It must have felt like déjà vu all over again for D.C. United. Walking down the tunnel to their locker room halfway through Saturday night's match with Toronto FC at RFK Stadium, the squad was rueing another set of untimely breakdowns that had left United trailing 2-1 despite creating far more chances than the visitors and holding the lion's share of possession over the first 45 minutes.
"Frustration, anger- - we were pushing so hard, and to have [conceded] two shots and two goals, none of us were happy," said United goalkeeper Zach Wells of the halftime atmosphere. "We felt a little bit cheated, because we put in so much hard work in possessing the ball that we didn't feel it was a fair score."
All in all, it looked like the same formula for failure that had sent last year's Supporters' Shield winners spiraling downward to a 2-7-0 record -- and for the 18 players sitting in that locker room, it was impossible to ignore the prospect of a full season of such futility unfolding before them.
"At halftime, we could've fell apart -- I felt like our whole season was riding on this halftime, honestly," said midfielder Santino Quaranta. "Because if we come out and lose that game, where do we go from there?"
Led by a dogged effort from Quaranta, the Black-and-Red dug deep to deliver a tenacious second-half performance blessed with just enough inspiration to make up for an occasional lack of refinement. With a Jaime Moreno penalty kick and a classic poacher's finish from Luciano Emilio, D.C. found two goals in a two-minute span midway through the period before holding off a late rally from TFC to capture a much-needed three points.
"We are looking for something to go our way and nothing has been easy this year, not even today," said United boss Tom Soehn "But the guys were resilient. I credit them for their fight and their belief."
Though Moreno fully deserved his man of the match honors, the warmest postgame plaudits went to Quaranta. The Baltimore native surged past Marvell Wynne to draw the crucial penalty kick for his team in the 70th minute, then intercepted an underhit TFC pass near midfield just moments later before haring forward to crack the shot that led to Emilio's game-winner.
"Tino put in a lot of work and got rewarded for it -- he drew a penalty and he was active all night. He smashed one from range that knuckled and dipped and was hard to handle for Sutton, and Luchi was there to follow it up," said Wells. "So you can kind of draw that one up to effort, I think, because you've got Luch following, he's in the right spot, you've got Santino almost willing the ball into the net."
That sequence also represented sweet relief for Emilio, who has been mired in a confounding slump that left last season's league MVP and Golden Boot honors a distant memory.
"It was a hard shot from Santino, it was a very difficult shot for the 'keeper to handle. I was just there at the right place at the right time and I was able to poke it in," said the Brazilian frontrunner. "It's very motivating for us tonight, the win. I think tonight we began a new season for D.C. United and we're looking forward to more wins."
While the result was priceless, United's overall display was far from perfect. The back line gifted Toronto target man Danny Dichio far too much space on both of his tallies, and the concession of the crucial go-ahead goal in first-half injury time revealed the same ominous lack of concentration that has so badly bedeviled D.C. in recent years.
But the gutsy nature of their second-half fightback provides plenty of hope as the Black-and-Red enter one of the more demanding stretches of their 2008 schedule, beginning with a Thursday night primetime test at New England -- and if the squad can return to their winning ways in the weeks to come, Saturday's halftime turnaround could prove to be a defining moment.
"Yeah, I think everything came to a head and it was like, if we want to turn this thing around, we've got to do it right now," said Wells. "We've got 45 minutes to win that half 2-0 and that's what we did."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
