WASHINGTON - Six games into a young MLS season, D.C. United sit in a tie on points for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. On Saturday, a stunning free kick from midfielder Chris Rolfe was enough to secure a hard-fought point in a 1-1 draw against a physical Houston Dynamo side — United’s 15th straight positive home result across all competitions.
But much as it was after last week’s 2-2 home draw against the New York Red Bulls — when United gave up a pair of second half goals to squander a 2-0 lead — there wasn’t much talk of positivity in D.C.’s post-game locker room. The mantra was the same one D.C. have preached all along, one that dates back to last season: United expect to win at home.
“If you hear the guys around the locker room, we just feel like these two draws were losses," said Bobby Boswell. "I think we feel like we should have five wins. I just hope that doesn’t come back [to bite us] down the line. Points are at a premium in this league and it doesn’t matter how you get them — we feel like at home, we need to take three points away.
“I feel like whoever [head coach Ben Olsen] puts out there, we should expect to win - we can manage any team in any game or get a result and we just feel this wasn’t good enough. We need to figure out a way to get it done.”
Already missing a host of regular players, D.C. were dealt a blow pre-game when starting goalkeeper Bill Hamid was forced to sit the encounter out with a thigh contusion that was picked up during last week's affair vs.New York. His backup, former Chicago Fire keeper Andrew Dykstra, hadn’t played a competitive minute since giving up four goals in United’s loss to Alajuelense in CONCACAF Champions League play.
But Dykstra wasn’t just serviceable. He performed admirably, making several key stops to preserve the result. When asked after the match whether the performance felt like a bit of redemption for his subpar performance in Costa Rica, Dykstra leaned on an old refrain.
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“I’m a goalkeeper. I don’t even remember what I had for dinner last night," said Dykstra. "You got to put things behind you, and I knew I was better than that - my teammates, my coaches all knew I was better than that. I was out for eight months, had two weeks of training [before] playing in a tough environment.”
Added Olsen: “I’m extremely happy for Andrew. I think he’s been excited to get out there and prove to everyone that he’s the goalkeeper everybody knew he was. We set him up to fail [in Champions League play]. This just shows his character to come out tonight and have a very good performance.”
While Dykstra earned praise for his performance, there was still plenty of frustration from D.C.'s players. Rolfe felt it after another blown lead in another solid home performance that felt a bit more like a loss.
“These kinds of performances — where we have leads going into the second half and lose them — are just unacceptable," said Rolfe. "We’re pretty disappointed right now, but we’ll fix it. We’ll change it.”
