Everton 3, D.C. United 1
Those who braved the 99-degree game-time temperature at RFK Stadium on Saturday to see U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard would’ve been disappointed – unless they found their way to where he was next to the stands signing autographs before his English Premier League club team, Everton FC, took on D.C. United. That was the closest he would get to the field.
And once the international friendly got underway, it was United’s defense that was star struck, mistaking the exhibition as a game to be taken lightly, allowing Everton to waltz to an early two-goal lead en route to an easy 3-1 victory in front of 12,789 that felt much too much like a United regular season contest.
“You just can’t do that,” said Chris Pontius, who scored D.C.’s lone goal. “We’ve done it a couple times now. You shoot yourself in the foot. You can’t chase a game like that, especially in this heat. You’re pressuring, and they’re able to keep the ball more, and it’s no fun.”
The Toffees, who’d been stunned in 1 -0 friendly loss at Philadelphia three days before, let United have the ball for the game’s first three minutes. In the fourth, defender Leighton Baines threaded a pass to Victor Anichebe, who blew past Brandon McDonald and then chipped United goalkeeper Bill Hamid from a narrow angle.
Twelve minutes later and nifty sequence of passes left United defenders wondering what had happened to them as 17-year-old Ross Barkley found a wide-open Diniyar Bilyaletdinov streaking into the box and finishing between Hamid’s legs.
“They came with the right mentality from the start,” United head coach Ben Olsen said. “It was men versus boys there for about 20 minutes and then our egos kicked in and we started playing a little bit tougher.”
Despite the heat, the match offered plenty of lively, attacking soccer. Andy Najar came closest to getting the home side back into the match with a screaming free kick that forced a quick save from Howard’s backup, Jan Mucha, in the 27th minute.
Moments later, Najar sent and audacious chip over Mucha’s head from the left side that rebounded back into play off the crossbar.
After Josh Wolff re-aggravated a nagging hamstring injury in the first half, ensuring United didn’t escape from the evening unscathed, he was replaced by Pontius, whose performance at forward – he’s played wide midfield all season – was the best of the night for D.C.
Two minutes after the second half commenced, Dwayne De Rosario released Pontius down the left side. Using one touch to turn inside, Pontius raced between two defenders and cut the deficit to 2-1.
United outshot the English visitors, 9-4, as the game saw both ends in the second half, but Magaye Gueye’s back post finish off a Jermaine Beckford cross put the game out of reach in the 82nd minute.
“The second half, the D.C. boys may have gotten a bit of a telling off and came out a lot more aggressive,” Everton defender Phil Jagielka said. “But I think we approached the game slightly differently. We put the ball in their half a lot more and played in their half rather than maybe a little bit more of a keep ball session in Philly because it was so hot. We were a bit more aggressive, and it worked for us.”
