Dwayne De Rosario's 61st-minute strike was all D.C. United needed to snap their five-game winless streak and defeated New York Red Bulls 1-0 Saturday night in Harrison, N.J. The win was United's first since their 3-2 road success against the Portland Timbers back on May 29 and temporarily vaulted United into 4th place in the Eastern Conference.
The winning goal came from a great piece of team passing and individual skill. De Rosario, who was traded from New York to D.C. for Dax McCarty on June 27, sold a wonderful dummy by stepping over an Andy Najar pass from the right flank. The ball ran to Josh Wolff, who sent a nicely weighted pass to the streaking De Rosario. The Canadian international took one touch with his right foot before smashing the ball off the inside of the right post and into the left-side netting with his left foot.
From there, United were able to frustrate Red Bulls for the final half-hour of the match, though it might have been a different story of Thierry Henry had taken advantage of the gift offered him by the United defense in the 50th minute. A loose pass from Daniel Woolard eluded Brandon McDonald and rolled into no-man's land. Henry got to the ball first, but he was matched stride-for-stride by Ethan White and his left-footed shot, deprived of some of its power, was palmed aside by Bill Hamid.