D.C. United’s Wednesday night match against the Chicago Fire was one that seemed destined to be forgotten for more than 70 minutes.
Until Conor Doyle intervened.
In the 73rd minute, Fabian Espindola – who entered as a second-half substitute – stepped up to a free kick 40 yards from goal, sending a looping ball into the area. The service ping-ponged between Chicago and D.C. players before United center back Bobby Boswell took a crack at it. His deflected shot found its way outside the area, and Doyle met it with a thunderous strike, a one-timed screamer from 25 yards out that rose over the outstretched arms of Chicago goalkeeper Sean Johnson.
The wonder-strike would be all United needed to claim a 1-0 victory at Chicago's Toyota Park.
“I’m happy with it,” Doyle told the media after the match. "It was just a scramble in the box, and Bobby hit it, and it popped out nicely towards the top of the box. I was able to strike it clean and it just kind of flew in. … This is a big three points for us.”
After seeing sporadic action in his first two campaigns – Doyle spent much of 2014 recovering from a season-ending knee injury – the former Derby County striker has been leaned on a bit more heavily in 2015 as United has dealt with injuries and the rigors of CONCACAF Champions League, US Open Cup and league play. And though the pace of his strike against the Fire might have come as a bit of a surprise to some, his teammates and coaches were hardly shocked.
“We got a great goal from Conor Doyle,” United head coach Ben Olsen said after the match. "He’s one of the best finishers on our team, at practice. And we’re asking him to get more shots in games and to be more of an offensive threat. I thought today he did that at times. He has the ability to hit a ball like that.
“I’ll have to look at it again, but live that was a pretty nice goal.”
It was also an important goal, considering United fielded a lineup mixed with first-team players and reserves, conserving the likes of Espindola, Perry Kitchen and Chris Rolfe while trotting out relative newcomers like Luke Mishu and Facundo Coria, a necessity borne out of their upcoming schedule. Their match against the Fire was the first of four road matches in 10 days, perhaps the biggest test yet of United’s depth.
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“Obviously we put out a lineup we don’t typically put out, so for us to come out with three points [here] is big time,” Doyle said. “Now we have to turn our focus to Toronto on Saturday."
Doyle’s goal was among the only flashy moments of a relatively vanilla encounter, but Olsen and company, undoubtedly, were defensively sound and pleased to emerge with three road points, stretching their lead atop the East to ten points and pulling five ahead of the Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps in the race for the Supporters’ Shield.
"I thought we were organized, [though] at times we sat back too much,” said Olsen. “We would’ve liked to get a bit more pressure on the ball and also obviously take care of it ourselves and make them work. But when things weren’t going well – as they sometimes do when you put a new team in there that’s not that familiar with each other – you're going to defend.
“I thought when we did defend we looked out for each other, were organized and were tough to break down."
