Hampered by injuries, noticeably fatigued and unable to put together a multi-goal performance all month, D.C. United just keeps finding a way to get the job done, as they again displayed with a professional 1-0 win against the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday night.
Jaime Moreno bounced back remarkably from what seemed to be a significant leg injury sustained against Chicago on Wednesday night, scoring the decider barely two minutes after referee Baldomero Toledo concluded a 39-minute weather delay that was caused by lightning in the area five minutes after halftime.
"We're glad to have Jaime back," said United boss Peter Nowak. "One day after the Wednesday game we didn't know how long he's going to be out, and the next thing you know he's scoring the winning goal."
Moreno displayed his refined goalscorer's instinct on the play, arriving at the near post just in time to flick a Josh Gros cross past K.C. goalkeeper Bo Oshoniyi. In his 89 minutes on the pitch, the Bolivian seemed unaffected by the deep bruise that originally looked to be a more serious knee problem.
"Yesterday at practice, I did a hard practice and I did a couple of moves that you need to do for the game," he said. "So I knew that I was fine, but still I got my MRI done and it shows that there wasn't any knee damage. That was a little bit of a concern but once I was clear I was ready to go."
The second-place Wizards are doing their best to keep pace with D.C. atop the Eastern Conference table and comprehensively outplayed their hosts in the first half. But when a team is on the sort of roll presently being enjoyed by United - their unbeaten streak has now run to nine matches - good fortune seems to arrive from the strangest of places, and this time it was the rare weather delay, combined with stellar goalkeeping by Troy Perkins, that gave the Black-and-Red just enough to secure the victory.
"Yeah, I've never been part of a rain delay before, except Little League Baseball," said Gros, who served up the breakthrough pass for Moreno after being released by an excellent through ball from Clyde Simms. "But I think we were ready to go in the first five minutes we played before the rain delay, and (during the stoppage) we were just in here going stir-crazy. When they finally let us out we were ready, and Kansas City didn't look like they were as ready as we were."
United are Major League Soccer's overall points leaders and top the league in goals scored, fewest goals conceded and have yet to lose at home, even as they labor through a clogged fixture list with the muggy Washington summer getting hotter every day.
"We need a break," said Nowak. "It's not only the physical part but the mental part. The schedule is going to be like that, it's going to be hot weather, difficult weather conditions. We've got to go through. You have to fight through, running and fighting. Sometimes the soccer is not great ... but you have to fight through it with running, fighting, scratching, grabbing. We are always going to fight for the three points."
Even as their explosive attack has faded of late, United have not given an inch defensively and Perkins has been a huge factor in that. Several of his six saves against the Wizards were top-class, including a sensational one-on-one denial of Scott Sealy in the first half that gave a glimpse of why his teammates have clearly placed their trust in him.
"Yeah, it was nice," admitted the soft-spoken 'keeper, in reference to the Sealy play. "It was nice to see a reaction like that and that kind of picks the team up as well. You make a save and they're like, 'all right, it's our chance now to win it.'"
With five shutouts and a puny 0.80 goals-against average, Perkins has made an overwhelming claim to the starting job even as veteran Nick Rimando has returned to health -- though Perkins and other starters will likely be rested at some point in the coming weeks.
"It's good to keep this going, keep him in form, and he's very sharp in the practice," said Nowak of his No. 1 'keeper. "So it's difficult to tell him that he's going to have time off. I think right now it's like that, and we will see how he feels. We're going to ask every player how he feels before the games we will have, and we're going to adjust to the situation."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
