D.C. United was eliminated from the Major League Soccer Cup playoffs, as the Houston Dynamo won the Eastern Conference title for the second consecutive season following a 1-1 draw Nov. 18 at RFK Stadium.
The Dynamo finished with a 4-2 aggregate victory over United to reach the MLS Cup for the fourth time in seven years.
The first half went well for United. The team controlled the possession and combined skilled attacks with the aggression necessary to win. However, United could not convert any of their many chances.
Houston capitalized on the rare chances it had, with Oscar Boniek Garcia scoring in the 33rd minute.
With D.C. United’s powerful push forward in the first half, Houston played with most of its players behind the ball. But Brad Davis picked up a long ball, cut around Marcelo Saragosa and Dejan Jakovic and found Garcia at the top of the 6-yard box, who put the ball into the top of the net.
That was a serious momentum blow for United. The RFK crowd of more than 20,000 fans and the team seemed disheartened, and the shift of the game’s atmosphere was fatal from that moment on for the home team.
“The way we started the game was great,” D.C. United head coach Ben Olsen said. “We put a lot of energy into it and then we kind of had to breathe a bit. That’s why they got a couple looks. In a game like that where you need goals, you’re going to have to not make any mistakes on the defensive end.”
D.C. United tried to do whatever it could to erase the deficit in the second half and make up the goal differential.
“We all still believed,” D.C. United goalkeeper Bill Hamid said. “It was still doable. We had enough chances to get back in the game, even after the goal we let in. It’s unfortunate.”
The night was highlighted by a series of absences and returns for D.C. United. Due to a groin injury, United team captain and leading scorer Chris Pontius was forced to sit this one out. Brandon McDonald, who contributes a great deal on D.C.’s back line, was also ruled out of the clash. Andy Najar was still serving a suspension from the series with the New York Red Bulls.
However, 2011 MLS MVP Dwayne De Rosario was far ahead of his recovery schedule and was available off the bench.
De Rosario came on for the first time in the 62nd minute since severely injuring his knee in early September. His introduction to the game re-energized the crowd but didn’t help the efforts on the field as much as he would have liked.
“I knew he would energize the crowd,” Olsen said of De Rosario. “And once he came on, he looked a little rusty at times, and you saw some magic as well. As a group, we started creating a lot more chances. I would have really liked the next few weeks to get him fit and really see what he has.”
With little hope left of a United comeback, Branko Boskovic scored a brilliant goal after beating multiple defenders and getting the better of Dynamo goalkeeper Tally Hall to knot the game at 1-1.
Neither team found any serious chances throughout the rest of the game.
sports@theeagleonline.com
