So close, yet so far away. For six minutes on Tuesday night, D.C. United had the upper hand on CD Guadalajara with a berth in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup final nearly in their grasp. But the Mexican giants took full advantage of two tragic mishaps and crept away with a 3-2 two-leg aggregate win that prompted some real soul searching among the Black-and-Red.
"It took me a little bit longer than usual to get over that one," said Ben Olsen. "It's still kind of eating at me, and the team, I think. It's not good enough anymore for us to go down there and say, 'oh, we played pretty well, we got beat by a good team.' We need to get past those moral victories and start going down there and winning. We have the team to do it, we prepared in the right way, and we fell short."
After Jaime Moreno's sensational opening goal gave United an ideal start, lax marking allowed Adolfo Bautista to clip an equalizer past Troy Perkins just before halftime. A tense second half played out with harsh irony as Perkins, one of the team's steadiest players, made a horribly-timed error to allow Gonzalo Pineda's long-range effort to squirt into the net.
"Everyone knows," said Boswell. "We made a lot bigger deal about the first goal, just because it was kind of a confusing play and people wanted to make sure that we got into the question of what to do and what we did wrong. The second goal was one of those freak plays - maybe one in a hundred times that happens. Maybe even more obscure than that. It's not something where anyone needed to say anything to him. He said his apologies to the team, but we had our chances. That's the way the game goes. If they had given up a goal like that, we would've taken it. It's just kind of a cruel thing."
Four days after letting victory slip away in rainy Guadalajara, D.C. United are now forced to cast aside the lingering taste of that bitter defeat in time for Saturday's nationally televised First Kick opener at the Rapids' new Dick's Sporting Goods Park home.
"It is tough," said Olsen. "There is a natural letdown after a game like that. We had time to reminisce and sulk about the game, we cleared the air and now all our focus needs to be on this Colorado game."
United's trips to the Mile High City have been unhappy occasions in recent times: D.C. has racked up three consecutive losses over the past three seasons and is without a win since 2000. This year, Fernando Clavijo's side is hoping to make such struggles a consistent theme for visitors with a spacious new field and an aggressive, high-energy style.
"They're going to be flying, with a new stadium and hopefully a great crowd," said Olsen of the new-look Rapids. "They want to put on a great performance and it's going to be a great effort from them. They're going to be completely fresh and they've probably prepared for us for a little bit now. It's going to be a tough challenge."
The wide, fast playing surface could test the stability of United's three-man back line, but despite being torn open on Chivas' opening goal, Boswell sees his defense making steady progress.
"I know last game we gave up that first goal. I think Faco [Erpen] could've maybe done something a little different. I know for sure that I could've made a better play on the ball," said the third-year center back. "But I think I like where we're going. We seem to be understanding each other and I think we know what we're getting ourselves into every game. So I'm not really worried about the field and spacing."
Losing winger Josh Gros to a concussion suffered against Chivas will force head coach Tom Soehn to tinker with his lineup. New arrival Fred could start on the right side with Olsen shifting to the left, or a youngster like Stephen deRoux or Justin Moose could get the call.
At least D.C. will be acclimated to the thin Colorado air, having traveled directly to Denver after training at elevation in Guadalajara for two weeks - though Saturday's forecast of wintry weather promises to further complicate matters. Above all, United know a positive result is the only way to ease the pain of their CONCACAF crash.
"I think we shot ourselves in the foot, and that's really disappointing," said Olsen. "Saying that, it's done. We've got to learn from it and we've got a great opportunity to rebound with another pretty high-profile game, the opening of the MLS season against a good Colorado team in their stadium. Good teams will bounce back and take this opportunity. We're a good team. We're a winning team."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
