Five games in just more than two weeks can be hard on any team, and results from such a demanding schedule showed for D.C. United on Saturday night. While most of the other teams in the league played their third match of the season this weekend, United added a home-and-home series with Mexican club Pachuca as part of the CONCACAF Champions' Cup.
The Black-and-Red represented MLS well by beating Pachuca 2-1 in midweek, even though they were eliminated from the tournament on aggregate. The promising aspect of the win against the Mexican side is that the two goals scored were notched by players who aren't regular starters for the club -- a good sign for United's depth.
In contrast, when D.C. traveled to the Wasatch Front on Saturday to face Real Salt Lake they took a chance to rely on that depth and rest some of the regulars who have been through the hectic schedule. Their depth did not come through this time, as United were thumped 4-0.
"I think we were a little naive in thinking we were going to be coming out the same way that we did against Pachuca, on the road and on turf," said United defender Bryan Namoff.
Head coach Tom Soehn admitted that the grueling schedule has given his team its share of lumps, but that those situations test a team's character. It's a test that he's not sure if his team passed this time around.
"We still have a long way to go," said Soehn. "It's unacceptable to go down like we did tonight. I constantly question the character of teams, and that character gets challenged not only from the first 11, but it's challenged through the whole roster."
As Namoff pointed out following the game, not much went right for the capital club. Both of RSL's first-half shots on goal slipped past goalkeeper Jose Carvallo, who was getting his first start, as regular Zach Wells was given a night off. The first caught Carvallo leaning the wrong way, as it skipped just past his feet, and the second was a volley that actually went off of the goalie but slipped underneath him as he dove.
Although Soehn agreed that while it wasn't Carvallo's night, the goals weren't entirely the goalkeeper's fault.
"He didn't have a good day," Soehn said of Carvallo. "Granted he didn't have a lot of help in front of him either."
Salt Lake added two more goals to the total before the final whistle, giving that club their largest margin of victory in team history. And at the end of the day RSL's tactics looked familiar as they exploited a worn D.C. side.
"We were way too spread out in the first half, and they were able to play through us pretty easily. Our man-marking wasn't very good," said Namoff. "We were slow to win the second ball. And our possession wasn't good at all. That's what we pride ourselves on doing, is possessing on teams and tiring them out. I felt that they used our game mentality against us."
In 2007, after crashing out of the CONCACAF Champions' Cup at the hands of Chivas de Guadalajara, United went on a three-game loosing streak once they returned to league play. It's a part of history that Namoff hopes his team won't repeat.
"Today, we're almost repeating history, trying to keep that same kind of intensity from the CONCACAF and transferring it over to the league," said Namoff. "We still haven't found that plane to do it."
D.C. United team captain and league veteran Jaime Moreno said that although he was disappointed, such a drastic defeat did not concern him as far as United's hopes for the season.
"I think we're humans, we make mistakes," said Moreno. "You also have to give credit to Salt Lake because they created chances and they put it away. That's how any sport is. It's definitely a bad experience, and hopefully it won't happen again."
Scott McAllister is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
