WASHINGTON ā The dynamic attacking form that D.C. United displayed late last season may be several games from resurfacing.
The intestinal fortitude is still there, though, and Saturdayās 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Union offered the latest proof.
āIt was a gutsy performance,ā head coach Ben Olsen said after his clubās first win of the season. āThe fieldās not good. A lot of second balls. And we found a way. And that shows that we still have the character that we thought we had.ā
Jose Guillermo Ortiz opened his MLS account and snapped D.C.ās stretch of 288 scoreless minutes to start the season, and Luciano Acosta converted a penalty to make it 2-0 before halftime.
From there, United ground out three points against an equally desperate Union side that also entered Saturday looking for their first win.
D.C., though, have a better recent history of overcoming such slow starts.
They went six games before earning their first win last year. In 2014, they won the Eastern Conference regular-season crown despite opening the season by going 215 minutes without a goal ā which had been their longest such stretch to open league play until now.
āThe important thing is how much we trust each other,ā veteran midfielder Marcelo Sarvas said. āPeople that are not here every day to see what we do or how train, of course judge you by one game. But we know the strength of our team.ā
United still hope to regain the form that saw them close last season scoring 33 goals in 13 matches. Even with Ortiz making his first start up top while Patrick Mullins recovers from a hamstring injury, there were echoes of that at times.
Ortizās 18th-minute goal took a fortunate deflection and, in a different way, so did his intended cross that smacked off Richie Marquezās arm to lead to Acostaās penalty. Still, he combined well with Acosta and found himself in promising spots several times over the opening 45 minutes.
āThereās some other stuff that we need to continue to work with him,ā Olsen said of Ortiz. āJust connections and time, playing with our other players. He hasnāt had a lot of minutes with the first team, and thatās both in training and in real games. All that stuff will get better.ā
Like Ortiz, Sarvas also played at LD Alajuelense in Costa Rica (though not as teammates) before entering the league. And he's also optimistic about the Costa Rican international's transition in his debut MLS season.
āThe tactical stuff, the technical stuff [is there],ā Sarvas said. āI think now itās just, youāve got the physicality of the game. You have to be moving and running all the time. You donāt have much time with the ball. But heās getting there. You saw today, he did a great job.ā