Desperate for a result, teetering on the brink of elimination, in need of inspiration. D.C. United have been here before.
Major League Soccer's best regular-season team must beat the Chicago Fire at RFK Stadium on Thursday night, or walk away empty-handed from a long, difficult season laced with championship ambitions.
"Definitely," said midfielder Clyde Simms when asked if the Black-and-Red were feeling the pressure. "We're down 1-0 and it's do or die now. If we don't get the result we're done for the season. But I think it's a good pressure. We'll have a lot of energy."
It's another high-stakes occasion in a campaign that has featured its fair share of dramatic moments. So far, United have come up short in such tests, exiting the CONCACAF Champions' Cup and Copa Sudamericana by wafer-thin margins. But this time D.C. is hosting the deciding game, and it's a welcome change for the capital club, who took advantage of a similar setup in their Champions' Cup opener against CD Olimpia of Honduras.
"We've always been on the other side of it," said head coach Tom Soehn. "The only other time, we had Olimpia, we had the home-field advantage. It's refreshing to know that [Chicago] are going to have to come into our building and have to compete in our building. That's obviously an advantage for us."
Both international tourneys saw Mexican side Chivas de Guadalajara attract a significant expatriate fan base in their trips to RFK. But this time the distinctive old stadium will be crowded with rowdy United fans clad in their now-traditional "blackout" playoff attire -- and the players know it's up to them to deliver in kind.
"We need to play with 11 players on the field ready from the get-go. As soon as the whistle starts, we need to have a good performance from the collective group," said defender Bryan Namoff. "We know we're going to create chances, we know we're going to be able to establish our possession-style game at home. We're going to have the crowd behind us, it's going to be an unbelievable atmosphere. We just have to show up."
Namoff and company recognize the massive significance of the opening stages on Thursday night, but the excitement and adrenaline will have to be kept in check.
"I don't think we really want to go out and say, 'OK, we have to win this in the first 20 minutes,'" said the team's 2007 Defender of the Year. "Once we get our first goal, then we can establish our rhythm, momentum, and I think from there everything's going to follow."
Scoring first, especially in the early going, will swing much of the pressure and anxiety back onto the Fire's collective shoulders. Conversely, given Chicago's stout defensive play of late, it will be nothing short of disastrous for D.C. if the visitors breach United's back line again.
"If we can get an early one, I think we'll have a huge advantage," said Simms. "That will maybe put their heads down a little and we'll just go out to play our game and get two or three after that. The first goal is definitely key, but I know we've played down before and come back this season. There's a lot of fight in this group and even if we don't get the first goal, I'm sure we'll stick with it until the end."
Soehn looks likely to have his first-choice strikers Jaime Moreno and Luciano Emilio back to something approaching full speed on Thursday. Their presence offers attacking verve as well as useful veteran savvy in what promises to be a pressure-packed situation.
"I expect them to be on the field, all three at the same time," said Soehn, who believes his strike force will have no trouble creating chances despite recent ankle injuries to Moreno and Emilio. "They've done it all year. There's no reason why they shouldn't. You don't forget."
Together with playmaker Christian Gomez, the South Americans are sometimes referred to as the "magic triangle" by D.C. fans who first applied the term to Moreno, Raul Diaz Arce and Marco Etcheverry during United's late-90s glory days. That description goes a long way towards describing the trio's critical importance to their team's attack.
"They'll be ready," said Simms. "They're experienced guys and they'll help a big amount."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
