Washington, D.C. — Going into Saturday afternoon, the headlines for the game between D.C. United and Los Angeles FC centered around the match up between two of the best teams in the league. Both boasted unbeaten records, with superstar players leading the way. By the end of the game, though, what was billed as the marquee matchup so far in MLS this year had turned into a laugher, as LAFC thoroughly dominated the Black-and-Red in a 4-0 win at Audi Field. 

Diego Rossi scored a hat trick for the visitors, and Wayne Rooney received a red card in the second half, as United suffered their first loss of the season and their biggest setback in the brief history at their new home on Buzzard Point. From the get-go, United were second-best, reflected by the three-goal advantage for LAFC at halftime.

"First half was bad. Everyone knows that," defender Steven Birnbaum said in the locker room after the game. 

Bill Hamid saved an early penalty against Carlos Vela, but that play failed to rally the Black-and-Red. Four minutes later, Vela atoned for his penalty miss and Rossi would go on to add two more goals before the first half came to an end. 

"At 3-0, we’re angry, and our pulse starts, and our feathers are up," head coach Ben Olsen said of his team's response in his postgame press conference. "It’s too late to do that against a very good team, who is scary in transition, and well-rounded."

LAFC came into the game having scored 15 goals in their first five games of the season en route to picking up four wins and one draw. In their previous outing, they dominated the San Jose Earthquakes on the road to the tune of a 5-0 victory.

United needed to be at their best but couldn't come close to that standard, especially in the first half. And the hosts aided LAFC in that first stanza, turning the ball over in midfield which directly resulted in tallies for the second-year club.

"We weren’t clever in the terms of how we wanted to play," Rooney told reporters after the game. "We got what we deserved in the first half. It’s a disappointing result."

Any chance of a comeback vanished early in the second half when Rooney was given his first red card in MLS play. Attempting to win the ball in midfield, Rooney caught Rossi on the knee, initially earning a yellow card from Robert Sibiga. However, after a video review, that yellow was changed to a red card, leaving United with 10 men for the final 38 minutes. 

Rooney for his part admitted the call was the correct one after the game.

"I think it was a red card. I’ve lunged, tried to win the ball," said Rooney. "I caught the player. I have no arguments with it. It was the right call."

That red means that Rooney won't be available on Tuesday night when D.C. has a chance to quickly rectify the mess that was the game on Saturday afternoon. The Montreal Impact come to town, having also played on Saturday afternoon.

As Olsen said afterward that a win on Tuesday will help United get right back on track, giving them four wins from their first six games. But a repeat performance won't cut it against the Impact. And with Rooney and Joseph Mora out, United will have to look to others to step up.

"Buckle up. Everybody needs to work, and now other guys are going to have to play into this," said Olsen. "That’s the challenging part of this game."