D.C. United eagerly return to international competition on Wednesday night, hosting the first leg of their Copa Sudamericana quarterfinal matchup against Mexican giants Chivas de Guadalajara at RFK Stadium in a meeting laden with history and meaning.
For United, the occasion is a reminder of two tragic episodes in a recent history of international heartbreak that has made the Black-and-Red especially eager to succeed in this year's edition of the prestigious South American tournament.
When these proud clubs met in a tightly-contested CONCACAF Champions' Cup semifinal in early spring, Chivas' margin of victory was as thin as the slick fingertips of Troy Perkins' gloves on the rainy night at the Estadio Jalisco that saw the United goalkeeper let Gonzalo Pineda's long-range shot slip through his hands for the series winner. D.C. coach Tom Soehn has spoken of the "unfinished business" his team believes it must settle with the 11-time Mexican Primera Liga champions.
"A big match," said D.C. defender Bryan Namoff this week. "It's a chance to get a good team, a team I thought that we had the better of in the [CONCACAF] competition in preseason, and now we're a little sharper, a little fitter coming into the end of the season. So we have another stab at a team we should have beaten."
The return to Sudamericana action also prompts sad memories of United's maiden appearance -- D.C. remains the only U.S. team ever to participate -- in the competition two years ago. Christian Gomez gave D.C. a 2-0 lead against Chile's Universidad Catolica in Santiago, only for the then-MLS champs to crash out as the home side grabbed a 3-2 victory, and 4-3 aggregate triumph, with a mammoth comeback capped by an injury-time matchwinner.
"It's a huge tournament," said Bobby Boswell. "You just have to bring your A-game, and you have to bring it for 90-plus minutes, as you saw in the end of that Catolica game. That's not how we wanted to do in that tournament -- we didn't want to get eliminated, especially the way we did. We know what's at stake."
Both Chivas and United have changed considerably since their Champions' Cup tangle. Los Rayados have parted ways with charismatic attacker Adolfo "Bofo" Bautista, who scored against United in April, and brought in Omar Arellano from reigning Clausura champions Pachuca.
"They're a different team than what we saw early on in preseason," said Namoff. "Looking at game tape, we started to see how they play in their transition, and it just seems like they're a very attacking-minded team that likes to play more direct than what we've seen previously."
Conversely, D.C. have since moved to a 4-4-2 formation and fully integrated Fred and Luciano Emilio, the Brazilian duo who have contributed so much to an attack that leads MLS with 49 goals thus far.
"We are more confident now. We know each other better," said Fred, who made his United debut as a substitute in Guadalajara. "It was my first game, so I didn't really know the style of my different teammates. But I think now we're very confident and we're playing well as a group."
D.C.'s influential South American contingent -- Fred, Emilio, Gomez and captain Jaime Moreno -- are fully aware of Copa Sudamericana's high profile across the soccer-mad region and will be urging their teammates to rise to the challenge.
"We have to think big with our team's mentality in this tournament," said Fred. "It's very respected, it's very important. It's watched throughout the continent. I think we have a mentality that we can do well and hopefully advance to the next round."
The tricky Brazilian midfielder believes that that his teammates must maintain constant concentration and limit mental errors in order to give themselves a chance under the competition's unforgiving knockout format, while Boswell, remembering the hostile confines of Estadio Jalisco, stresses the importance of earning a result at RFK.
"It's good that we've played them once already," said the tall center back. "We saw that if you don't get a good result at home, it's tough to go down there -- it's a tough place to play. So for us, Wednesday's game is huge in terms of setting ourselves up for success in this tournament."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
