Carrying a one-goal advantage thanks to more Christian Gomez freekick magic, and also with a man advantage after a second-half red card, D.C. United were stunningly pulled back by a wicked strike from Diego Martinez to give Monarcas Morelia the equalizing goal and leave the teams with a 1-1 draw Wednesday night at RFK Stadium in their SuperLiga Group B opener.
Gomez had staked United to a lead after just seven minutes, and when Luis Angel Lundin was sent off 10 minutes after the break, United seemed to be home free. But Martinez's full-blooded volley 11 minutes from the end gave Monarcas a vital tying goal.
D.C. coach Tom Soehn made a somewhat surprising alteration to his back line, benching veteran Greg Vanney in favor of Devon McTavish at center back and moving Josh Gros to the right back position as lefty Marc Burch got the nod at left back for a second consecutive match. Rod Dyachenko led the strike pair alongside Luciano Emilio with Jamie Moreno nursing a strained hamstring.
For their part, Monarcas Morelia elected to use a 5-3-2 formation, with rising Mexican star Landin paired with Brazilian Marcio Batista up top as Wanderson de Souza and Uruguayan Gonzalo Choy were called upon to run the midfield engine room.
Early on, United looked a bit disjointed in the face of Morelia's lively pressure, but took full advantage of a seventh-minute set piece to grab the lead. After Luciano Emilio was taken down just outside the Monarcas penalty area, Gomez stepped up and bent a beautifully flighted drive around the outside of the three-man wall and just inside Moises Munoz's left-hand post.
Munoz had shuffled across the face of goal quickly but could not reach the nearly unstoppable shot as Gomez wheeled away celebrating United's 1-0 advantage.
Morelia threatened in the 18th minute when Marcio Batista got free down the right flank and whipped a far-post delivery right to the head of Landin, but the Mexican international tried to nod it back across goal to Wanderson and Perkins was quick to step up and pluck the soft floater out of the air.
Monarcas were winning more than their share of free kicks in the United half and defender Horacio Cervantes used one to test Troy Perkins with a low, driven shot from distance, but the D.C. netminder gobbled up the effort with minimal fuss.
With his early goal Gomez looked full of confidence and he tried to surprise Munoz with a dipping blast from all of 35 yards out that caught the Morelia netminder napping, only to flash just wide of the left post.
United were gradually coming to grips with the Mexicans' high-pressure approach by pinging the ball around quickly with one- and two-touch passing, and that sort of quick movement should have doubled their advantage in the 35th minute.
After an extended string of D.C. possession, Fred set Dyachenko loose with a cheeky, nutmegged through ball down the left channel, and the second-year striker did well to carry deep into the Morelia box and draw Munoz off his line before squaring to Emilio in the middle. But with an empty net at his mercy, the Brazilian hitman looped his shot over the top of the crossbar when the ball took a sudden bobble off a seam on RFK's covered baseball infield.
Morelia had the best initial chance after the break. A poorly-placed pass by Brian Carroll gifted the ball to Wanderson deep in the United half in the 51st minute, but with time, space and options provided by his teammates the Brazilian hesitated before slapping a shot straight into Perkins' hands.
Tempers erupted in the 55th minute when Landin and Bobby Boswell clashed near midfield. The Mexican looked to have fouled United's center back first and Boswell kicked out in response, but the hot-heated Landin upped the ante by shoving his adversary as referee Courtney Campbell arrived at the scene.
After an interminable delay in which the referee consulted both the nearby linesman and fourth official Alex Prus, he finally produced a straight red card for Landin and a caution for Boswell as the RFK crowd roared its approval.
But they were less pleased when Campbell waved off penalty appeals as Emilio dribbled into the Monarcas penalty area and went to ground under the challenge of defender Hugo Sanchez.
The visitors were growing increasingly frustrated, yet Wilson Tiago came agonizingly close to leveling matters for his shorthanded side when drilled a low shot that beat Perkins, only to clang off the base of the far post and back into the netminder's grateful arms.
Moments later Morelia wasted another opportunity when Choy hit right at Perkins after somehow getting in behind both Gros and Boswell. Soehn went to his bench shortly thereafter, throwing on big targetman Nicholas Addlery in place of the tiring Dyachenko.
With the advantage, United started to pour forward with success. Emilio created another great chance for himself with a perceptive dummy in the 69th minute, letting Olsen's pass roll on to Addlery as he raced forward to latch onto the Jamaican's return pass and toe-poke a hard, knuckling shot that Munoz did well to parry wide.
Burch's 76th-minute cross into the Monarcas box created confusion that nearly lead to an own goal when Tiago slid in to clear as Munoz came off his line, and the 'keeper could only watch helplessly as the ball trickled over the endline wide of the left post.
But just when D.C. seemed comfortably in control, some lazy backtracking gave Morelia a priceless equalizer in the 79th minute. After Boswell poked the ball away from Choy on the United right, substitute Adrian Aldrete alertly switched play to Martinez on the far side and with Fred arriving late to his defensive duties, the former Chivas man had time to rip a sensational volley over Perkins and into the upper left corner of the net.
United responded by pushing Gros further up the right flank and throwing numbers into the attack, searching for the win but risking counterattacks as well. Taking a pass from Gomez in the dying minutes, Gros cut inside and lofted a cross to the far post that Addlery attacked well, but his header deflected off a defender and spun over the endline.
McTavish earned the first of United's many corner kicks in injury time and Emilio nodded a sharp header down towards the lower corner, only to see Munoz slap it away with a desperate dive. Later Gomez met Olsen's short corner with a low, spinning shot to the far post that was cleared off the line by Martinez.
But Campbell blew the final whistle not long after, handing ten-man Monarcas a fortunate 1-1 draw as the frustrated home side applauded their fans before trudging off the RFK turf.
