Chris Rolfe started his second campaign with D.C. United where he left off in his first, setting up the lone goal in the Black-and-Red’s season-opening 1-0 victory over the Montreal Impact. He did so having left behind the arm brace that had been a part of his daily wardrobe since his left forearm fracture last fall.
“It’s nice,” said Rolfe, who ditched the padding a couple of weeks ago. “It allows me not to think about my arm as much. When I don’t have the brace on, everything feels a little bit more free, like it used to.”
Healthy again, Rolfe figures heavily in D.C. United’s plans to defend its 2014 first place finish in the Eastern Conference. After a season of transition and then rehabilitation, Rolfe is now a key veteran in the United locker room and crucial playmaker on the field.
“This year has just been a little bit different for me, having the number of months that I was with the team under my belt and being able to spend preseason with the guys,” said Rolfe. “That time in preseason is very important, in terms of getting to know your teammates and spending more time together off the field. I think that helped me and relationship with the other guys on the team.”
“He’s always had a presence in the locker room for me,” said United forward Chris Pontius. “I think he’s just assumed more of it this year. For Rolfe, his play speaks for itself, and his leadership on the field may not be as loud as others, but you see it through his play and his hard work.”
Last September’s injury derailed Rolfe’s latest quality MLS campaign, including a goal in his D.C. United debut after being acquired from Chicago in April, part of six goals and six assists for the year.
It was the seventh time in eight MLS seasons that Rolfe had at least six goals, and he was two assists short of his career-high – despite missing the final eight games of the regular season.
“It was just the timing of the injury,” said Rolfe. “The fall is my most favorite time of the season. You have a little bit cooler weather, you’re fit, you’re sharp, and you’re heading into the playoffs.”
And Rolfe did make it to the postseason, coming off the bench for the final 16 minutes in the first leg of United’s Eastern Conference semifinal at the New York Red Bulls and playing 66 minutes as a starter in the return match at RFK Stadium.
But Pontius could see the difference against the Impact, as Rolfe – without the arm brace – combined with Bill Hamid, Nick DeLeon, Davy Arnaud and Jairo Arrieta to turn a defensive sequence into a counterattack goal. The 32-year-old’s perfectly weighted pass over the top of the Montreal back line gave Arrieta just enough space to race forward and poke the ball past Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush.
“Coming back from injury is never easy, especially from a huge one like that,” Pontius said. “The more you get comfortable, the more you feel like your old self, and you see it more and more each day with him. It’s huge for him to step up in the first game of the year and deliver for us. You always want to get off to a winning start, and he was a part of that for us.”
