MLS: Ex-DC coach Hernan Losada appears to taunt Wayne Rooney with post of DC losing 6-0 to Union

Former DC United coach Hernan Losada, who was fired by the club earlier this season, appeared to take a swipe at his old employer – and newly hired coach Wayne Rooney – Saturday night as the club were getting battered by the Philadelphia Union.

After the score had ballooned to 6-0 in favor of Philly, Losada snapped a photo of the game as it streamed on his laptop, setting the photo to his Instagram story.

His account was set to private as of Sunday, though it’s not clear if that was already the case before. 

Losada was fired from DC just six games into this MLS season, at a time when the club had lost four consecutive games and were last in the Eastern Conference. 

Rooney, taking over from interim coach Chad Ashton, was hired by the club last month and took charge of his first match on July 31.

Reporting around the time of Losada’s firing indicated that he was not merely canned on the back of the team’s slow start to the year, after posting a middling 16-19-5 overall record with the club.

‘This wasn’t about the first six games,’ a team source told The Athletic. ‘It was about the whole package.’

The report said his time in DC featured an ‘obsession’ with fitness, with sources describing ‘high-pressure, fast-paced and at times overbearing management’ and periods of even days or weeks without speaking to some of his players.

Wayne Rooney has won just once since returning to DC United as their coach

‘These guys went from probably the most relaxed coach in the history of the league [Ben Olsen] to one of the strictest, and it was brutal for some of them,’ another source told The Athletic. 

‘It was always going to get ugly after three or four losses in a row.’

Though Losada is gone, DC’s struggles have continued, with Saturday’s massive defeat marking their fifth straight loss and giving Rooney a 1-4-1 record (or four points) since he took over last month.

‘Every player in that second half was a complete stranger to what I’ve seen in training, what I’ve seen in previous games,’ a disappointed Rooney said after the match,’ according to MLSsoccer.com.

‘And you can lose games of football, that can happen. But there’s a manner in how that happens. … We spent a lot of time getting the team organized and in that second half, I didn’t recognize my players.’

Losada, seen speaking with New England Revolution coach Bruce Arena, was fired in April

DC – at the time 13th in the Eastern Conference – were struggling when Rooney was hired, though the 36-year-old seemed optimistic on his team’s longshot postseason hopes.

‘Why not? Why could we not make the playoffs?’ he said as he was introduced as the team’s coach.

After Saturday night, the mood seems to have shifted.

‘I knew the difficulties we’d have and where the season was,’ Rooney said of any postseason hopes when he was hired.

‘Of course I knew that and I think we felt if I could come in and get a run of form there’s a possibility of making playoffs. 

‘I think that’s gone. Let’s be realistic on that.’