WASHINGTON (AP) -- Raul Diaz Arce returned to a hero's welcome as D.C. United ended a record-tying four-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Dallas Burn on Saturday night.
Dallas lost its third straight game when defender Brandon
Pollard's own goal in the 74th minute broke a 2-2 tie.
Pollard, sliding in front of the Burn goal, inadvertently
knocked Ben Olsen's shot from the left side of the penalty area
past goalie Matt Jordan.
Chris Albright and Carlos Llamosa scored for D.C., which had
dropped three straight games at RFK Stadium. United's only other
four-game losing streak came at the start of the inaugural MLS
season in 1996.
Jason Kreis scored twice for the Burn, who fell to 0-6-0 on the
road.
Diaz Arce, who scored 38 goals in 50 regular-season games for
United from 1996-97, was acquired Friday from Tampa Bay for John
Maessner and three future draft picks.
D.C., which traded Diaz Arce to New England on Feb. 5, 1998, to
get under the salary cap, reacquired Diaz Arce to boost a sagging
offense that had scored only two goals during the four-game skid.
The second-leading scorer in MLS history, Diaz Arce drew loud
cheers and encouraging whistles from the rain-drenched crowd of
18,120 every time he touched the ball. However, he was closely
marked by the Burn defense and recorded only a second-half shot.
Albright's first career goal, a header off Marco Etcheverry's
long, looping free kick from the right side, staked United to a 1-0
lead in the 11th minute. Kreis tied it about two minutes later,
bouncing a low shot from 35 yards out through a maze of players and
inside the right post.
Llamosa restored the D.C. lead in the 22nd minute, directing a
header past Jordan from the middle of the penalty area. But Kreis
put a right-footed shot past United goalie Tom Presthus from 12
yards out in the 47th minute for a 2-2 tie.