FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The buzz around D.C. United has grown in the past few days after it signed English superstar Wayne Rooney. But Rooney isn’t eligible to play until after July 10, and in the interim, United’s on-field results remain dismal.
In the 73rd minute, United’s Yamil Asad scored on a penalty kick, his second tally of the game, with a shot to the bottom-left corner of the net. But five minutes later, New England’s Cristian Penilla also converted a penalty kick to put his team back in the lead for good.
“It’s very, very frustrating,” United Coach Ben Olsen said. “It’s been a trend this season where we’re in the game, maybe we get the lead consistently, but we’ve lost too many leads. It’s something we’re learning to deal with, but it’s got to get better. It’s got to get better quickly.”
With a few minutes left in the first half, D.C.’s Zoltan Stieber earned a free kick that deflected off the head of Asad and continued into the net. It was a positive moment for D.C., but it couldn’t maintain the momentum. A few minutes later, a shot from New England’s Teal Bunbury flew just past United goalkeeper David Ousted, who had moved toward the front of the box, to make it 2-1.
New England (7-4-6, 27 points) had earned its first lead when Penilla scored on a break in the 18th minute.
D.C. produced chances — putting seven of 13 shots on net — but New England goalkeeper Matt Turner delivered a taut performance. About midway through the first half, United’s Luciano Acosta nearly scored on a free kick, but Turner leaped to his right and reached upward to get a hand on the ball, one of his five saves. In the 71st minute, Turner saved what could have been a close-range United goal off Steve Birnbaum’s header on a free kick.
“I think we get chances, and that’s not the issue,” Olsen said. “It’s the other part that has to get better — how we understand which moments are going to matter and get us the points. That has been a little bit of a struggle.”
“We’re trying to pick up points here and there when we can,” midfielder Ian Harkes said. “We talked about it in there at halftime. There were just too many moments where we’re just letting ourselves down, and we’ve got to change that.”
Thanks to the July 14 opening of Audi Field, United’s schedule is lopsided, with almost all of its home games on the back half of the slate. Of United’s first 14 games, 12 are on the road, with the Maryland SoccerPlex and Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium acting as temporary home venues. Saturday marked D.C.’s seventh loss, all coming on the road.
After D.C. visits the Los Angeles Galaxy on Wednesday, the road-heavy stretch will be over. The team will have 15 home games and just five away games remaining.
With the World Cup break, United hadn’t played an MLS game in 2½ weeks. United did, however, lose on penalty kicks against Orlando City on June 20 in the U.S. Open Cup. Joseph Mora did not play Saturday after leaving that match with what Olsen said was a minor hamstring issue.
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