Listless United Opens Key Stretch With a Yawn

Toronto FC 2, United 0

TORONTO, Aug. 15 -- D.C. United embarked on the most demanding stretch of the year Saturday afternoon with a performance that offered no encouragement for the near future. Defensive slips, an incoherent attack and an absence of inspiration resulted in a 2-0 loss to Toronto FC before an announced crowd of 20,648 at BMO Field.

"You always want to start these stretches in the right way, and it's very disappointing," United Coach Tom Soehn said after the first of 10 matches in three competitions over 31 days. "We are going to have to adjust very quick."

Dwayne De Rosario scored on a 30th-minute header and rookie O'Brian White struck midway through the second half for Toronto (8-7-6, 30 points), which overtook United (6-5-10, 28) for third place in MLS's Eastern Conference and dropped D.C. to 1-3-3 in the past seven league matches.

United is 0-4-5 on the road since a comeback victory at New York almost four months ago and has allowed at least two goals in five of the past seven league outings.

Equally troubling, United is not displaying the rhythm that one would expect from a veteran group. Santino Quaranta had two quality scoring chances in the second half and Marc Burch's free kick was nicely saved, but for the most part, United's attack was disjointed and meek.

"Off the field, the chemistry is really good," forward Jaime Moreno said. "On the field, we are struggling right now. We've got to solve whatever it is because we don't have a lot of time."

With a stack of matches ahead, including a trip to Honduras for Tuesday's Champions League group opener against Marathon, Soehn's plan is to carefully manage minutes for his regulars. On Saturday, his lineup was close to full strength, but the effort and execution were woefully lacking.

It was particularly upsetting for Soehn after watching his team play with determination and some success in last weekend's friendly against Spanish titan Real Madrid at FedEx Field. "You're not going to win games if you have five or six guys not playing up to their capabilities," he said.

Playmaker Christian Gómez, wing Fred and striker Luciano Emilio had little to offer, and central defender Dejan Jakovic was beaten on the first goal and exposed on other occasions.

"It doesn't seem like, back to front, anything is working," Quaranta said. "We're bypassing midfield, we panic at the back and dump balls forward. The cohesion isn't there, and that's not good at this point in the year."

United looked comfortable on the artificial turf at the start, moving the ball quickly and crisply, but nothing came of it -- no decisive passes or assertive forays, just a few minor threats of small bother to Toronto goalkeeper Stefan Frei.

Toronto generated two quality chances in the first 15 minutes, but White's shot deep in the box was blocked by Bryan Namoff and Jim Brennan's header struck the right post.