D.C. United 3, Toronto FC 3: Dwayne De Rosario's Hat Trick Lifts United In Wild Night At RFK

by Martin Shatzer on Aug 6, 2011 11:01 PM EDT

Ben Olsen was ejected from the match, but was proud of his team's performance

Ben Olsen opened his press conference tonight by telling the media that the referee wasn't the story tonight, and I'd do anything Olsen says.

The story was Dwayne De Rosario giving an elite performance that will probably have him named MLS Player Of The Week for the second consecutive week. It was the most dominating performance from a single player in recent United memory. It was like a basketball team who gives the ball to their best player on every possession - the team sent the ball in De Rosario's direction as often as possible, and Toronto FC just had no answer. De Rosario scored a hat trick and is single-handedly carrying this team at the moment. There are of course downsides to that, but he's scored United's last six goals, and he's only been wearing black-and-red for six games.

Olsen said "Dwayne's unbelievable. He's an absolute stud. He's a winner and we're very very happy he's here."

The story was also the way the team fought for all 98 minutes. They were "screwed every which way tonight" according to Olsen, but they managed three goals anyway, and could have won if not for a few too many mistakes, particularly from our goalkeeping. Bill Hamid was sent off in just the seventh minute of the game, and its hard to imagine this team not collecting all three points if Hamid was able to stay on the field. Steve Cronin could have done better on two of Toronto's three goals.

But it was really an incredible and inspiring performance from United. In his first match in two months, Santino Quaranta played the entire match and specifically mentioned in the locker room that he'd do anything for Olsen. He fought for him. The whole team did. Maybe it was because he'd been away from the field for so long, but Quaranta seemed absolutely optimistic about the team, and was especially pleased to be playing alongside De Rosario for the first time. Quaranta said that De Rosario "knows what he has to do to get me an assist."

But perhaps Chris Pontius summed things up best. He said "A lot of players gutted it out and showed a lot of character. Imagine what we would have done if it was 11 v 11 tonight."

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wow!

what a game. Feel bad for Hamid, don’t think there was real intent there but understand the red. Think they should revoke the red on Benny, terrible call by the ref. If DeRo hits that last one in it would have been even more epic. Still such a gutsy performance. Thought CP13 had a nice game too, very dangerous. Feeling pretty good about United right now and pretty happy I’m not a TFC supporter. Thought the defense did a tremendous job shutting down TFC. Their first goal was an understandable miscue, their second goal was stolen in the midst of confusion. All told I’m proud of DCU and wish I’d headed out to RFK tonight. Great show.

by Irrlicht on Aug 6, 2011 11:13 PM EDT reply actions

That guy should never see work in the MLS again

Most diverse sports fan you will ever meet. Literally.

by ClingingMars on Aug 7, 2011 12:06 AM EDT reply actions

Exhilarating, Exciting, and Infuriating

In the long term this was a great game. Controversy. Goals. The anxiety of going down a man. The thrill of go ahead. The disappointment of going down goal and the elation of coming back.

It was great to see the Quiet Side standing ( and I think making noise) for the last 10 minutes. Loved that.

I am equally pissed at Hamid as I am mad at the refs. Hamid made a poor decision and it hurt this team when it really needed a win. The refs were just awful.

In the short term I think this really hurts the team’s chances at making the playoffs. All the other results went out way and DC United didn’t take advantage of that.

by itwasi on Aug 7, 2011 12:06 AM EDT reply actions

Coudn't agree more.

This was a very winnable game against a lousy TFC squad. The fact that we had plenty of chances to win it even in the face of being a man down speaks loudly of that. Hamid’s foul was utterly stupid and he deserved to get sent off. Cronin really hurt us too. There were several punches that should have been catches (including the bounce around goal).

by DCUFaninMissouri on Aug 7, 2011 12:15 AM EDT up reply actions

Cronin talked a lot about how slick the ball was. That’s why he was trying to punch it more often than catching it. But the punch on the first goal should have been up and out, not horizontally straight at his defender.

Managing Editor for BlackAndRedUnited.com. Weekly Columnist for SB Nation D.C..

by Martin Shatzer on Aug 7, 2011 9:23 AM EDT up reply actions

I guess it's clear that

we are the big winners of the Dax for DeRo trade. Wow what a tremendous effort tonight for an “old guy!” I also love the fact that Benny has this team so behind him. I just hate that they seem to be jinxed at home.

by DCUFaninMissouri on Aug 7, 2011 12:17 AM EDT reply actions

Dax who?

DeRo is already such a big part of our team, I almost forget that we acquired him through the Dax trade. DeRo carried the team last night, it was amazing to watch.

When the sun comes up, you better start running.

by kalster15 on Aug 7, 2011 9:07 AM EDT up reply actions

We should talk about the referee

And that is because while many fans have a feeling that something went wrong on that second goal, they don’t know exactly what. And no thanks to the TV announcers on TSN (I watched on Match Day Live) who were uneasy about what had happened but did not explain what went wrong; or folks who write recaps, etc. Simply put, after a substitution the referee must signal a restart with his whistle. This is spelled out in FIFA’s guidelines to Law 5. This referee did not do this, inappropriately allowing a quick-restart as the substitution was taking place, and that is why so many players were caught flat footed.

Likewise, I don’t think Hamid’s sending-off was justified. The contact was heavy but didn’t seem to me to meet the requirements laid out in Law 12 for a red card. So why the red? It’s telling that he consulted his AR. The foul, the contact was very obvious. Unless he was way out of position, the only reason I believe he consulted his AR was because he was inappropriately applying the denial of obvious goal scoring opportunity guidelines (DOGSO). Inappropriately because McDonald had already—fairly—dealt with the goal scoring opportunity by sending the ball out of play prior to the foul.

Teams must be ready for anything on the field, including major screw-ups by the referee like this one. One way to mitigate what happened on the second goal would be to put a man over the ball on substitutions. Better a yellow than a goal, and since a whistle is required the yellow is unlikely.

by DrWeevil on Aug 7, 2011 9:03 AM EDT reply actions

I don’t think DOGSO was the call. I think the red card was for the violent nature of the tackle.

Managing Editor for BlackAndRedUnited.com. Weekly Columnist for SB Nation D.C..

by Martin Shatzer on Aug 7, 2011 9:26 AM EDT up reply actions

Agreed

If his justification was DOGSO, then it’s an absolutely horrible call. USSF (and FIFA, by extension) stresses to its referees that giving a red card for DOGSO must be OBVIOUS as all hell. While Hamid was the last defender in that instance, the challenge was too far away from goal (and not moving directly towards goal) to be considered a serious goal scoring opportunity.

Detroit4Lyfe

by Rob Rogacki on Aug 7, 2011 10:12 AM EDT up reply actions

At the time

I thought the ref must be calling last-man, or failing to judge the tackle itself properly. Looking at the replay now, it seems to me that while Hamid had absolutely no intent to tackle hard, Bill still didn’t control his body well enough for the situation. He tucks his legs in but doesn’t keep them tightly tucked, and the resulting collision is much more dangerous than it could have been.

I don’t think it was properly a red, but I can see how the refs, watching in bang-bang time, could see it that way. It’s a bad outcome for both parties: Hamid shouldn’t made it that hard for the refs to understand, and the refs should have been more lenient given the circumstances (ball already out of bounds, keeper and defender crossing paths, keeper going down to avoid harder contact, stupidity of sending off the goalie early in the match for a non-malicious foul).

by Stunned Duck on Aug 7, 2011 11:39 AM EDT up reply actions