D.C. United overcame a lackluster first half to draw level with the Colorado Rapids on Saturday afternoon at RFK Stadium, but the 1-1 tie was clearly a disappointing result for the MLS leaders, who have now gone winless in their last four league matches.
"I am really tired of this one point, one point, one point," said coach Peter Nowak, who faces the challenge of keeping his side motivated despite their 18-point lead atop the Eastern Conference. "We have to be a bit more hungry. Right now I think this is a very important stage [of the season] to understand. Sooner or later we will play not only for the Supporters' Shield but also for the playoff spot, and we have to be ready."
The nationally televised match kicked off at 4 p.m. and the home side looked languid in the warm, sunny conditions, showing little of their typical energetic style. Colorado was happy to take advantage on a 31st-minute corner kick, as Kyle Beckerman rose above Facundo Erpen to head past goalkeeper Troy Perkins. It was only the fourth time all season that D.C. has given up the opening goal.
"To go down a goal on our home field is definitely disappointing," said striker Alecko Eskandarian. "There's no excuse for our intensity level being so low in the first half, and that's from front to back. All over we were sluggish. There's no excuse for that."
The Rapids' 4-5-1 formation didn't help either, clogging up the middle of the field and constantly denying space to United's playmakers.
"I wasn't happy, that's for sure," said Nowak of his squad's first-half performance. "We were very static in the first half. ... We didn't use our wings - when we used our wings we gave Colorado trouble, but there was not too much. So I wasn't happy with that, and I think the team understands. In the second half we gave good effort."
There was no mistaking defender Bobby Boswell's distaste with the result.
"I don't think the heat was really as big a deal, and the field was beautiful," he said. "We just didn't take very good care of the ball in the first. [In the] second half, we put a little better effort forward, but the ball didn't fall our way and we just didn't do too much to create a whole lot on our own. We'll take it, I guess."
The Black-and-Red finally asserted control of the contest in the second half, boosted by the introduction of speedster Jamil Walker on the right wing. Though he failed to convert on a Jaime Moreno through ball just minutes after the restart, his presence gave D.C. added width and the resulting increase in possession led to a flurry of goalscoring chances, with Rapids netminder Joe Cannon called into action time and time again as United put eight shots on goal.
"That's what we need, some fresh blood," said midfielder Ben Olsen. "The reality is, it has been a long week - you go to [New York] and put a lot of work into that game, some of that energy is going to be down. That's natural. Jamil did a good job of coming on and giving us a spark."
But the home side could only find the net once, on a Christian Gomez shot that trickled in off Cannon's hands from close range in the 56th minute.
United threw plenty of numbers forward in the final half-hour, searching for the winner that never came, but Walker took heart from the fightback that prevented D.C. from losing its second match of the year to Colorado.
"You look at a lot of teams who go down a goal and they don't ever come back to win," said the fourth-year player. "We're one of those teams that can. ... We're confident that we can come back if we're down and not playing well. You're not going to always be first, not everything is going to go your way."
Despite two matches in the next seven days, the hard-nosed Nowak sounds ready to put his team through their paces on the training field.
"With this kind of performance today, we have to go back to work, and work really hard," said the former Polish international. "Sometimes soccer doesn't work this way, to be cute, playing the easy game. You have to scratch and grab and run. That's what I am going to do with them."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
