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Coach Soehn angered by United's loss in Toronto

Aug 16, 2009 - 12:00 AM By RYAN JOHNSTON STATS MLS Correspondent

TORONTO (STATS) - D.C. United coach Tom Soehn delivered a simple message to his team after a disappointing loss: Hard work will trump talent every time.

Dwayne De Rosario and rookie O'Brian White scored to lift Toronto FC to a 2-0 victory over United on Saturday.

De Rosario scored for a fourth straight game for Toronto (8-7-6), which jumped two points ahead of D.C. (6-5-10) for third place in the Eastern Conference.

United, who sat atop the East last month, fell to 1-5-6 on the road.

"We think because we have talent that it will be enough, and it is not enough," Soehn said. "You are not going to win games home or away if you have five or six guys not playing up to their capabilities."

United were outshot and outhustled, finishing with just five shots on goal. A total of six yellow cards were issued for reckless fouls, four by Toronto.

"We are on the road and we had six fouls today," Soehn said. "That just shows that we are not fighting enough."

De Rosario broke a scoreless tie in the 30th minute, heading home a pass from Sam Cronin for his team-leading ninth goal of the season.

Toronto failed to win its previous three matches (0-1-2) even though Rosario scored once in each. The third-year club is in position to qualify for the playoffs for the first time.

"We still 12 ??? maybe 15 ??? points, so we're not there yet. We're going to be professional and keep working hard," coach Chris Cummins said.

White, a Toronto-area native, scored his first MLS goal to double the lead in the 66th minute. The fourth overall pick in this year's SuperDraft took a one-touch pass from Nana Attakora just outside the 6-yard box and smashed a rising shot past D.C. goalkeeper Josh Wicks.

Santino Quaranta had United's best scoring chance, a stoppage-time volley that was cleared off the line by Toronto midfielder Amado Guevara.

"We don't look confident right now. We're not on the same page and that is something that is not good at this point in the season," Quaranta said. "Whatever it is we need to figure it out soon."

On the upside for United, they are unbeaten at home and six of their final nine games are at RFK Stadium, including next Saturday's match against Los Angeles.

"The last stretch of our games we have five of six at home," Soehn said. "It is important we finish strong, but one game does not make a season. There is still a whole season left."

These clubs were both coming off blowout losses to European powerhouse Real Madrid on its North American tour. Toronto lost 5-1 on Aug. 7 before Madrid beat D.C. 3-0 two days later.

United next play a CONCACAF Champions League match against C.D. Marathon on Tuesday.

Toronto plays its next three games on the road.

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Story from: STATS LLC, http://www.stats.com.