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DeRosario burns former club as D.C. knocks off Red Bulls

DeRosario (Getty)

Dwayne DeRosario wasn't with the New York Red Bulls long, but that didn't make seeing him score any easier for the team that just traded him away.

DeRosario showed the Red Bulls what they let go when he scored the lone goal in D.C. United's 1-0 victory over New York at Red Bull Arena on Saturday night.

D.C. turned in an outstanding defensive performance against the same New York side that blasted D.C. United, 4-0, in their meeting earlier in the season.

DeRosario provided the winner when he raced past Dax McCarty, worked a give-and-go with Josh Wolff, and raced into the area before blasting a shot past Greg Sutton to make the score 1-0.

Dealt away by New York in a surprising trade the Red Bulls called a necessary move made to clear the way for other moves, DeRosario outplayed McCarty and flashed the playmaking ability that has made him one of the best players in MLS history.

On Saturday, New York's normally potent offense just couldn't break through and break down the D.C. defense the way it did Toronto's in last Wednesday's 5-0 win.

New York played without starters Teemu Tainio and Rafa Marquez, with Tainio's absence being felt the most as McCarty struggled in a more defensive-minded midfield role. Marquez is still sidelined by a hamstring injury and is expected to be out 1-2 more weeks.

What did you think of D.C. United's victory? Impressed with D.C. United's defense? Surprised to see New York struggle so much?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Well as a NYRB fan I just want to say that DCU is supreme and I will never been half the fan that the worest DCU fan is. Thanks DeRo for leaving us metrocows and going to an amazing team.

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  2. What does Hans continue to see in ballouchy that I, as well as most everyone, don’t? He is absolutely horrendous and offers nothing, yet Hans continues to run him out there. I’d rather see more of Da Luz. Or anyone at all who has 2 legs.

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  3. Solli needs to spend less time on his DJ skillz and more time working on his passing. He was awful last night.

    What’s an enganche?

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  4. +1. At the game last night, most likely the worst game NYRB has played at home this year. It seemed like they couldn’t connect 3 passes all night and were slow to every 50/50 challenge. Give credit to DCU for slooooooowing down the game after they converted their chance, after they scored they just passed the ball around midfield and waited for NYRB to self-destruct. NYRB’s spacing (especially after putting on Agudelo) was way off, at one point they had 4 people waiting high for the ball and 20 yards of space with no one there to get the ball to them.

    Once NYRB gets Tainio and Marquez back, they will have to make a run (and win a game on the road!) Ream also had an outstanding game, he had great positioning all night and came back to cover well.

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  5. Ummmm no…”America” refers to the continental land mass of North & South America – the “new world”. We’re the United States of America.

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  6. NYRB had a bad game (except for Ream, who was outstanding). Dax was off and Ballochy remains terrible. Slow to react, back passes, bad passses terrible. Enough cannot be said how he makes the team worse when he is on the field. Tanio was sorely missed. DC (and DeRo) didn’t play that well either, but they made their chance and RB didn’t.

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  7. -1…they are a good side….both teams didnt look sharp tonite. but i think dc wanted it more and deserved the 3pts…finally closed out a match…interesting that olsen subbed in 2 forwards instead of bunkering in….vamos united

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  8. I don’t believe he ever said TFC is paying the majority of his salary. No one knows how much TFC is paying. Regardless, DeRosario was never really a great fit for NY. He works better when he can be one of the main cogs of an offense. In NY he didn’t really hold the reigns of an offense with Henry and Rodgers and Agudelo and Lindpere and Richards.

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  9. Dax isn’t suited or hasn’t learned how to play the holding/defensive midfielder role. The way NYRB plays, they really need someone with a certain skill set there in there (after Taino, I would put Marquez there… but both were unavailable). Why not Carl Robinson?

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  10. I think the press write-ups and selective memory created some unrealistic expectations for this match for NYRB. 4-0 win on the road for RB against DCU and a lot of articles talked about it as a one-sided match. Interestingly enough at the time, both Henry and Backe said the score flattered NYRB. A bunch of good goals and arguably 2 great goals by the Red Bulls that match but not a one-sided domination. The game easily could have been 4-3. And the “goals allowed” number for DCU is deceptive as well. There are a couple of 4-0 games in there (2 where they were just manhandled and pushed around, 1 where NYRB displayed superb finishing and Agudelo got his outstanding score). So people look at this result and conclude: NYRB played poorly and DeRo was out for revenge and that’s the angle of the stories–which I think is misleading.

    I think more accurate is that NYRB is coming off a great win but has been uneven prior to that. DCU hasn’t closed out games well (giving away a bunch of wins to settle for ties on goals in the last 5 minutes) but has been tough to play against in all but 3 games this year. With Taino out that gives DeRo more freedom in the middle of the field to go forward.

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  11. He had 2+ months to play a trequartista role and failed miserably. He was not a good fit for NYRB – DeRo is not an enganche. However, he did have an active game tonight, one of his better games this year (either on NYRB or DCU).

    Keep in mind that Dax was also playing out of position tonight, he usually plays higher up the field and Tainio plays the pure DM role.

    Let’s see what NYRB does in the transfer market before declaring this trade over.

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  12. DC United will make the playoffs and Ben Olsen will get coach of the year!

    I missed the first half hour which apparently was when red bull dominated but from what I saw United just seemed to play so much more cohesively than red bull. Olsen has really turned them into a unit and I love their style of play. When New York possess they seem to look for long passes that spread the field, while United seem to like to try and play more ticy-tac short passing, and especially once they got the goal which i thought was gutsy/impressive… Have you been watching Barcelona lately, Mr. Olsen? 😉 haha…I love that the young American coaches (Olsen, Kries) are among those leading the charge on trying to bring that style of play to MLS.

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  13. First, while it’s natural to play up the story of DeRo scoring, the reality is:
    –he wasn’t a great fit in NY b/c Henry really should be the engancha
    –NYRB really needs defensive help. And they couldn’t add it without clearing cap space. With Marquez out, the defense is uneven and the GKing is mediocre at best. Thus, the team had to clear cap room.

    Second, for a young team, DCU has been surprisingly strong on the road. DCU’s record is deceptive. They’ve allowed themselves to get pushed around by NE and Houston. They’ve failed to close out a lot of games (which as resulted in a mediocre home record). But they’ve played most teams tough, they’ve gotten good results on the road, they show skill, there is clearly ability here.

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  14. to free up cap ($$$) space so that they can go out and add someone with a lesser salary. preferably they need a goalie and maybe some mid or d cover.

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