David and ... Benny?: DCU v Fire player ratings

Why is it that when the Fire have to play away from home it is basically the same result? Always: One half of decent soccer, and another half of absolute crap that makes us embarrassed being supporters of the Men in Red. Instead of rehashing the debacle that happened on Wednesday night in Washington DC, I'll just provide a quick summary.

In the 1st half the Fire played like any away team would, sitting back and taking their chances on the counter when they came. A blatant handball in the box by DC defender Steve Birnbaum led to a PK that Jeff Larenwtowicz took, but former Fire keeper Andrew Dykstra saved. About a minute later, Quincy Amarikwa - yeah, Quincy - provided a cross into the middle that David Accam coolly put away for a 1-0 lead. That is the way the half ended - a decent half by the Fire.

It was the second half where everything came undone for the Fire. Fabian Espindola came in at half time for DC and rejuvenated the DC team. 2 goals from Jairo Arrieta and one for Conor Doyle left the Fire's backline in shambles and a poor second half attack from the men in red gave all 3 points to the East leading DC United.

Lets Rank Some Players

My first of 2 stars has to go to David Accam. He can sure create offense as his speed is deadly on the attack. His goal Wednesday night was just pure out-hustling the DC backline to get on the end of the cross that Quincy supplied. He is going to be heavily relied on this season as a catalyst for offensive chances. Hopefully he won't miss too much time this season as we will get a look of how much we need him to help this team, as he will be missing the next 2 matches according to the Ghanaian FA.

My second star doesn't go to anyone on the Fire - as I don't think anyone else deserved a star, but it goes to DC coach Ben Olsen. I really hate talking about him but here is how Wednesday night played out as he out coached Frank Yallop. DC was missing some key players and they fielded a weaker than normal team. Yallop did the same, which for the life of me I don't understand why he didn't keep the same lineup that he put out last Saturday. Olsen recognized at halftime that he needed to make adjustments to his team and they took over the 2nd half. Frank seemed to just stand pat with plan A and had no answer as the lead disappeared. The only thing that Frank could do was sub on more attacking players. Olsen just made the right adjustments to keep all 3 points at home.

Next up is Orlando City's first visit to the Windy City as an MLS team. Will the Fire be able to turn it around and get some positive momentum before heading to Foxborough next weekend? I hope so - and I hope there will be another red card for the visitors, as that seems the only way we can get all 3 points this season.

Did you have any stars of the match? Did you find any positive outcomes from that awful second half display?