only to watch his bid fly inches above Zach Wells' crossbar.
D.C. were picking their attacking forays more carefully, but looked menacing when they did get into the attacking third and on several buildups only the final shot was lacking.
Luciano Emilio nearly got a massive reward for his pressure on Miguel Calero as the Pachuca goalkeeper raced out beyond his penalty area to deal with a defense-splitting diagonal ball -- Calero was forced to head the ball away and did so right into Emilio's midsection, but the ricochet ran away from the Brazilian hitman just quickly enough to deny him a simple finish into an empty net.
Later, the energetic Niell got a decent look at goal after United strung together a sharp passing sequence at the top of the Pachuca penalty area, but instead of pulling the trigger he elected to cut the ball back in an unsuccessful bid to find Emilio, who had already moved in the goalmouth in anticipation of a rebound.
Orchestrating the Pachuca attack from his withdrawn striker position, Gimenez dropped an imaginative diagonal ball into the path of Carlos Rodriguez's far post run in the 27th minute, but a short hop betrayed the Mexican and his shot looped well over the target.
Just past the half-hour mark Gimenez found space to whip in a booming left-wing cross that Marc Burch badly misjudged, handing Cacho a gilt-edged opportunity at the D.C. six-yard box. But with time, space and only Wells to beat, the Pachuca striker spurned the chance, hitting his shot straight at the goalkeeper's legs.
Having worked so diligently in Pachuca's thin mountain air, United seemed to be tiring momentarily and their hosts, smelling blood, poured forward mercilessly. Caballero found himself well clear in the D.C. box and nimbly cut back on Gonzalo Martinez, but with the goal gaping in front of him, missed the upper corner with his right-footed blast.
The Black-and-Red could feel gratified to enter halftime with the match still scoreless, but any lingering satisfaction was quickly wiped out by the sight of a sensational long-range blast that should have put 'Los Tuzos' in the lead mere minutes into the second stanza.
U.S.-born midfielder Torres was given too much space some 25 yards out from the United goal, and he took the opportunity to crack a wicked, knuckling half-volley to the far post that left Wells a bystander, only to miss the mark by inches and carom off the top corner of the woodwork.
In the 55th minute Bryan Namoff was caught out by a well-weighted through ball that released second-half substitute Montes behind the D.C. defense, but Peralta rescued his teammate with a timely intervention in the goalmouth, blasting Montes' centering pass to safety.
But Pachuca's left winger would stamp his mark on the match less than 10 minutes later, breaking the deadlock with a cheeky angled shot that caught Wells flat-footed.
When the ball was swung out to the left flank, the United netminder had switched his focus and aligned himself in preparation for a delivery into the danger area -- and whether Montes saw him cheating or merely mishit his cross, the result was a swerving blast that beat Wells inside the near post to give Pachuca a well-deserved 1-0 lead.
The goal immediately lifted the spirits of the home side and their fans, but just when it seemed that the floodgates would open, D.C. rallied. Having struggled to seriously test Calero thus far, United finally got some numbers forward to open up the Pachuca defense in the 76th minute -- but Emilio saw his left-footed shot blocked by some desperate defending and no one in a black jersey was able to put the final touch on Gallardo's subsequent cross from the right side.
Pachuca recovered quickly, and salted away the result with 10 minutes left in regulation on a sequence made possible by Montes' skill and daring. The goalscorer took down a crossfield pass with a delightful first touch in the 79th minute, compelling McTavish to clip him to the turf just inches outside the D.C. penalty box, then doubled his tally with a brave finish on the ensuing set piece.
Gimenez delivered a powerful inswinging from the left flank that flew through a crowd of bodies in the goalmouth and left Wells in no-man's-land as the unmarked Montes timed his far-post run to perfection, flicking his header into the net just before colliding with the prone Wells.
Montes remained on the turf inside the goal and would require treatment before continuing, but the damage was already done and the tiring visitors grimly set themselves into damage control as the series threatened to slip away from them entirely.
United's flickering hopes seemed to be well and truly crushed when Cacho tapped home in injury time, but his finish was waved off by the linesman's flag and the MLS side made it through the final seconds without further harm.
The 2-0 setback hands D.C. an imposing but not impossible task for the return leg at RFK on April 9, though the capital club will need more out of an attack that has now been blanked for two consecutive matches.
Game Summary
PACHUCA 2 v. D.C. UNITED 0
PACHUCA: 1-Miguel Ángel Calero, 2-Leobardo López García 3-Julio Manzur, 6-Jaime Correa Córdova, 8- Gabriel Caballero (Luis Montes 46´), 10-Andrés Chitiva Espinosa, 11- Juan Carlos Cacho, 14-Marvin Cabrera Ibarra (22.- Paul Nicolás Aguilar 68´), 16-Gerardo Rodríguez S (José Francisco Torres 46´). 19- Christian Giménez ,21-Fausto Pinto . M/DT: Enrique Meza
DC UNITED: 1-Zach Wells, 2-Gonzalo Peralta, 4-Marc Burch, 7-Fred CARREIRO, 10-Marcelo Gallardo (15.- Rodion Dyachenko 79´), 11-Luciano Emilio, 18-Devon McTavish (6.- Domenic Mediate 82´) , 19-Clyde Simas (Santino Quaranta 46´), 23-Gonzalo Martinez, 26-Bryan Namoff, 34-Franco Niell M/DT: Tom Soehn
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
