As the Columbus Crew continues its rise to the top of MLS, D.C. United and the Houston Dynamo, two of the league’s traditional powerhouses, continue their astonishing fall from grace. The Washington Post’s Steven Goff takes a closer look at United’s latest defeat, a 2-0 loss away to the Colorado Rapids, calling the team’s display “unimaginative and uninspiring.”
Goff says that United’s front office should be most concerned with the manner of the team’s defeat. United “rarely challenged” the Rapids throughout the 90 minutes, while former playmaker Christian Gomez, whom United traded to the Rapids in the offseason, was the best player on the field, easily upstaging his (expensive) replacement, Marcelo Gallardo. “If not for Colorado’s faulty finishing early and late, the outcome would have been gruesome,” Goff says.
United Coach Tom Soehn didn’t have much to say for his team. “We were just bad all over the field,” he told Goff. “I can’t even pick one guy who did well. You could talk about tactics [and] formations all you want, but if you don’t show up, you are not going to do well — period.” Worryingly, United has now been shut out of four straight road games in all competitions and is winless away from home since last September. “I don’t know what is going on,” said team captain Jaime Moreno. “We are making too many mistakes and we’ve got to eliminate them, because if we don’t, we could be in really big trouble.” United hosts Chicago, the East’s second-place team, on Thursday.