A brace by Maicon Santos and goals from Nick DeLeon and Danny Cruz gave the Black and Red their biggest offensive performance to date and their first home win since Sept. 24. It was also DC’s first win of the season, hopefully the start of many to come.
It was great to finally see the offense click. For the first three matches, fans were watching their team lose possession battles, not creating chances, and relying on the defense for a draw. But not Friday night! The midfield accounted for two of the four goals and helped set up for the other two. The wing play by DeLeon and Cruz was better than expected. DeLeon might be playing himself into a full time role. He’s bringing energy to the field, working hard, and has scored twice already this season.
The wing play in this match was important to watch considering that Andy Najar and the Honduras team are still in Olympic qualifying. So far, the combination of Cruz and DeLeon has worked out very well. They have been a key part in the rising quality of play that United has shown since the start of the year.
One player who might be getting lost among all the scoring was keeper Joe Willis who once again played a huge role in this match. In the first 10 minutes of the game, Willis came up with two monster saves to keep the match at 0-0. Coach Ben Olsen said Willis was his Man of the Match for his heroics once again. Without those two saves, FC Dallas could have been up 2-0 early on which would have drastically changed the match. Like Cruz and DeLeon, Willis has been coming up big while Bill Hamid is away. Hamid will also be out for 1-3 weeks due to injury.
Willis’ only goal allowed in this match came against Blas Perez, someone I pointed out to in my match preview as being dangerous, but only because of a defensive lapse that allowed him a one-on-one chance with Willis. At the time, the goal evened things up at 1-1 which stood going into halftime. Willis did everything he could, but Perez’s finish was better by slipping it in the left corner of the goal. Thank goodness that DeLeon’s goal in the second half opened up the floodgates.
With the help of the four goals, we as fans shouldn’t have to dwell on the defensive mistake as much so let’s not. We should be happy with the excellent win and the three points. To make it better, it was on national television, and it was United’s first ever match on the new NBC Sports Network. Each match has shown improvement for DC United, which will be key going into next week as the Seattle Sounders, one of the best clubs in MLS, come to visit in a match that could determine how good this United side really is early on.
(image courtesy of dcunited.com)
