For 90 minutes, the New York Red Bulls took the match to D.C. United, but it never showed itself on the scoreboard. Fortune, composure and Bill Hamid worked against the Red Bulls in their snowy home opener as they failed to find the net and had to settle for a 0-0 draw at Red Bull Arena.
New York Red Bulls vs. D.C. United: Final score 0-0, RBNY can’t buy a win
For the third time in as many matches, the Red Bulls were the better side, but couldn’t come away with a win.
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New York has to be absolutely flabbergasted at this point, having been the better team in all three of their matches so far this season, but failing to win any of them. The takeaway from every match is that the Red Bulls have a lot of potential and are playing well, but the result is a meager two points.
Man of the Match: Bill Hamid
Hamid was the runaway winner, robbing New York time and time again. His best save came in the waning minutes when he reached back to paw a goal-bound ball off the line. Replays didn’t show whether he got the ball before he crossed the line, but the referee didn’t give the goal and it was a fittingly spectacular end to a tremendous match for the 22-year-old.
Hamid’s outstanding match isn’t an anomaly either. He’s been excellent in all three matches this season, showing the growth and maturity that D.C. has been waiting for from the talented kid. Once purely an athlete in goal, Hamid is showing poise and calm on things as simple as coming across the goal on a cross, shuffling instead of sprinting and scrambling. Twice he was quick off his line today to snuff out potentially dangerous balls and when you add that kind of maturity and the ability to read the game to his considerable physical tools, you have a monster in goal.
- That New York can lose when they outshoot D.C., 24-4, put seven shots on goal to D.C.'s two and have 57 percent of the possession is so Red Bulls.
- While Hamid did his part to keep New York out, fortune did not favor the Red Bulls. They hit the crossbar twice and saw the ball bounce the wrong way for them on several occasions.
- Ben Olsen keeps getting results out of his team when they have no business doing so. Whether it is winning without Dwayne De Rosario, like he did at the end of last season and at the beginning of this season, or managing to work around his shaky back line, Olsen somehow keeps churning out points and he can't point to his wardrobe and credit the fashion gods today either. Mike Petke brought it, too.
- Remember the Fabian Espindola who would hit his top speed and end up completely out of control? That Real Salt Lake player is gone and this new Red Bulls player is pretty damn good. Probably because he can see now without his hair in his face.
- Maybe De Rosario is still working into form after missing the first two matches through suspension, but you would be hard-pressed to remember a match in which he was as invisible as he was today.
- NBC did not have nearly enough slow motion snow shots.
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