Rooney set up incredible late winner for DC United

The former England and Manchester United captain looked like the Rooney of old as he put on his most eye-catching display in the MLS.

Rooney, who joined DC United from Everton this summer, set up a stunning late goal for his side wth some incredible graft.

With the score locked at 2-2 in the 96th minute DC’s keeper was up for a corner, but Orlando managed to clear the ball and send it down the pitch.

As Orlando broke Rooney trailed the forward and won the ball with a precise tackle before driving forward and launching an incredible cross from deep for Luciano Acosta to head in for his hat-trick in dramatic fashion.

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“We went from losing the game basically,” Rooney said, “to winning in the space of five seconds.”

VAR was needed to give the goal after the 5ft 3“ midfielder headed home to seal the incredible victory and help close the gap between DC United and the other sides at the bottom of the table.

“The play he makes is what he is about,” Coach Ben Olsen said.

“We’ll see that more and more as he is here. He is a winner. He’s selfless.

“He’s come here to prove himself even though he doesn’t need to. That play is indicative of who he is.”

The 32-year-old has scored once and now has three assists since starting in MLS with DC.

Acosta revealed that in the build up to Orlando’s corner he had offered to sit back and leave Rooney up the pitch because of doubts over his ability to run the length of the pitch if needed.

“I’m going to go [back] and you stay here,” Acosta said he told Rooney. “Wayne said, “No, no. You stay here and I’ll go.’ I looked at him like, ‘You are going to run all the way back?’ And look what happened.”

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Commenting on Rooney’s effort, Acosta added: “Seeing a player like Wayne make that effort and run all the way back and make that tackle, put in that work, it motivates all of us, especially with the euphoria of the game. It all comes back to Mister Wayne.”

While another team-mate opened up on what Rooney said to him after.

“I told him he looked like he was 18 again,” defender Kofi Opare said. “He said, ‘Man, that’s the fastest I’ve ever run.’ ”