The top priority for D.C. United on their trip to face last-place Real Salt Lake was to not take the opposition lightly. And unfortunately for United, that's exactly what happened as they were handed their first loss since April by the league's only team who had yet to win before Saturday.
"It's not hard to figure out what happened out there," said D.C. United captain Ben Olsen. "We came out soft and light and took them as a last-place team, and they came out fighting for their lives."
United were conscious of such a situation, and Soehn tried to prepare his team to capitalize on getting three points on the road. But, he said, the intensity just wasn't there.
"We talked about it all week, no matter what game it is -- we said there are no layups in this league, no matter who you play," said Soehn. "If you don't come out and match the intensity, you're not going to win.
"I don't think we had enough guys tuned in. With six or seven guys on the field not doing well, you're not going to do well."
True to Olsen's observations, during the opening half, much of the play was in United's end as they were out-shot 12-3. With RSL largely in control through the first hour, Robbie Findley was able to race past the D.C. defense to bag a goal on each side of halftime.
The new RSL striker, arriving in Salt Lake through a midweek trade, was able to beat the young Jay Nolly, who was getting his first appearance for the Black-and-Red since arriving from Salt Lake in the offseason.
Even though both goals were situations where Findley and Nolly went head-to-head, with Nolly coming out on the losing end, Soehn said that it's not fair to pin the blame of the goals on the young goalkeeper.
"[Nolly] was strung out on one-on-ones," said Soehn. "You hope that he comes up with a save like that. Sometimes you do and sometimes you don't. But we don't need to put him in those kinds of situations."
Nolly agreed that the defense was caught pressing too high for scoring chances, making him vulnerable in the back, especially on the second goal, where he admitted they could have played the situation differently.
"It looked like both our backs stepped up to both of their players, and they got a lucky bounce through and he was just in clean," said Nolly. "I think if we would have sat off a little bit and let him come at us ... I don't think he would have been clean through."
After allowing the second goal United looked to settle in to their passing game. Their advances to goal were rewarded minutes before the end when Luciano Emilio tapped in his fourth goal in three games.
The play and work rate of Emilio was one of the few bright spots for Soehn during the evening.
According to Olsen, it was a combination of United getting their act together and RSL sitting back to protect their lead that led to the late-game surge from his team.
"We pushed forward a little bit more - they were sitting back," said Olsen. "With a two-goal lead they're not pushing forward as much. It's pretty basic stuff. We snuck the goal and tried late to push, but it was a little too late."
Scott McAllister is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
