WASHINGTON - Fabian Espindola hasn’t missed a beat.
Playing in just his second league match after returning from a six-game ban issued to him last year after United’s Eastern Conference semifinal matchup against the New York Red Bulls, Espindola found himself involved in both of United’s goals on Saturday night, scoring the first, assisting on D.C.’s second, and leading United to a 2-0 victory over the visiting Columbus Crew SC.
"I’m just happy to have scored and happy to have gotten it done so quickly,” Espindola told MLSsoccer.com after the match in a Spanish-language interview. “Obviously it’s been a while since I’ve been out there and it’s good to get it out of the way. More than anything I’m just overjoyed that we got the win and we’re still rolling.”
For the second time in as many games, Espindola combined particularly well with Chris Rolfe, the two crafty playmakers carving out a handful of opportunities across both halves. Rolfe’s ability to not only hold the ball well but also find pockets of space and occupy defenders left Espindola free to pick his spots up top.
The former RSL man did so perfectly on United’s opener — a clinically-finished counterattack that saw Rolfe eat up 40 yards of space in a matter of seconds before finding Espindola 25 yards from goal. To Rolfe, Espindola’s low, pacy strike to the far post felt more like a formality than anything else.
“It’s easy for me to play with Fabi,” said Rolfe, “in the sense that if I get the ball I just know that I need to find him, and he’ll take care of the rest. He makes it pretty easy at times, honestly. You’ve gotta give him a lot of credit for how he trained during his suspension, that couldn’t have been easy."
"The thing with Chris is that he adapts so well wherever he’s played at,” said Espindola. "Last year they used him as a winger, sometimes as a forward, but he always did so well. Truthfully, I feel great about our relationship - today they played me up top and Chris out wide and his work rate was phenomenal, he set me up perfectly."
The goal may have been Espindola’s first in a league match this year, but it wasn’t his overall opener.
Despite missing those six initial games, Espindola is now United’s leading scorer across all competitions, with three goals (two of them picked up in CONCACAF Champions League play.) The suspension, issued to the Argentine playmaker after the made contact with the assistant referee after United’s season-ending match against New York last year, never sat well with Espindola, who channeled his frustration into some particularly intense off-season and early-season workouts.
“The time off was terrible,” said Espindola. “I was happy the team was doing so well but it was terrible. I was comparing suspensions that other players in this league have gotten for making contact with the ref or violent conduct in general - all I did was touch him, and instead of giving me two or three games they give me six. It was just terribly disproportionate at the end of the day.
"Thankfully I was able to continue training, and honestly I feel like I’ve returned to the level I finished at last year, so I'm looking forward to getting back to work."
