MONTREAL—D.C. United was in no mood for Canada Day celebrations.
D.C. will play its seventh game, including U.S. Open Cup competitition, since June 13 when they take on FC Dallas on Tuesday, which will be their fourth straight road game. The third one, on the occasion of Canada's 150th birthday, was decidedly not the charm.
Saturday's 2-0 loss to the Montreal Impact at Stade Saputo made their long run on the road feel that much longer.
United's commercial flight to Montreal was cancelled on Friday after several hours waiting to depart from Washington's Reagan International; the team arrived at their hotel at noon Saturday after taking a charter on a plane that had previously been reserved as a backup for rock legends U2.
D.C. coach Ben Olsen would not use his team's challenging schedule and travel woes to excuse the loss, in which the Impact scored goals two minutes apart in the first half.
"It doesn't make things easier but I don't think that's why we lost the game," Olsen said. "Of course there's all types of things that play into your preparation, and sometimes things go perfectly, sometimes they don't. The effort was there, you know, unfortunately it's the same story with us right now, it's we're not able to make plays in the offensive end. Obviously defensively we can get a little bit better, but it's just the same as last week, we've got to make plays."
Midfielder Ian Harkes acknowledged United's travel grind, but agreed that D.C. expected a better result despite its challenging road to Montreal.
"Yeah, there's a lot of factors but there shouldn't be any excuses," Harkes said. "We have to play better and grind out results. [Saturday], again, it's not a 2-0 game, I don't think. They get two chances that shouldn't really happen and they capitalize, but we've got to find ways to win."
The loss left United alone in last place in the Eastern Conference with 18 points in 18 games.
"We just keep working on it," Olsen said. "We keep continuing with a lot of the good as far as getting ourselves in good spots and continuing to put good numbers in and around the box. But there's just this final will or hunger or quality or, it's different in every circumstance, but we've got to find ways to do better with the final stuff."
Last season, D.C. claimed 24 points over its final 14 games to make the Audi 2016 MLS Cup playoffs … where they were bounced by Montreal.
"Yeah, you have to stay optimistic and you've got to keep pushing regardless," Harkes said. "This Dallas one, obviously, right before the break is a big one to try and get back on track and then we've got to re-focused for the rest of the season, but it's definitely doable."
