Wracked by injuries and drained by a busy schedule, D.C. United needed to dig deep for their SuperLiga group match against Atlante FC on Tuesday night, where a win was crucial for safeguarding their prospects of a berth in the tournament's semifinal round.
But all United managed to dig was an even deeper hole for themselves, surrendering two counterattack goals amid a dire first-half display that sent them stumbling to a 3-2 setback. The loss leaves them with slim hopes for progression from the group stage -- and a raft of stinging words from their head coach.
"Today there's no sugarcoating anything," said D.C. boss Tom Soehn. "The performance, especially in the first half, was atrocious. There was no commitment, no passion. We just came out flat all over, and that's just unacceptable, especially in a tournament like this."
Soehn did not stop there. When asked whether motivation was an issue for his shorthanded squad, the second-year coach further excoriated his charges.
"Every time we strap on a uniform, there's a lot of pride that goes with it, and today we didn't show that. That's concerning to me, and we're going to address that," he said, later adding, "Whether you're tired or not, you still have to put forth the effort and I felt like it wasn't there today."
Atlante's 4-0 thrashing at the hands of the Houston Dynamo on Saturday ended up serving the Cancun-based side well in their trip to the capital city. Led by the creative prompting of Gabriel Pereyra, their pressing, opportunistic attack bore little resemblance to the lackluster outfit the Black-and-Red had watched on film and the home side paid dearly for their overconfidence.
"They were a different team than what showed up against Houston -- they came out a bit stronger and they had a good game," said D.C. center back Devon McTavish. "We didn't really see that in the film against Houston. So we'll give them credit, they put on a good show tonight."
Exploiting poorly-timed turnovers and huge gaps in the United defense, Luis Gabriel Rey's finishing abilities gave his side just reward for their hard work in the first 45 minutes and Christian "El Hobbit" Bermudez iced the result with a sensational finish from the edge of the penalty area in the 49th minute. D.C.'s late comeback roused the home fans, but could not erase their fatal start.
"I don't know. I don't know what needs to be done," said a mystified Zach Wells after the match. "We'll look at some tape and figure out how to shift better and how to stay tighter in the back and in the middle of the field. ... For whatever reason, we just didn't have that spark in the first half and they were able to capitalize on it."
Chivas de Guadalajara's 1-0 win in Houston later Tuesday keeps United's faint hopes alive, with advancement statistically possible provided that the Black-and-Red beat the Dynamo soundly on Saturday and Chivas defeat Atlante. Yet their postgame remarks make clear that D.C. has already begun to put their SuperLiga misadventures behind them.
"It is what it is at this point," said Wells. "I think we'll come out and play against Houston, then we'll concentrate on the league game we have with them on Tuesday. I don't know what to say about SuperLiga, to be honest."
Brazilian midfielder Fred was even more blunt.
"I don't know, we just played really badly today," he said. "I'm very disappointed, because we worked hard all week and we lost two in a row. We really just want to get back to MLS play and get some more wins there."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
