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Rolfe and Hamid lead D.C. United past hapless Union

Bill Hamid

By IVES GALARCEP

The Philadelphia Union entered Saturday’s showdown vs. D.C. United winless in eight matches and facing the very real possibility that another loss could doom their coach, John Hackworth, to the unemployment line.

Rather than come out with an inspired performance, the Union started out flat, and D.C. United took advantage, playing a disciplined match and riding a Chris Rolfe goal and some impressive Bill Hamid saves on their way to a 1-0 victory at PPL Park on Saturday.

D.C. needed just six minutes to open the scoring, with a Cristian Hernandez cross being deflected to a wide-open Rolfe in front of goal. Rolfe calmly chested the ball down and blasted a volley past Zac MacMath to make the score 1-0.

D.C. United nearly made it 2-0 in the 32nd minute when Eddie Johnson latched onto a through-pass and scored past MacMath only to be ruled offside. Replays showed Johnson to not be offside.

The Union came out firing in the second half, looking like a very different team. Unfortunately, the results didn’t change. They still couldn’t find a way past Hamid, who pulled off a pair of impressive saves to deny Conor Casey.

The D.C. United team defending stayed sharp for the rest of the match, helping Hamid keep the clean sheet and post their fourth win of the season, surpassing last year’s total just 10 weeks into the 2014 season.

The loss drops the Union to 1-5-5, and 0-4-5 in their past nine matches. A run that has put Hackworth’s job in serious jeopardy.

Here are the match highlights:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zan79GGhzbE]

Comments

  1. “The Philadelphia Union entered Saturday’s showdown vs. D.C. United winless in eight matches and facing the very real possibility that another loss could doom their coach, John Hackworth, to the unemployment line.

    Rather than come out with an inspired performance, the Union started out flat, and D.C. United took advantage, playing a disciplined match and riding a Chris Rolfe goal and some impressive Bill Hamid saves on their way to a 1-0 victory at PPL Park on Saturday.” Hmm…. Maybe the players want him out as much as the fans do?? (I am not a fan of the Union, but Hack seems to be about the worst coach I have ever seen in the league, and is a complete joke).

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  2. DC is not looking like a real impressive team so far. They are looking to be a special team.

    Benny has changed things around this year.

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  3. It’s interesting to me that the consensus seemed to be that Philly “won” the 2014 SuperDraft. Yet here we are and Philly is getting no contribution from any of their 2014 draft class (which included two first round picks).

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  4. Austin Berry’s learning curve and a total lack of a true forward aside, this is ridiculous. Either the system isn’t working or the coach isn’t. Oh wait, the system was the coaches idea.

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  5. From the River End, I missed all of Hamid’s impressive saves. I didn’t see a single shot from the Union that would have required an impressive save from Hamid. He did a decent job, when a decent job was what was required but the Union attack looks absolutely toothless.

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      • Wengers turn is good and Hamid plays him very well positionally but Wenger just smashes the ball into hamids chest. The Casey save is a very good one, didn’t see that second save too well in the mess of shots around it. I didn’t mean my comment as any kind of knock on Hamid, he did everything asked of him. The Union just didn’t ask much. They didn’t take many shots, but when they did they put everything to Hamids chest or way off target. The mids are a huge improvement, and Berry looks good but maybe a striker comes next offseason.

      • I would add that, besides one corner where he was caught out of position, Hamid was a beast on set pieces and owning the 6 yard box.

        Physically he has the potential to be an amazing keeper, which is why he and Sean Johnson look to be in Klinsi’s stable of next generation keepers. Hamid is still very young even though he is a veteran, and he will continue to improve in reading the game and making decisions.

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