After two aborted tries on previous dates, D.C.United and the Houston Dynamo finally completed the first of their two league meetings on Wednesday night -- and some of Thursday morning, too -- as the Dynamo secured a workmanlike 2-0 win that took nearly five hours to complete thanks to torrential thunderstorms.
The RFK Stadium playing surface was left a mess and several players limped off injured, but goals from Brian Mullan and Brian Ching gave the Orange a fully-deserved road victory to savor as they once again take a break from league play for SuperLiga. The two clubs are headed in opposite directions, however, as Houston continue to pick up momentum while United suffer through a trying injury bug.
While the visitors rolled out a starting lineup featuring just two changes from Saturday's SuperLiga meeting between the clubs, United coach Tom Soehn overhauled his side dramatically, testing out a 4-3-3 shape with Fred, Clyde Simms and Devon McTavish roaming the midfield behind Luciano Emilio, Jaime Moreno and, in an advanced wide role, rookie Craig Thompson.
The D.C. backline featured another rookie, Pat Carroll, making his first XI debut at right back with Bryan Namoff shifting into central defense next to Marc Burch, and Gonzalo Martinez manning the left side.
Less than four minutes in, D.C. goalkeeper Zach Wells found himself at the center of the action, first by overthrowing his outlet pass to Moreno, allowing Craig Waibel to nip in and take possession.
But Wells made an acrobatic play to redeem himself when Waibel's mis-hit cross sailed towards the net -- hustling backwards to glove the ball, then push it over the bar before his momentum carried him into the goal. On the ensuing corner kick, Houston's big bodies sparked momentary chaos in the United box but the home side was able to lump the ball clear.
Brian Ching forced a sprawling save from Wells in the 10th minute, and though the netminder could only parry the shot he was bailed out by the quick reactions of Martinez, who blocked out Brian Mullan before the Houston winger could put a touch on goal.
The Orange were bossing possession at this point and continued to threaten with Mullan and De Rosario blasting shots just wide of the target moments after Wells had to dive into traffic to palm Mullan's teasing cross-shot away from the goalmouth.
On one rare occasion when play switched to the other end, Houston center back Eddie Robinson earned an early caution for an untidy cleating of Emilio as the United striker looked to break clear of him after an aerial challenge. The foul set up a D.C. set piece that was rolled into Clyde Simms' path, though the holding midfielder's stinging drive from distance was deflected and eventually cleared.
Houston came close on another set piece delivery into the United box, but Fred bravely blocked Dwayne De Rosario's hard shot on the doorstep and the Orange were denied again.
But the Black-and-Red defense failed to heed the warnings and soon found themselves staring at a 1-0 deficit in the 20th minute. Geoff Cameron skipped an alert diagonal pass across the D.C. box to a wide-open Mullan, who juked Martinez into the air with a sharp cutback onto his left foot and blasted a strong finish into the upper left side of the net for his first goal of the season.
The early deficit prompted a tactical switch by Soehn, who yanked off Carroll just 25 minutes into his first MLS start and pulled McTavish back into central defense alongside Burch as the home side returned to their conventional 4-4-2 alignment.
Yet D.C. continued to struggle, while Dynamo looked happy to sit back and look for chances to counterattack. Catching United with numbers forward near the half-hour mark, Cameron nearly grabbed his second assist of the night with a long pass into the acres of space in front of De Rosario, only to be denied when Wells took a jaunt some 40 yards off his line to slide in and clear the danger.
Moreno and Emilio had been marked and harried out of the game, Stuart Holden and Goeff Cameron were dominating the center of the park and Dynamo netminder Pat Onstad had scarcely been tested -- all in all, United were fortunate to reach halftime only a goal down.
But in a manner befitting this star-crossed, twice-postponed fixture, a hard rain began to fall within minutes of the second-half kickoff, quickly drenching both players and spectators as the heavy weather systems which had been looming over the Washington region finally arrived.
By the 50th minute the downpour was thick enough to obscure views of the 22 players from RFK's upper sections, and just seconds after booking Martinez for a sliding challenge on Brad Davis some 25 yards out from Onstad's net, referee Ricardo Salazar suspended play when the old stadium's power flickered and the main field lighting blinked out as lightning flashed overhead.
The lights came back on soon enough, illuminating a playing surface that was more water than grass, while intermittent rain continued and the delay stretched out interminably. Finally, after nearly three hours of watching, waiting and field rolling by RFK's groundskeepers -- punctuated by several field evaluations by Salazar and his crew -- the pitch was deemed playable and play resumed some 20 minutes before midnight.
RFK's north end was clearly the drier of the two halves, handing Houston a slight advantage and forcing United to take a more direct approach. Francis Doe soon entered the game in place of Thompson, giving the home side a timely injection of speed up top.
Dynamo came within inches of doubling their lead on a 66th-minute corner kick Wells couldn't reach in heavy traffic, and first Bobby Boswell, then Cameron saw close-range shots denied -- one by a defender, the other by the base of the left post -- before Wells smothered the loose ball near the goal line.
But four minutes later D.C. rallied to create their best chance yet after Doe set Fred loose down the right channel. The Brazilian's cross was cleared, but straight to Simms -- and his 20-yard scorcher drew an excellent save from Onstad, who threw himself to his left to palm the drive away from goal. Moments later the Canadian stopper came up big again, racing out to deny Doe when the Liberian broke behind the Dynamo back line.
Ten minutes from time, Houston scored what looked to be the game-clinching goal, victimizing United on yet another set piece, just as they had on two occasions on Saturday night. Davis' delivery from the left channel was outstanding, stranding a hesitant Wells in no-man's land as Ching rose above his marker to nod home from just outside the six-yard box for a 2-0 lead.
The result was further secured when Salazar produced a second yellow card for Martinez after the Colombian slid through De Rosario to win a ball just outside the United box, earning a boot to his face as well as an early trip to the showers.
His disconsolate teammates looked all too ready to join him as the match's final minutes wound down, and when the final whistle blew the Black-and-Red were left empty-handed and short of inspiration as they enter the All-Star break.
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
