The game in 200 words (or less): No individual โ other than Ben Olsen, perhaps โ has benefitted from the arrival of Wayne Rooney at D.C. United more so than Luciano Acosta. Through his first 82 games in MLS, Acosta managed to rack up nine goals and 23 assists โ a healthy enough haul considering the lack of quality around him since day one in 2016. Still, the frustration and unhappiness were plain to see, every time the Argentine playmakerโs teammates werenโt able to link up or finish one of his brilliant through balls. In Unitedโs last five games (Acosta has played 438 of 450 minutes), including Sundayโs 2-0 win over the 10-man New England Revolution: four goals and three assists. Of course, United, as a whole, have benefitted greatly, too. Their record in Rooneyโs eight games: 5W-1D-2L (prior to his debut, the Black and Red won just two of 14 games). Olsen and Co., have risen from last place in the Eastern Conference and reach the dizzying heights of eighth place, where they are now just six points back of fifth and sixth place โ a de facto impossibility just a month ago, when they had just 10 points to their name and were 13 off the pace of sixth.
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Three moments that mattered
13โฒ โ Acosta finishes with aplomb at the back post โ The three Revs defenders, who let the ball run across the face of goal without making any attempt to play or clear it, could have done just about anything else and it would have been preferable to what they did.
73โฒ โ Caldwell gets a second yellow, Revs down to 10 โ Scott Caldwell didnโt need to run into Junior Moreno a full second or two after the ball was away, but he did so anyway. No advantage to gain from the โchallenge,โ and Caldwellโs teammates had to finish the game a man short.
89โฒ โ Stieber gets in behind, makes it 2-0 โย Rooney had skied a nearly identical chance just seconds earlier, leaving it up to Zoltan Stieber to put the game to bed.
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Man of the match: Luciano Acosta
Goalscorers: Acosta (13โฒ), Stieber (89โฒ)
