What We Learned From Wayne Rooney’s Stunning D.C. United Managing Debut

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ON — If you somehow missed it, Wayne Rooney’s managerial debut with D.C. United — like much of the former English superstar’s playing career — had to be seen to be believed.

For the opening 45 minutes, the MLS side Rooney previously played for in 2018 and 2019 looked very much like the woeful outfit they’ve been for four previous winless games.

And even an improved second-half performance didn’t appear it would be enough to snag any points until the clock hit 90 and stoppage time began.

Then everything changed

First, Chris Durkin scored his first professional league goal since the 2020-2021 Belgian Juliper league season, smashing home Ola Kamara’s cross with a ferocious first-time hit into the top left corner a minute into stoppage time.

Then Taxi Fountas, the most positive revelation of the season so far, scored an even more improbable 11th goal of the season five minutes into the added time to give the Black and Red all three points.

Rooney may not have been on the field. But his team produced the same magic D.C. fans came to expect in his year-and-a-half here after his long PremierPINC
League career at Manchester United and Everton.

What exactly this wild encounter told us about the new Rooney era in Washington is harder to parse out. But let’s take a stab at it.

An Intangible Belief Returns

Even though far fewer fans came to Audi Field for Rooney’s coaching debut when he played in the Audi Field opener, there was no mistaking the element of energy present in the ground that had lacked in recent months.

Home supporters had virtually nothing to cheer before halftime. But after conceding in the ninth minute, they were eager for any half chance to being trying to help aid their team to a response. And from the 61st minute when Fountas met Durkin’s excellent cross from the right but saw his one-timer saved by Pedro Gallese, the crowd were responsive to nearly every exchange on the pitch until the final late drama.

That sense of anticipation was a wonderful sight at a club that has felt somewhat lost this season after a tough 2020 and a promising but unsuccessful 2021. And it’s hard not to attribute that directly to the man in the coach’s box, whether it makes much sense logically or not.

Creating From The Flanks

Although D.C.’s passing map looked considerably narrower than Orlando’s, their three best chance and several other promising attacks originated from crosses from the flanks. United sporting director Dave Kasper once described Rooney as “a bit of a throwback” as a player, and at least on this day his tactics had a bit of an older English “get it wide, get it in the box” feel.

United had 22 crosses in total against the Lions, their most since an unlucky 1-0 loss at the Chicago Fire back in mid-June. And although that may have had something to do with Orlando’s deeper line after scoring, it also would be consistent with Rooney’s approach at Derby County before D.C.

Further, D.C. don’t really seem likely to add a player in a creative midfield No. 10 mold. Martin Rodriguez is a winger. Taxi Fountas is either a No. 9 or a second striker. Former Derby man Ravel Morrison and incoming Iceland international Victor Palssen are more defensive or box-to-box midfield types.

If a stress on wide play continues, it’s worth wondering why they didn’t at least try to see how Julian Gressell might suit as a wide midfielder or standard fullback in Rooney’s fullback system. Instead, D.C.’s best crosser of the first half was traded to Vancouver because he wasn’t a clear fit in Rooney’s preferred four-back look.

Improvisation with Input

There were times in Rooney’s playing days for D.C. that he appeared to skew more conservatively than then-manager Ben Olsen. For example, on the sequence that led to arguably his most famous moment in a D.C. shirt: his sprint, tackle and cross to turn a potential match-losing moment into a match-winning one, he expressed confusion that Olsen had sent his goalkeeper forward for a corner kick in a 2-2 match.

But on this day with D.C. behind and looking for a lifeline, for at least a point, he improvised by sliding winger Kimarni Smith to left back role to get more numbers into those flank areas, on the advice of assistant Chad Ashton.

It paid off in spades. Smith assisted both D.C. goals, including an otherworldly one-time volleyed cross leading to Fountas’ winner.

Not The Same Draw

Rooney’s Derby tenure was mostly well-received. The Rams were ultimately relegated from the League Championship following the 2021-2022 season, but only because they were penalized 21 points because of off-the-field financial missteps.

So there’s not questions over his qualifications anymore, having managed or been assistant coach since leaving D.C. in 2019. But if D.C. were counting on him being a box office draw again, they’d better reconsider.

Rooney’s D.C. playing debut was one of the city’s biggest sporting events of the summer. His managerial debut was not even Sunday’s biggest event in the neighborhood, with traffic from an earlier Washington Nationals baseball game complicating many folks’ trips to Audi for a late-afternoon kick.

The official attendance figure of 15,805 on the day was a generous one, with the 20,000-seat venue looking closer to 60% full. More worryingly, that ratio was similar in the supporters’ section, who you would’ve expected to be out in bigger numbers knowing the history of the occasion.