Real Salt Lake contained the league's most potent attack and was the better team for most of the match but still came up on the short end, losing to D.C. United 2-1 on a cool, perfect night Wednesday at RFK Stadium.
Christian Gomez's fantastic goal in the 73rd minute sealed the victory for United, finishing a cross from the right edge of the penalty from second half substitute Fred on the back post for his seventh goal of the year.
Former United star Alecko Eskandarian had a chance to tie the game however, in the 76th minute, but his controversial penalty kick was saved by United's Troy Perkins. Devon McTavish was deemed to have grabbed Carey Talley as he tried to head home a free kick from the left flank by Javier Morales.
Real attacked with vigor the entire match but the final ball could not penetrate the United back line. After having scored just two goals over a six-game stretch and being shutout four times, Real has scored nine goals over their last four matches, with two wins and a 4-3 loss at Houston last Saturday.
Eddie Pope was honored before the match by D.C. United for his contributions to three of their championship teams. Pope was an original member of the club and patrolled the center of their defense until leaving after the 2002 season for New York. Pope did not start for Real because of illness, and was replaced by Chris Wingert in Jason Kreis' lineup.
In a classy moment at the end of the match, United's most fervent fans, the Barra Brava, stood and chanted "Eddie Pope" as one of their former heroes left the RFK Stadium field for the last time.
United coach Tom Soehn also decided to rest three of his recent regulars at the start of the match, exchanging Bobby Boswell for Greg Vanney and inserting Joshua Gros for Fred and Brian Carroll for Clyde Simms.
Luciano Emilio however, continued his torrid goal scoring pace, finishing a Gomez cross from the right touchline in the 16th minute to give United a 1-0 lead. Gomez floated the ball over to the back post and Emilio outjumped his marker and tucked a header just inside the near post for his league-leading 19th goal of the season.
Moments later, Ritchie Kotschau took down Emilio just outside the penalty area, earning a yellow card. Gomez's free kick hit the wall but bounced right to Emilio, whose flailing left-footed volley sailed harmlessly wide.
Both teams balanced out possession early on, but Real clearly had the better chances, taking advantage of an uncharacteristically listless United attack. Back on the field where he began his professional career, Eskandarian was very active and twice forced tricky saves out of United goalkeeper Troy Perkins, who looked shaky early on.
On the second, he was allowed to cut straight across the top of the box and cut back a left-footed shot to the near post 20 yards out from goal that Perkins just parried away with a left-handed diving save.
Real's Kyle Beckerman evened the score at 1-1 in the 32nd minute on a well-struck shot that beat a slightly screened Perkins from 25 yards out into the lower left corner. Beckerman ran unmarked toward the top of the United penalty area after collecting a simple ball from Wingert deep in the midfield before letting fly.
RSL continued to pressure with Eskandarian taking a sharply angled shot from near the left touchline from a crafty chip by Beckerman, who won the ball a step ahead of Ben Olsen in the midfield.
Gomez had another free kick from the exact spot as the earlier one after being taken down with a two-footed tackle by Matias Mantilla just seconds before the whistle for halftime. Gomez bent this one on goal, and Nick Rimando knocked it away with a two-handed leaping save.
Fred came on for Guy-Roland Kpene, who started in place of Moreno, at the start of the second half in hopes of jump-starting their inefficient attack. Fred patrolled the right flank, pushing him forward along with Gros on the left and Emilio as the spearhead of the United attack.
It worked as Real needed Rimando came up with his biggest save of night on a penalty kick after Jean-Martial Kipre took Josh Gros down just inches in the left side of the penalty area in the 50th minute. Rimando guessed correctly, catching Gomez's kick heading to the lower right corner.
United were without their normal penalty kick specialist Jaime Moreno, who was called into the Bolivian national team for a match Wednesday against Peru.
United appeard to take the lead again but Emilio was clearly offside when he banged in a rebound from a Bryan Namoff shot in the 56th minute.
A horrible turnover by Real in their offensive half sprung Gomez for a long run into the penalty area but his ball tagged for an open Emilio was shrewdly knocked away by an alert Kotschau racing back to defend.
Gros had an opportunity in the 69th minute running onto a ball into the box but his half volley flew wildly over the net from 13 yards out.
Gomez then provided the game-winner 17 minutes from the end after Real once again failed to clear from a free kick. Bobby Boswell back-heeled the ball for Fred on the right side of the area, who hooked a cross over to Gomez at the far post, and he nodded it down for the eventual winner.
When Eskandarian's penalty was saved, it was Real's first shot on goal of the second half. Kreis brought on Andy Williams and Robbie Findley to try and provide a late spark, but no further chances were forthcoming and RSL saw their playoff chances dwindle just a little farther away, now 11 points out of the final postseason spot with seven games to play.
Chris Snear is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
