Photo by Brad Mills/USA Today Sports
By CLIFF STARKEY
WASHINGTON—Although the season is still young, the MLS standings arms race is heating up and beginning to take shape. Both D.C. United and the Houston Dynamo looked to their Saturday evening match in the nation’s capital as a chance to keep pace with early MLS frontrunners.
Goals by Chris Rolfe and Ricardo Clark kept both teams level at RFK Stadium on Saturday night, and ensured that neither team could push its way up the early-season conference standings as the two sides played to a 1-1 draw.
With a win, D.C. United could have jumped ahead of theNew York Red Bulls for top spot in the East, while Houston might have found themselves second in the West, barring other weekend results.
Houston looked to establish dominance early in the game, and only a save by goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra—starting in place of injured Bill Hamid—kept Houston off the score sheet early.
D.C. United struggled for most of the first half, and had difficulty creating many opportunities—let alone a goal—until Jairo Arrieta’s hard work in the attacking third set up a superb free kick goal by Rolfe. The ball sat just outside of the 18-yard-box, and Rolfe’s shot curled around Houston’s wall and into the top corner of the goal. Dynamo goalkeeper Tyler Deric managed to get a hand on the ball, but couldn’t keep it out of the net as D.C. United went up 1-0.
After the goal, D.C. United’s attack came to life, and only some last-ditch defending by Houston kept the scoreline 1-0 heading into halftime.
Houston found their equalizer in the 65th minute, when Ricardo Clark was able to put away a rebound after Dykstra’s save on Will Bruin’s close header to his near post spilled back out into play.
Despite the draw, D.C. United have matched their second-best ever franchise start to a season (2006), with 11 points through six games. Only 1997’s dominant season (13 points) was better.
Next weekend, D.C. United travels to Vancouver for a Saturday showdown against the Whitecaps, while the Dynamo return home to host Sporting Kansas City on Saturday.
Rolfe’s goal was fantastic!!