Red Bulls drive United to historic low, 2-0

“There’s not a whole lot of positives to take,” said United head coach Curt Onalfo. “We’re 0-5, and we just lost in front of our home crowd again, 2-0, and that’s unacceptable.”

Only Kansas City in 1999 (0-7) and New England in 2001 (0-6) own worst starts in MLS history.

Salou Ibrahim and Juan Pablo Angel tallied ten minutes apart early in the second half to give the Red Bulls (5-1-0) their first win in Washington since 2005 – a stretch of ten matches in all competitions – and extend what was already the best start in its own team’s history. It was also New York’s first ever shutout at RFK.

Instead of a summer-like Saturday matinee intended to attract D.C. United fans to the Washington Freedom, who held their end of the bargain in the second half of the day’s doubleheader, United found a way to turn more of its already disgruntled faithful against them despite playing the best half of the year in the opening 45 minutes.

Adam Cristman and Andy Najar, who combined for three goals in United’s 4-2 win over FC Dallas in a U.S. Open Cup qualifier on Wednesday, were both threats, and Clyde Simms’ header forced Red Bulls goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul into his first save of the afternoon in the 16th minute. Najar closed the half with a blast that was deflected by Tim Ream.

“It’s good to have those moments,” said Cristman. “But it doesn’t mean anything if we’re not getting goals. Yeah, we had our opportunities. But if we can’t take advantage of the opportunity when we have it, then we’re not going to go anywhere.”

When all was said and done, United (0-5-0) failed to produce any goals for the fourth time in the young season, leaving the door open for New York, which wrestled control when Ibrahim fought off Juan Manuel Peña in the box to sneak a cross from Dane Richards just inside the near right post in the 51^st minute.

Nine minutes later, Angel, the runner-up for the 2007 MLS player of the year award, rose above Peña to nod home a free kick from Joel Lindpere.

“I think we’ve been having to get these results and we’ve been pressing and losing our shape a little bit coming out of the box at halftime,” said United midfielder Santino Quaranta, who struggled himself all match, particularly on crosses and free kicks, and earned a yellow card for a dive in the box late in the first half. “We get stretched a little bit. I think that’s where our problems started. Hopefully, we can address that.”

Once down, United turned to the player who had bested Angel for the MLS MVP title three years ago, Luciano Emilio, as a merely desperate second-half substitute after re-signing the Brazilian three days earlier. Onalfo, who saw his team outshoot New York, 7-2, in the first half, also opted for Jaime Moreno off the bench in place of Najar after surrendering the first goal.

“Jaime’s a guy that can come in and change the game,” said Onalfo. “Andy got knocked pretty early. I thought he was struggling physically with his ankle, even as early as in the first half when it happened. We wanted to bring in Jaime to inject some energy, and change the game, which is something he’s very good at.”

But United was unable to solve Coundoul, whose best save of the afternoon was a backpedaling deflection of a Simms volley two minutes into the second half.

Freedom 3, Athletica 1

Homare Sawa broke a halftime tie with a nifty flick off a corner kick as the Washington Freedom topped St. Louis Athletica, 3-1, in the second half of a soccer doubleheader at RFK Stadium.

After Sonia Bompastor put Washington (2-2-0) ahead with a blast off feed from Abby Wambach in the 18^th minute, Eniola Aluko rifled home Lori Chalupny’s knockdown header to pull the visitors even on the stroke of halftime.

Lene Mykjaland made sure Athletica (1-1-2) would earn its first loss of the year by beating an out-of-position Hope Solo from long range in the 73^rd minute.