D.C. United's 1-0 loss was certainly disappointing to a team that came into the match with a chance to claim sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference. Despite the outcome, United felt that they had played a good match against a tough opponent and that the outcome could have easily been reversed.
"Right from the beginning, we went to control the game," said United midfielder Christian Gomez. "We made a mistake on the corner kick, Brian Ching took advantage of the deflection and they scored the goal. I think that the game was even. There were clear goal opportunities for Luciano Emilio in the first half, and if he would've scored, it would've been a different game."
Emilio had scored in the previous five matches, the second longest streak of consecutive matches with a goal in MLS this season.
United coach Tom Soehn said that close games such as Sunday's can be boiled down to one or two key plays that decide the game.
"These tight games are about one or two plays," Soehn said. "We had our chances early, but we didn't finish. Then we gave them an opportunity and it was kind of a half-chance, but that's what these games are about, and they converted."
Obviously, one of those pivotal plays was the game's lone goal, when Ching deflected a shot by midfielder Richard Mulrooney past United goalkeeper Troy Perkins and into the net. Soehn thought that D.C. forward Nick Addlery could have prevented Mulrooney's shot from ever getting to Ching, had he stayed on his feet.
"[Addlery] jumped up," Soehn said. "Maybe he thought it was going high, but at that point he's got to lay himself out and make sure it doesn't come in [the box]."
Perkins agreed that Houston's goal was the result of a defensive miscue by United, but didn't lay the blame on any particular player.
"The ball was cleared out, and we didn't clear it out very well," Perkins said, "so [Mulrooney] gets a free shot from 18 out. It looks like it's going in, then Ching gets a leg on it and gets a deflection to it."
United had a chance to go up early in the game on a free kick taken by Gomez. Gomez's shot bounced in the middle of the penalty area and then up and off the crossbar, before landing in a dangerous position in front of the goal, but it was cleared out by the Houston defense.
"We practiced lobbing the ball in the box so the defenders and midfielders can look for the ball," Gomez said of his attempt. "It hit the crossbar. Unfortunately, it didn't go in and it bounced out to one of their players and they cleared it."
Despite the slip-up that led to Houston's goal, Soehn was quick to point out that his team put forth a solid defensive effort in the match as a whole.
"Defensively, I thought we were pretty solid," Soehn said. "We didn't give them a ton of chances, nor did they give us. It's the type of game you expect it to be between two good teams. Like I said, unfortunately we didn't hit that first opportunity."
Soehn also gave credit to the Dynamo defense for shutting out United's high-powered attack. It marked only the third time that D.C. has been shut out this season.
"They're disciplined, they get back fast," Soehn said. "We had a couple of chances early over the top, and when you get a team like that out of their zone, you need to score on those chances. We didn't."
Lucas Ogden-Davis is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
