VANCOUVER – Among all the refereeing drama and contentious penalty calls in D.C. United's 1-0 win at the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday was another outstanding goalkeeping performance from Bill Hamid. It was not the first impressive showing of the season for the United backstop, and it will almost certainly not be his last.
While D.C. have struggled to start the year, Hamid’s strong individual performances have perhaps been overlooked. The 26-year-old Hamid leads the league with 52 saves in 11 appearances, and had four crucial stops on Saturday vs. the ‘Caps to propel D.C. United to their fourth win of the year.
"He might be overlooked in that he's been doing it for three years straight," D.C. head coach Ben Olsen said of Hamid after the shutout victory in Vancouver. "It's nice to have a guy that can bail you out. Whether it's a forward, whether it's a midfielder, or in our case a goalkeeper.
"He can save us points, similar to some of these super dynamic forwards or wingers that can get points out of nothing on other teams, but because he's a goalkeeper, people look at him a little differently."
Olsen's Vancouver counterpart, Carl Robinson, described Hamid as "arguably the best in the league." And even though D.C. are in the bottom half of the league with 19 goals conceded, that total would be much higher without Hamid standing in between the pipes.
That isn’t lost on United’s backline.
"We love having Bill," D.C. defender Steve Birnbaum told MLSsoccer.com. "He comes up with huge saves for us and keeps us in games like that. That's what got us the shutout and a win eventually. I can't tell you enough how much he saves our butt sometimes."
The win ended D.C.’s three-game losing streak and gave them only their second victory in their last seven matches. United are tied with Colorado for the fewest goals in MLS with just 10, a total that further highlights the need for Hamid to put in stellar performances week after week.
Not that he feels that pressure.
"Regardless of the situation, I always walk into the game with the right mentality," Hamid told reporters after Saturday's match. "I'm always trying to do my best, always trying to prepare from Monday for the match on Saturday and put in a good shift for my teammates, for the club, for myself, for my family."
Now, the focus for Hamid and the rest of D.C. United is to build on their Vancouver victory when making a Wednesday visit to Orlando City (7:30 pm ET | MLS LIVE). The Lions are 5-1-1 at home this season.
"We've got to enjoy it because you've got to enjoy wins. You've got to enjoy the feeling," Hamid said. "The reality is we're walking into an even tougher environment on Wednesday. The mentality has to be right from the moment we walk out of this stadium, we have to focus on Orlando.
"We can't get too high right now because there's a big match coming up and we have to make up points."
