A sequence both familiar and altogether foreign unfolded minutes before D.C. United kicked off an exasperating 4-1 loss to the Houston Dynamo on Saturday night at Audi Field.
As Ben Olsen emerged from beneath the southern stands, the 47-year-old United icon greeted the home fans with a grin and an overhead clap. Plenty of hugs were dispensed along the sideline. After directing another wave toward the crowd, he took a seat at the bench traditionally manned by the home coach.
Nowadays, of course, the former United coach doesn’t call the shots here — that responsibility belongs to first-year boss Troy Lesesne. As Olsen managed the visiting Dynamo, Lesesne took his place some 20 yards to Olsen’s right, in the technical area reserved for the visiting coach before D.C. flipped the arrangement this season.
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By the time the final whistle mercifully blew, Olsen had plenty more to applaud. Lesesne, meanwhile, could only bow his head and tuck his hands in his pockets. After Christian Benteke’s penalty kick gave United (4-9-7) the lead before halftime, Sebastián Ferreira’s second-half hat trick and a late strike from Gabe Segal secured three points for the Dynamo (7-6-6), extending D.C.’s winless skid to eight (0-6-2).
United’s comeback efforts were hampered by a rash red card from Benteke — the Belgian striker responsible for more than half of the club’s goals — for confronting referee Tim Ford in the 66th minute.
“This is a bad performance from us tonight,” Lesesne said. “We have to take responsibility and accountability, and we’ve been saying that too often lately. So we need to figure some things out.”
Olsen was coaching his first match at Audi Field since he was fired in October 2020, ending his 10-year tenure on the sideline and a 23-year relationship with the club as a player or coach.
“I gave this club everything I had for 20 years,” Olsen said. “Some appreciate it, and obviously some didn’t appreciate it. But I love this organization. It gave me a lot of opportunity, and I think I gave them a little bit as well.”
After failing to win a playoff game in his final five seasons with United or a trophy in his last six, Olsen did both in his inaugural campaign overseeing the Dynamo, steering the club to the Western Conference final and a run to the U.S. Open Cup title. United has been a revolving door: Lesesne is the club’s third full-time coach since Olsen’s exit, and D.C. didn’t field anyone against the Dynamo who played under Olsen.
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Lesesne’s squad struck first. Benteke and Jacob Murrell executed a give-and-go in transition before Benteke lured goalkeeper Steve Clark out of position, pivoted toward goal and forced Houston midfielder Artur to haul him down for a penalty kick. Shaking Clark with a stutter step, Benteke powered his 38th-minute spot kick down the middle for his 14th goal.
The Dynamo leveled with a penalty of its own in the 51st: Ferreira’s header glanced off the arm of United substitute Matai Akinmboni, the referee pointed to the spot, and Ferreira sent D.C. goalkeeper Tyler Miller the wrong way. Houston took the lead three minutes later when the ball ricocheted around the box and Ferreira prodded his rolling bid into the side netting. The strike stood despite United’s pleas for a foul in the buildup after the Dynamo’s Amine Bassi sent Mateusz Klich tumbling to the turf.
United’s hopes of salvaging a result plummeted when Benteke got tossed. After drawing a yellow card for recklessly crashing into Houston defender Griffin Dorsey, the league’s second-leading scorer heatedly confronted Ford, who didn’t hesitate to pull a red card from his back pocket.
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Ferreira iced the win in the 86th, collecting a cross from former United winger Brad Smith and depositing a 12-yard shot past Miller. A second yellow for Akinmboni in stoppage time reduced United to nine men for the game’s final demoralizing minutes, during which Segal capped the scoring with a tap-in tally.
“The standard is just not nearly good enough all around,” Miller said. “Everybody needs to really raise their own level and dig deep.”
Here’s what else to know about United’s loss:
Home woes persist
United dropped to 3-5-3 at Audi Field. On a day that D.C. reached 100 degrees for the first time in nearly eight years, 17,993 braved the heat for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff. But a spirited environment wasn’t enough for United to notch its first home win since April 27 against Seattle — an 0-3-3 stretch at Buzzard Point.
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“It’s really important to make D.C. and Audi Field a difficult place to come,” said Miller, who made his second start of the season after recovering from shoulder surgery. “Frankly, right now it’s not.”
D.C. meets the New York Red Bulls next Saturday in Harrison, N.J., before hosting FC Cincinnati on July 3. Benteke and Akinmboni will miss the match against New York while serving red-card suspensions.
Rodríguez gets a start
Martín Rodríguez, a Chilean midfielder who missed the 2023 campaign with a torn ACL, made his first start since October 2022 as one of three changes from the lineup that fell to Atlanta, 1-0, on Wednesday.
Rodríguez’s addition was part of a tactical shift for United, which came out in a 4-1-3-2 formation after using a five-man back line in recent weeks. He joined Klich, Matti Peltola and Ted Ku-DiPietro in midfield, and Jared Stroud was on the bench after starting the first 19 games.
Midfielder Jackson Hopkins (lower back) and attacker Kristian Fletcher (ankle) remained sidelined for United, which subbed off Garrison Tubbs in first-half stoppage time after a clash of heads with teammate Cristian Dájome left the rookie with blood streaming down his face. Lesesne said Tubbs probably suffered a concussion.
