For the first time since their season-opening win over Columbus March 19, D.C. United have gone into halftime locked in a goalless draw. This time FC Dallas is on the other side of the stalemate after a first half in which true scoring chances were few and far between at RFK.
It looked as though goals would come early and often in the first ten minutes of the match as United got their best chance of the first half just past the seven-minute mark. A long ball from United's own half by left-back Daniel Woolard was not dealt with properly at all by Brek Shea, who headed it right into the path of Charlie Davies. However, the striker's first touch failed him, and Kevin Hartman alertly ran out to take the ball off Davies' foot. Andy Najar was on the mark to collect the loose ball, and had a good sight of goal with Hartman down by the penalty spot, but the Honduran's shot was cleared off the line by Ugo Ihemelu.
The visitors did not have any chances nearly as good as that one, though Dejan Jakovic nearly put the ball in his own net off a long throw-in in the 39th minute only to see the ball slide harmlessly wide of Bill Hamid's net.
Despite the early fireworks, the first half was generally a poor advertisement for MLS as neither team could quite get an upper hand on the proceedings and were distinctly lacking in attacking quality. It was also rather remarkable that referee Baldomero Toledo chose not to show a yellow card in the whole first half, despite several hard challenges from both sides. In particular, both Najar and Davies were slow to get up after challenges from FC Dallas players, and both Perry Kitchen and Woolard could have easily been booked for bundling over Fabian Castillo and Marvin Chavez, respectively.