Recap: DC dominate Rapids in comfortable home victory

WASHINGTON — D.C. United rode goals from Dwayne De Rosario and Hamdi Salihi to a comfortable 2-0 victory over the Colorado Rapids at RFK Stadium on Wednesday night.

GOAL: De Rosario slots home

Neither team looked threatening in the first half, until De Rosario opened up the scoring in the 25th minute with his third goal of the campaign. Englishman Lewis Neal picked up a loose ball in midfield with space to roam, and made his way towards goal before picking out De Rosario’s run. The Canadian international slipped a shot past Matt Pickens for the 1-0 lead.

Salihi’s goal came courtesy of Neal and Branko Boskovic, with 30 minutes remaining in the game to essentially end any hope the Rapids had of mounting a comeback. After De Rosario had the ball cleared, Neal picked up the pieces and sent a cross in for Boskovic, and the resulting header was saved by Pickens. But the predatory Salihi was right there to knock in the rebound, and despite protests for offside from Colorado’s players, the goal stood for the 2-0 advantage.

LINEUPS AND BOX SCORE

De Rosario’s goal woke up United in the first half, and only the heroics of Pickens kept United from adding to their lead in the opening 45 minutes. DeRo had a deflected shot that was parried away by Pickens before the Colorado keeper kept out Robbie Russell’s powerful header.

Andy Najar also fell victim to Pickens, as the Honduran’s weaving run around Luis Zapata resulted in a well-placed shot that Pickens sprawled out to ensure it did not find the back of the net.

The Rapids came alive early in the second half, after they failed to muster a shot on target in the first half. Tony Cascio did well to get a long-range effort from the right flank on target, but Bill Hamid was at full stretch to knock the ball behind for a corner.

Jamie Castrillón had a volley attempt minutes later that Hamid was out early to block away. Conor Casey, who made his first start of the 2012 season, headed a cross into the box for Castrillón, but the Colombian had no angle to get past Hamid.

OPTA Chalkboard: See how United dominated

Colorado’s inability to find the back of the net was punished by United in the 60th minute, as Salihi struck for his third goal of the season, and third goal in the past four games. Any chance of a Colorado comeback vanished with the goal, and United rode out the final 30 minutes for the win.

The Rapids, who fall to 5-6-0 with the loss, head home on Saturday to host Sporting Kansas City, while United (6-4-3) have the benefit of staying home before welcoming Toronto FC on Saturday at RFK Stadium.

With the win, D.C. move level on points with Sporting, who currently occupy second place in the Eastern Conference standings.

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