D.C. United got a goal from Fred in the 27th minute and held on the remainder of the way, for a 1-0 victory Saturday night against the Chicago Fire.
Brian McBride made his Chicago debut, coming on at halftime and nearly scored the equalizer, but saw it stopped by United goalkeeper Louis Crayton, who was making his MLS debut.
The Fire had the first good chance of the match. Cuauhtemoc Blanco took a freekick in the 13th minute, sending it over the wall, but put it just right of the goal.
United took the lead in the 27th minute. Jaime Moreno sent a corner kick into the box and Fred found himself unmarked in the right side of the box, jumped up and headed it into the net for a 1-0 lead.
The Fire were able to get only one shot on target in the first half, by Chris Rolfe in the 44th minute. His shot was saved by Crayton, a Liberian international signed only the day before by D.C, who played in place of Zach Wells.
D.C. United came on strong in the second half and almost made it 2-0 just two minutes in. In the 47th minute, United's Fred shot the ball but it came off the right post and back into play.
In the 64th minute Logan Pause stole the ball and found Blanco on the right side of the box. Blanco dodged a defender and curled the ball toward upper left corner. Crayton was beaten, but the ball ricocheted off the crossbar and out.
McBride entered the game in the 46th minute as a substitute for Marco Pappa, and he made some noise late in the game. In the 88th minute, Wilman Conde sent the ball into the box and McBride fired toward goal. But Crayton was there to smother it.
Then in stoppage time, McBride headed a ball toward goal but it was blocked by a defender.
In Crayton's first match for D.C. United, he earned his first win and made two saves, making his first shutout which was just the second of the season for United.
D.C. United players collected seven yellow cards in the match. One went to Gonzalo Martinez, who will miss United's next game, Wednesday at New England, due to yellow card accumulation.
United improves to 9-9-1 (28 points) on the season and remains in fourth place in the East, while the Fire 9-6-5 (32 points) drop to third in the East. They travel to Los Angeles to take on the Galaxy on MLS Primetime Thursday.
Kathryn L. Knapp is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
