Olsen Wonders About Summer Plans

Midfielder Scores As Unbeatens Tie: United 1, FC Dallas 1

It's so tempting to draw dramatic conclusions from what unfolded at RFK Stadium last night. In his final D.C. United appearance before the U.S. World Cup team is named and with national team coach Bruce Arena in attendance, Ben Olsen scored from 25 yards during a 1-1 tie with FC Dallas.

Hence, with that mighty left-footed strike, Olsen surely secured his ticket to Germany this summer.

In truth, however, it didn't matter what Olsen contributed just three days before Arena's big announcement.

"Bruce is going to judge me on my play the last couple months, not on what I did tonight," he said. "It's nice to score a goal in front of him, but it's going to be much more than that."

It might not have helped his cause, but it didn't hurt either. In the 17th minute, Olsen ran onto Josh Gros's pass and one-timed a low shot just out of the reach of goalkeeper Dario Sala and into the right corner for his first goal of the year. What stunned his teammates and the crowd of 18,889 was that he did it with his left foot.

"I was blessed by Marco Etcheverry -- that's the only way I can explain it," Olsen said in reference to his former teammate, a left-footed maestro. Etcheverry, Olsen and nine other players -- as well as Arena, a former United coach -- were honored before the game for being voted to the club's all-decade team.

"I think he was very lucky," Etcheverry joked, before adding, "he deserved it."

Dallas midfielder Ronnie O'Brien matched Olsen's goal late in the first half to keep both clubs unbeaten with 3-0-2 records. It's the first time in its 11 seasons that United is undefeated after five games.

Although it outplayed Dallas in the second half, United was unable to take the lead because of Sala, who made two sensational saves in a four-minute span and thwarted several other dangerous situations. In the 61st minute, he made a reflex stop on Bobby Boswell's header. Josh Gros put away the rebound, but the goal was disallowed because Gros had been offside on the build-up.

Four minutes later, Sala made a flying save with his left hand on Christian Gomez's 20-yard free kick.

"We did everything right," United Coach Peter Nowak said. "We scored a goal, we had a couple of more chances but we give up a bad goal. In the second half it was much, much better and we took charge."

Nowak maintained the same starting lineup as the one that produced a 4-1 victory at New York last weekend. The only change was tactical, as Gros and Freddy Adu switched sides.

United's pressure paid off in the 17th minute as Gros, from the top of the penalty area, touched the ball back into Olsen's path for his perfectly placed shot.

Dallas struck for the equalizer in the 41st minute. O'Brien, usually wreaking havoc on the right flank, collected the ball in a central position, found some space in front of him and cracked a 30-yarder with deceiving velocity past fully extended keeper Troy Perkins for his first goal of the year.

United established control in the second half and thought it had regained the lead, but Gros was ruled offside. The infraction didn't occur while he scored the goal, but a few seconds earlier when Christian Gomez delivered a cross that Boswell headed on target.

"I went over to the linesman, we talked like gentlemen and he told me it was just me and the goalie," Gros said.

With the game slowing down and Dallas seemingly content with a tie, Nowak pressed for victory in the closing minutes by pulling defender Brandon Prideaux in favor of forward Jamil Walker. However, Dallas continued to clutter the middle of the field and yielded few opportunities. When United did find an opening, Sala closed it down.

"It's not so much he's a fantastic keeper," D.C. forward Alecko Eskandarian said, "he just read the game well. There were a couple times where I took my touch and by the time I looked up, he had already made the save."

MLS Notes: Dallas's most dangerous forward, Carlos Ruiz, was benched by Coach Colin Clarke, apparently for missing a practice session this week. He entered in the 84th minute and had no impact. . . . Dallas's game-day roster included former Maryland Terrapins Abe Thompson and Clarence Goodson (both W.T. Woodson High graduates), Easton, Md., native Alex Yi (McDonogh High) and Baltimore-born Kenny Cooper, son of the former Baltimore Blast coach of the same name.