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WASHINGTON — D.C. United scored five times en route to a dominating victory over the Montreal Impact in a game with massive playoff implications Saturday night at Audi Field.
But the scoreline did not tell the full story.
“It wasn’t a 5-0 game,” D.C. United coach Olsen said. “If it was a boxing match it would have been pretty even.”
A dip below the headline shows a set of numbers with a different story. Six of United’s nine shots were on target and five of those went in the net. In Montreal’s column, 24 shots amounted to nothing on the scoreboard. United caught several lucky breaks Saturday, most of which came at the foot of missed Montreal chances.
Midfielder Luciano Acosta continued his contribution streak, adding a goal and three assists against the Impact. He opened up scoring in the 17th minute thanks to a quick combination play with midfielder Yamil Asad, who returned after a month-long absence due to injury.
“If you look at when he came to the summer, his growth was slow. He certainly changed the trajectory of his growth over the last several months,” Olsen said of Acosta. “He has been a lot of fun to watch.”
Acosta passed the ball to Asad at the top of the box. Asad quickly found Acosta in space, and he ripped a low shot that curled just inside the left post.
“I am playing at a very high level,” Acosta said. “There are still things that we can improve and there are always things I can improve.”
Despite leading for the entire first half, United (10-11-8) allowed the Impact (12-15-4) to take nine shots in the opening 45 minutes.
“The game started out, from our standpoint, pretty brightly,” Olsen said. “They [started] to step on the gas a little bit and play higher up the field and we were very passive…That is where we rode our luck a little bit where they could have counter-punched us.”
Montreal’s closest chance came from a United turnover in its defensive third that finished with former Premier League defender Bacary Sagna missing an easy rebound.
In the 21st minute, Quincy Amarikwa combined with Saphir Taider on a give-and-go before crossing to a streaking Sagna. Hamid blocked Sagna’s first shot before rolling in near-somersault fashion to stop the second shot.
“I am just doing my job,” Hamid said. “Bacary Sagna was playing very high throughout the games … he got a good strike on it, but luckily I made the save.”
United dominated after the restart, adding four more goals to secure the win to inch closer to the playoff line in the East, moving within two points of sixth-place Montreal with two games in hand.
“Coming out of the second half, the mentality was great from the guys,” Olsen said. “But it doesn’t do you any good to press unless you can make them pay for it.”
United’s second-half goals came from capitalizing on the mistakes forced through a high-press offense. Midfielder Paul Arriola and Rooney scored a brace each in the largest club win since 2001 — a 5-0 victory over New England Revolution.
Arriola and Rooney hit their braces three minutes apart late in the match. Following a series of triangle passes from United, Acosta made a run toward goal, but lost the ball. Arriola, though, was close behind to finish the play.
Despite a silent first half, Rooney scored twice in the second half. The latter of which was a flick over the sliding legs of Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush in the 81st minute.
“It is a big result for us because we know Montreal, the next few games, maybe they lose a little bit of confidence,” Rooney said. “We have a lot of confidence out of this game and are in a great position for the playoffs.”
United’s biggest fight through the remaining five games of the season isn’t an opponent, rather a battle from within to make a postseason appearance.
“We started this process the day we didn’t make playoffs last year,” Olsen said.
The steep climb up the Eastern Conference continue for United next week against Chicago Fire.
“I like the groups mentality, but I hope they understand now what we need to do over the next month to reach our goal,” Olsen said. “We need to forget about this very quickly and move on to Chicago.”