Wearing a long-sleeve black shirt on a rare hot Washington day in early October, Wayne Rooney again lifted his club to victory when it appeared D.C. United’s playoff hopes would be dashed at Audi Field on Sunday afternoon.
Rooney scored two goals in the second half as D.C. United came back to beat the Chicago Fire 2-1 before 20,064 appreciative fans.
“When they scored, we responded well,” said Rooney, whose team trailed 1-0 with 39 minutes left. “These are the games we have to win. We knew the importance of today’s game.”
“(Rooney) did lay it all out,” D.C. United coach Ben Olsen said. “He usually does. It’s in his DNA. He’s been great. The guy’s a winner.”
Seventh-place D.C. United (now 11-11-8, 41 points) entered the weekend three points back of sixth-place Montreal in the Eastern Conference, with the top six teams qualifying for the playoffs.
Then the D.C. club got some bad news Saturday as Montreal (43 points) beat fifth-place Columbus (48).
“We watched the game yesterday and (Montreal) won 3-0,” D.C. United defender Frederic Brillant said. “So we have to do the job and we did today. We are not worried about the goal we conceded; we have confidence we can play together. In the end, we won the game. For me, it is not a surprise.”
And it is certainly not a surprise the D.C. club won again at Audi Field, where they have not lost in more than six weeks.
The black and red are 10-2-2 at home this season, where they have outscored their foes, 32-16.
Away from home, D.C. United is 1-9-6 this season and has been outscored by 10 goals. United has scored 55 goals this year, the most since 2007.
D.C. United will play its next three games at Audi Field, including Saturday against first-place Dallas. Then the regular-season finale is Oct. 28 at Chicago.
“We know we have one away game left with Chicago,” said Rooney, who has scored nine goals with seven assists in 16 matches since joining the club in July. “We know if we make the playoffs it will be away from home. The home crowd has been great. We play very well here.”
“The more we win now the easier we make it on ourselves,” United midfielder Paul Arriola said. “With Montreal winning yesterday … we have tough opponents coming up.”
United trailed in the second half, but Rooney scored off his own rebound to tie the match at 1-1 in the 62nd minute.
He scored on a penalty kick 19 minutes later for a 2-1 lead on a day the temperature was around 85 degrees.
On the other end of the pitch, United goalkeeper Bill Hamid had some key saves to keep the match scoreless in the first half.
The first goal by Rooney came just seconds after teammate Zoltan Stieber, who did not play in the previous match, came in as a reserve for Ulises Segura.
D.C. United got more good news from its bench, as Nick DeLeon entered the game in the closing minutes for Yamil Asad. DeLeon had been out with a knee injury and had not played since May 26.
His return aids a squad that lost defender Oniel Fisher to a knee injury in a win last weekend against Montreal.
Raheem Edwards scored his first goal of the season for Chicago early in the second half to help the Fire take a 1-0 lead.
But D.C. United got a rare comeback win, improving to 3-7-4 after allowing the first goal.
A lot of that is due to Rooney, who turns 33 on Oct. 24.
“He brings something more and we saw that today,” Brillant said.
Is Olsen more confident of a playoff spot after the win?
“I feel the same way I did before: we have to keep pushing,” Olsen said. “That is how it’s going to roll for the rest of the year. That’s OK.”
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