D.C. United 0, FC Dallas 0
A world-class save from a goalkeeper who’s been doing it in Major League Soccer longer than anyone else was all that separated D.C. United from earning back-to-back victories for the first time in nearly two years.
Instead, United settled for scoreless draw with FC Dallas, content with the consolation prize of the team’s first shutout at RFK Stadium since last August coming against one of last season’s MLS Cup finalists.
“I never like to tie at home,” United head coach Ben Olsen said. “I don’t think we as an organization want to tie at home. But if we’re going to tie at home, I can live with the way we played tonight.”
Dallas goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, the league’s current active leader in minutes (32,310) and games played (361), made a point-blank save on D.C. reserve Fred in the 89th minute, taking away a certain game-winner on a night when scoring chances were few and far between.
Just over two weeks shy of his 37th birthday, Hartman raced across the six-yard box to deny the Brazilian’s stabbing header from Josh Wolff’s first-time cross.
“When I saw Wolffy running to try to cross the ball, and I say, ‘This is my time,’” Fred said. “When I be there, I think the keeper did a good job to save this ball. I saw he was coming, and I try to take off him and left. He’s a good keeper, and he’s coming so fast.”
More than 80 minutes earlier, United (3-4-2), which hadn’t won consecutive league matches since June 2009, should’ve gone ahead courtesy of an error by Dallas defender Brek Shea, who accidentally headed down a long ball from the D.C. defense straight to the feet of Charlie Davies.
The mistake was so glaring that it caused MLS’ leading scorer to start planning his next goal celebration instead of finishing the play properly, and his inability to control the ball allowed Hartman to race in and smother the chance.
“I was already thinking of the ball hitting the back of the net before I even touched the ball,” Davies said. “That was definitely what caused me to have a mistouch.”
Still, that didn’t end the sequence, as Hartman gave up a rebound to Andy Najar, whose shot was cleared off the goal line by Ugo Ihemelu, only to fall again to Davies, and this time former United midfielder Andrew Jacobson slid in for the block.
While Dallas (3-3-2) got what it needed from Hartman, long-distance attempts by Jacobson and Shea were the closest the visitors came to testing D.C. goalkeeper Bill Hamid, who earned his second clean sheet of the season.
But despite the solid defensive showing and another strong performance from Najar as the spark in United’s attacking, midfielder Dax McCarty wasn’t quite satisfied with the result in his first match against the team he’d represented the last five years.
“We should’ve won the game,” McCarty said. “There’s really no other way to put it. We created two or three good enough chances to score, and I really thought our shape defensively was very good throughout the game. It’s great for our defense to get a shutout. It gives you confidence. But for me, we should’ve had three points tonight.”
