Despite volumes of hype, hoopla, and voracious media coverage surrounding David Beckham's first visit to the nation's capital, D.C. United somehow kept the focus on their own performance and were rewarded with a 1-0 victory against the Los Angeles Galaxy on Thursday night in front of one of the largest regular-season soccer crowds in RFK Stadium history.
The worldwide superstar made his MLS debut in the league's oldest and most historic venue, but could not keep the Black-and-Red from notching their second consecutive win as a composed defensive performance made sure Luciano Emilio's 27th-minute rocket stood up as the game winner.
"It was a difficult situation, there was a lot of hype built around this one," said United head coach Tom Soehn. "As much as you try to avoid the distractions for the guys, there's still a lot going on that normally doesn't happen. It's a game where you try to keep the focus on what the real goal is, which is to get our three points. At the end of the day I think we did a good job of holding down the fort and making it difficult for them, and we were pretty opportunistic."
The steady rain that fell throughout the second half could not dim the enthusiasm of the sellout crowd of 46,686 in attendance, who were as vociferous in their support for the home team as they were in their appreciation for Beckham.
"Yeah, but it's great," said Ben Olsen, when asked about the commotion generated by the former England captain's presence. "If that's a circus, I'd like to play in a circus every week. With that many fans cheering -- I was on the bench looking around, and it was just such a nice venue atmosphere. That whole side over there, all cheering -- one great, great night."
Even his adversaries were star-struck when Beckham made his historic entrance in the 72nd minute.
"Honestly, I told myself if he comes in, I'm going to give him five seconds, look at him, and then go on with the game," admitted Devon McTavish with a smile. "He came in, I looked over at him, I looked at all the flash bulbs going off, and said 'this is pretty cool.' And then I got back to it. But you've got to take a moment like that in."
Los Angeles have traditionally enjoyed their trips to RFK, racking up seven wins in Washington over the league's 11 years -- including three of the last four dating back to 2004. But on this occasion the Galaxy could direct only two shots on goal, and while he made several other outstanding saves to keep his team in contention, goalkeeper Joe Cannon could not keep Emilio's long-range drive out of the net after the Brazilian took a short pass from Marc Burch well outside the penalty area.
"At the beginning of the match, the coaching staff told us that we needed to shoot from anywhere on the field -- if we had an opportunity to shoot on goal, to do so, and that's what I did on that particular play," said Emilio, who now tops the MLS scoring race with 13 tallies.
United's task was made easier when Kyle Martino was sent off for an ugly-looking lunge at Fred's ankle in the 67th minute, allowing the home side to keep possession and force the Galaxy -- who are in the midst of a taxing road trip across the Eastern Conference -- to chase the ball. That state of affairs limited the effectiveness of LA captain Landon Donovan, who had scored four goals in his last two trips to Washington.
"That was important, to take care of Landon, because he's done so well here, and he's such a great player," said Olsen. "So I think overall we did a pretty good job on him."
Along with an encouraging 45-minute display from Jaime Moreno following a recurrence of back spasms last weekend, D.C.'s defensive performance was the biggest highlight of the evening. After myriad struggles and personnel changes earlier in the season, the back four have sorted out some communication issues and found their rhythm.
"Yeah, how about that?" said McTavish of the group's second consecutive clean sheet. "We're getting comfortable with each other. We're still making mistakes -- luckily they're not capitalizing on it -- but it's just better all around. It starts up at the top, everyone's [working] harder in the midfield, and it just bleeds down to us. We're getting there."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
