Dwayne De Rosario scored two goals in ten second-half minutes against his former team as 10-man D.C. United vaulted back into the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race with a 2-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes Saturday night at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara.
De Rosario's first goal came in the 57th minute when Andy Najar's long ball from his own half dropped at the feet of the Canadian international. De Rosario collected the ball, leaving a stumbling Nana Attakora in his wake, and raced to the edge of the area before curling a right-footed shot past Jon Busch and into the top corner of the net. It was the least the visitors deserved, since they had been the more aggressive side in the second half. De Rosario had two shots from distance turned aside by Busch early in the second 45 minutes, while Chris Pontius' curling 55th minute try from a sharp angle on the left side of the box just whizzed past the left post.
De Rosario added his second in the 67th minute after playing a give-and-go with Pontius on the left wing. Pontius slid a diagonal ball into the center of the penalty area, where De Rosario was waiting to deposit the ball into the same corner that he had put his first goal.
United managed to kill the game off, but not without some trouble and controversy, as Andy Najar was correctly sent off in the 70th minute after a clumsy tackle from behind on Joey Gjertsen, who was running onto a long ball from Sam Cronin. Najar incurred an automatic one-game suspension as a result of the expulsion, meaning he will miss next weekend's home match against Toronto FC.
Despite being down a man for the final 20 minutes, United managed to preserve the clean sheet, though they needed an excellent save by Bill Hamid to deny Chris Wondolowski 10 minutes from the end.