D.C. shows poise in hostile climate
Club plays energized crowd, team tough on the road
The ploy worked as it made a tough job for United even tougher, Ramon Morales scoring the only goal of the game to knock out D.C. and send Chivas through to the quarterfinals.
"It is always a difficult place to play," said D.C. United head coach Tom Soehn. "55,000 people is a different crowd than what we are used to sometimes in MLS."
After the 2-1 victory in Washington last week, United needed to score in Mexico and lose by just one, or hold Chivas to a draw. Even though the 1-0 win left the series tied 2-2 on total goals, Chivas won on the away goals rule.
"They had an energized crowd and they came out with a lot of energy," said United defender Devon McTavish.
Coming into the game unbeaten for two months in league play, United got off to an uncharacteristic slow start. But Soehn said neither the atmosphere nor a tactic to pack it in and protect the slim lead led to the early Chivas dominance.
"It was more them coming out strong," he said. "We knew we would have to sustain a lot of pressure."
Despite withstanding their fair share of pressure, United were able to get some good early opportunities. A Christian Gomez free kick forced a diving save out of Chivas goalkeeper Luis Ernesto Michel, and McTavish and Ben Olsen had clear chances of their own.
"We didn't finish our opportunities," said McTavish. "You can't waste opportunities."
After Morales scored in the 64th minute, Chivas started to bunker in themselves and protect their lead. D.C. had an offensive surge that nearly knotted up the match, as Luciano Emilio just blazed one chance over the bar, and Olsen had another in the dying moments that was stopped by Michel.
"You will get four or five looks," said Soehn. "We just didn't finish any of them."
Soehn was also rueing the red card to Marc Burch just before halftime of the first leg. While United still doubled their lead playing a man down, Chivas were able to score a goal shortly after -- and that ended up being the goal that sent the Mexican giant through.
"One goal isn't a very big lead," Sohen said.
In the end, over 180 minutes, with both teams in the midst of their regular seasons, the MLS club and the Mexican club were all even -- at least on the scoreboard.
"We want to try to get back here," said McTavish. "We can beat them."
Gregg Binder is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
