Wayne Rooney wins first game in charge of DC United

Wayne Rooney was appointed DC United manager on the 12th of July but had to wait until last night to make his first appearance in the dugout while his work visa was sorted out.

Since Rooney was announced, interim manager Chris Ashton filled in on match days while Rooney had to watch from the stands. The match was a great start for Rooney as his side scored two late goals to beat Orlando City.

DC United fell behind in the 8th minute when former AC Milan striker Alexandre Pato played the ball to Urso Junior who chipped the ball spectacularly into the net.

The equaliser finally came in the 91st minute when Ola Kamara’s square pass found Chris Durkin who fired home.

Then in the 95th minute, Kimarni Smith’s cross was turned in by Taxiarchis Fountas who fired in to win the game 2-1.

DC United had more possession with 56%. Orlando had more shots with 15 but was wasteful with their chances. Pato and Benji Michel both missed guilt-edged chances which their side would go on to rue. Rooney’s side had eight shots but still managed the same amount on target of four as their opposition.

Wayne Rooney’s debut reaction

MLS quoted Rooney after the game saying:

"“I believed we’d win the game, but the one thing we had to do was up the tempo.“I asked the team at halftime to be more positive. To put the work in. It’s a big difference, more possession-based, using the goalkeeper for all the workings, getting in dangerous positions. I thought the second half was excellent.“This season has to start now. We’ve had some bad results, We have to be better. We’re starting to see signs of what a good team [we] can be.”"

Is this the Start of a Rooney Revolution?

The win had to come against Orlando where Wayne Rooney famously made a last-ditch tackle before crossing in for the game-winning assist back when he was a player at DC United.

Ravel Morrison also made his debut for the Washington club last night. Morrison played under Rooney at Derby County last season in the Championship.

DC United are still bottom of the Eastern Conference but have closed the gap between them and Toronto FC who are 13th to just two points.

Their next game is against Charlotte FC who is a team former Arsenal man Aaron Ramsey has been linked with a move to recently.

A notable fixture coming up will be against Los Angeles FC on the 17th of August. They will come up against Gareth Bale in that game, Rooney had many battles in the Premier League when he was at Manchester United and Bale was at Tottenham Hotspur.

He will also come up against former England teammate David Beckham’s side Inter Miami on the 18th of September. With such star-studded fixtures coming up the MLS is definitely a league to keep an eye on.

With a fantastic winning start to his time as a manager at DC United. Their fans will be hoping this will be a sign of things to come at their club under Wayne Rooney.