It took 15 players, 32 shots and 93 minutes, but D.C. United finally found the deciding goal against a stubborn Columbus Crew side in their U.S. Open Cup round-of-16 match on Tuesday night, played in steamy conditions at the Maryland Soccerplex.
After the Black-and-Red failed to capitalize on their dominance in regulation time, it looked like the contest would have to be determined by the lottery of penalty kicks. But three minutes into extra time, second-half sub Jamil Walker nodded home a Christian Gomez free kick to give the crowd of 4,774 something to cheer about on United's first 2006 appearance at their second home in the Washington suburbs.
"We were just hoping one would fall," said D.C winger Josh Gros. "We definitely dominated the game and we had a ton of chances that we didn't finish, but it was just one of those days where most things don't go your way. But eventually we got the goal and got the win."
The result is United's fourth win over Columbus this season, but the visitors put up spirited resistance, grabbing an early lead off Chad Marshall's thumping header and troubling D.C.'s defense with counterattacks all evening. Even after Walker's header, the Crew kept toiling and came heartbreakingly close to a late leveler in the second minute of injury time in extra time, only for Chris Leitch's close-range shot to carom off the woodwork.
"Yeah, he was wide open at the back post," said goalkeeper Nick Rimando. "At the end of games we can't do that, leave people wide open like that. (Leitch) had a good chance to tie the game and take it into shootouts, but luckily for us he hit the post."
United head coach Peter Nowak insisted that he never lost faith in his squad, despite a steady stream of misses that began after Jaime Moreno's goal pulled them level in the 22nd minute.
"No, I wasn't concerned," he said. "If you create so many chances, it's just who's going to be the hero of the day and who's going to be the jackal. ... It's important to know that you can create the chances, but on the other hand, we have to work on the finishing."
But he couldn't help noticing the strange parallels to United's last match at the Soccerplex, a U.S. Open Cup loss to FC Dallas that went to a penalty shootout after the home side failed to secure the result in regulation.
"I don't know, maybe it's this place," said Nowak with a grin. "We had the game last year against Dallas and it was the same, we had a lot of chances and they tied at the end. Somebody has to go to church and maybe it's me."
Nowak's side was driven forward by an inspirational performance from Gomez, who pointed to last weekend's humiliating defeat to Real Salt Lake as his motivation.
"Saturday's loss at Salt Lake left a bad taste in our mouths," he said. "We didn't want the same thing happening tonight. We were all mentally prepared."
Against Columbus, the Argentinean supplemented his usual playmaking contributions with a display of unflagging energy over 120 minutes. But afterwards Gomez quickly deflected praise towards holding midfielders Brian Carroll, Clyde Simms and the rest of his colleagues.
"Towards the end of the game, obviously I was feeling tired but I have to give credit to my teammates, especially the [defensive midfielders], who were winning the balls and playing it to me," said Gomez. "My job was to set up the attack, and look for Esky and Jaime up top. That's what Peter wanted me to do and I thought that I did well in that position tonight."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
