Photo by Brad Mills/USA Today Sports
By FRANCO PANIZO
ORLANDO — Bill Hamid wanted no part of the conversation regarding his game-saving efforts on Friday, but make no mistake he was as worthy of being in the spotlight as any D.C. United player.
D.C. United stole three points from Orlando City thanks to a late free kick from substitute Luis Silva, but it was the impenetrable and spectacular Hamid that left the door open for the 1-0 win. Though Orlando dominated the match at the Citrus Bowl for large stretches and created a number of opportunities, it was Hamid who dazzled with a string of impressive saves that left the Lions in a pool of frustration and awe.
The 24-year-old goalkeeper was especially remarkable in the first half, pulling off a pair of close-range stops on Kevin Molino and Rafael Ramos. Hamid then followed that up by stoning Molino again on a breakaway in the 41st minute, keeping the one-sided affair scoreless at the break.
“We’re asking a lot of Bill for this group, and I’d like to ask less of him and not have these type of nights,” D.C. United head coach Ben Olsen told SBI. “But it’s nice to know that when you do, you’ve got a keeper that can handle and stand up in that type of pressure.”
While the saves will grab much of the attention and make the highlight reel, Hamid also demonstrated a good command of his penalty area. Olsen lauded that when asked where Hamid has made significant improvements over the past couple of years, and also mentioned the angles the youngster takes and the communication with his defenders.
Hamid may be a more well-rounded goalkeeper these days than during his early years, when he would spoil stunning saves by making cringe-worthy mistakes on routine plays. But the goalkeeper’s bread and butter will continue to be his cat-like reflexes, which were on full display against Orlando City en route to helping D.C. improve to 3-1 on the season.
“Bill was huge, Bill was huge,” Chris Pontius told SBI. “You ask your goalkeeper to keep you in the game, and he went over the top of that. Big time saves for us. I still get amazed when I see him make some of those saves. It’s just nice to know that you’ve got that presence behind you.”
Hamid, for his part, refused to talk about his night shortly after Silva’s free kick beat Orlando goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts and found the back of the net. The 6-foot-3 U.S. Men’s National Team pool player instead wanted to focus on what D.C. accomplished, even when asked directly about his timely saves.
“I think we all just gained rhythm throughout the game,” said Hamid. “We kind of weathered the other team’s storm and we made plays all over the field and that’s all we did today, and we got three points.”
Hamid may not have been keen to talk about himself, but the rest of his teammates had nothing but compliments about his latest performance in between the pipes. They knew he was crucial to them overcoming an overall lackluster performance, one that could have ended in extremely ugly fashion if not for Hamid’s heroics.
D.C. United was second in almost every category on Friday night. But, thanks to Hamid, the scoreboard wasn’t one of them.
“It doesn’t surprise me that much,” said Olsen. “We’ve seen these type of performances from him, in particular last year.”
When this article said that Hamid in his early days mixed in great saves with cringe worth mistakes, it made me think of that new guy with Houston–Tyler Deric. It will be interesting to see if he develops as well as Hamid has.
I was more impressed how well DC United integrated so many new players into their team: Brian Boswell, Davy Arnold and Nick Deleoni all had great games. I’m glad Paul Caliguiri was able to draw their play to my attention!
That’s interesting. I didn’t actually think DC had a particularly good game. They weren’t bad and it was an immensely fun game to watch, but I thought Orlando was clearly the better side. They just couldn’t finish, made mistakes in the back, and DC came up big when they needed to.
Nordy’s comment was probably sarcasm but I could be wrong. Paul Caligiuri kept using the wrong names all night such as Brian Boswell instead of Bobby Boswell.
I wasn’t too fond of Hamid when he first came to D.C. (well, he is from Annandale, but I mean when he started playing for United). Every distribution then was a monstrous kick downfield – a 50-50 ball at best. Then a year or two later, when he came off the line in 1v1 situations, it seemed 50-50 he would either make a great save or give away a penalty. He’s grown tremendously since, and is definitely in the discussion for best MLS keepers as well as USMNT pool. His distribution still isn’t what I’d like to see on the USMNT, and I’m more comfortable with Guzan right now, but Hamid seems to be still developing.
Does he ever go back? After all, DC United won’t do.
Guzan, don’t forget, is six years older.
I wanted to compare him to A-Rod and/or Peyton for being an awesome regular season player who chokes when it actually matters, but A-Rod and Peyton each have a trophy.
WHOMP WHOMP.
How many trophies does Tim Howard or Brad Guzan have?
Bill has at least two:
1 open cup
1 armadillo – which is much much cooler looking, but wasn’t particularly hard to get.
Suckhole,
I see you never let something like facts get in the way of an opinion.
To be fair, his name is Suckhole. I’m not really expecting nuanced, rational statements from a guy who voluntarily chooses the name Suckhole
Yeah. If you MUST troll, at least clearly identify yourself as such. There is no false advertising here.
Well done, Suckhole. Now please resuming slipping your package through a hole in the bathroom stall wall for a random stranger to service. Or are you the catcher? Oh, nevermind, I really don’t wanna know. Carry on.
Not sure why he is not a DP. He is their MVP.
Yeah, we gave that honor to a guy that will likely never play the sport again and another that is suspended for the first 6 games.
Independent of EJ’s heart issues, he was the most undeserving DP in MLS. At least Espindola puts up the numbers. I like the DCU attack when Silva and Espindola are paired together. If I was a DCU fan, I would be happy with Hamid, Espindola, and a yet to be signed CMF to complement Kitchen in the back. If they had a good number 8 to go to with Kitchen, this team would be much more dangerous.