When United coach Peter Nowak said Thursday, “We’ll score the first goal, and the game will open for us,” surely he couldn’t have known how quickly his players would prove him correct.
In just the second minute, Jaime Moreno charged a Christian Gomez free kick, heading a bouncing ball into the net to give D.C. United a 1-0 lead on Saturday night. Minutes later, Moreno scored his fifth goal of the season and 99th of his career on a penalty kick en route to a 3-1 United win over the Kansas City Wizards.
Anchored at midfield by Brian Carroll, who made his MLS-leading 71st consecutive start on Saturday, United maintained a bend-but-don’t-break mentality, allowing 17 shots but only one goal. The midfield showed few signs of weakness despite the absence of Ben Olsen in the center.
“I don’t think too much has changed other than it’s not Ben Olsen in there at midfield,” Carroll said before the game.
The lone Wizards tally came in the 26th minute, when Freddy Adu could not clear a ball off the goal line and Scott Sealy knocked in the easy rebound.
Bobby Boswell’s header in the waning moments of the first half off an Adu free kick finished the scoring for both sides.
The Wizards struggled to find the net with forwards Josh Wolff and Eddie Johnson gone until after the World Cup.
