D.C. United 1-2 FC Dallas: Player Ratings

We look at the Black and Red's first game back after the bye in numeric form.

By Ryan Keefer@reefa_k Jul 20, 2015, 12:00pm EDT

D.C. United was coming into their road game with F.C. Dallas with several factors against them: the lack of effective players to injury and suspension; that they had not won in Dallas since 2007, and that, well, it was Dallas in the middle of July. While they gamed it out, the result, a 2-1 loss to the folks in Frisco, had to be expected in some manner or fashion.

And with that, on with the ratings!

Andrew Dykstra - 7.5

Six saves, and Dallas put 26(!) shots on target. His best performance of the year yet. Near the end of the first half, Fabian Castillo rounded Boswell and put a shot on goal, but it was a play that Boswell seemed to cede to Dykstra. Boswell made a similar decision in February and it resulted in a goal because Dykstra made the decision too late. Not so here, definitely encouraging.

Taylor Kemp - 6

Corners were OK, passing was fine, tried to get in the way of the pass shot that was deflected and ultimately went to Castillo for the game-winner. Could have been worse, all things considered.

Steve Birnbaum - 7

Led the team in interceptions, was second in clearances, passing accuracy, while not great, still led defenders on the team. Looked like he got his heel stepped on in the first half, hopefully it was not serious.

Bobby Boswell - 7

Led in clearances, Castillo's shot appeared to take a deflection off him for the goal, organized the backline as good as could be expected, considering he dealt with three right backs.

Chris Korb - 5

Defense was OK, passing with about in line with the defenders, went off at halftime which hopefully is not due to anything serious. If so, get ready for the Luke Mishu/Jalen Robinson show next week against the Philadelphia Union.

Conor Doyle - 5

With him (and someone else we'l get to in a second) in the lineup, he was in there to gum the works up and stop the speedsters from finding the gear. Did about as good as could be expected, that did get walked once or twice. And what was up with his supporting run in stoppage time?

Perry Kitchen - 6

Passing was good (nobody who had more touches was more accurate), defense was fine for the most part, though he seemed to sleep on Kellyn Acosta's goal, and had to play out of position near the end of the game. Please, let's never have that last part happen again, OK?

Davy Arnaud - 5

Going to guess he and Doyle were in there to try and make the life of Mauro Diaz miserable somehow along with Kitchen and well, OK. I can get if him starting for that reason was motivation. If we're revisiting this on Sunday with a less dangerous threat, we'll have to have a chat.

Nick DeLeon - 6.5

Might have been the most offensive threat in the first half, was neutered when forced to play at right back when Korb was subbed off. Yeoman's work on your birthday, sir.

Chris Rolfe - 5

Nice shot in the second half, passing accuracy led the team (on less than 20), but otherwise? Not all that great.

Jairo Arrieta - 5

Helped force the own goal, but there was a sequence in the second half where he got around an FCD defender (Atiba Harris I think) and got into the middle, and his shot was dampened and gathered by Dan Kennedy. That's Arrieta in a nutshell. Welcome aboard Alvaro Saborio!

Miguel Aguilar - 5.5

Subbed on for Korb, had 2 shots in 45 minutes, connected 9 of 10 passes, but otherwise, did a little better than expected in a surprise appearance.

Markus Halsti (Sub) - Inc

Came on for DeLeon in the 81st and took the central role from Kitchen, who went to right back. Did not have a lot of touches, was about what could be expected.

Facundo Coria (Sub) - 4

Came on for Rolfe in the 85th. The promise of Coria was interesting; Coria's execution upon appearance? Less so. Took a ball in extra time on a bizarre counter, which led to Dallas composing themselves, getting the ball back and scoring the game winner. Coria could have done one of several different things there to try and get D.C. a point, and chose the thing that cost them the most. We'll see if this hurts his chances in the lineup once bodies get back into it, but he has the knowledge (or should, at least) where he should be doing better.

Man of the Match

Easy, Dykstra, assuming the role of Bill Hamid in a pretty nice form so far.