The Columbus Crew came to Washington desperately short-handed for Wednesday night's match with D.C. United, and the home side showed their Eastern Conference counterparts no pity with a 5-1 beatdown that gave the supporters on hand at RFK Stadium much to cheer about.
Jaime Moreno made history with an 8th-minute penalty kick that brought his season total to six -- and vaulted the D.C. captain to the lofty heights of 100 career goals.
Clyde Simms showed little signs of his hamstring troubles, going a full 90 minutes in the crucial central midfield role that had been vacated by Ben Olsen's participation with the U.S. World Cup team.
Marksman Alecko Eskandarian continued his torrid form with yet another goal, his fifth of the year, and essentially created the Ezra Hendrickson own goal that restored United's lead after Joseph Ngwenya's equalizer.
And Argentinean striker Lucio Filomeno broke his 2006 scoring drought with an opportunistic finish just two minutes after coming on for Moreno in the 78th minute.
But despite an impressive 6-1-3 record and a seven-point cushion atop the Eastern Conference tables, United are far from satisfied.
"I think we never feel comfortable in the end of May because everything can happen pretty fast in our league," said head coach Peter Nowak. "We have to play until November. I wish that we're going to play in the playoffs like today, but as I said, the season is long, things can change very fast."
United regularly outplay the opposition at their imposing RFK Stadium home, but at times have let mental lapses undermine that good work. When Ngwenya stole in behind Bobby Boswell to level the match at 1-1 in the 21st minute following D.C.'s blistering start, it looked like it might happen again.
"In the first half we had good chances to score the goals and basically, the goal for Columbus was pretty discouraging at that moment," said Nowak. "We made a mistake, the communication wasn't there. (But) I think in the second half we made the most of our chances and scored beautiful goals."
His charges showed similar focus in their post-match assessment.
"We're doing OK," said Eskandarian. "We're not going to let it go to our heads. We still have a lot of improving to do. We're very happy with winning these. But we still have a lot of work to do, especially defensively. ... But if we can get away with not playing our greatest and still coming out 5-1 winners, then we're doing something right."
Nowak claimed he said absolutely nothing at halftime, but whatever the impetus, his team's response after the break was immediate. Eskandarian's flicked header nicked off ex-United defender Hendrickson and past Dan Popik in the 48th minute, and when Josh Gros grabbed D.C.'s third goal 10 minutes later, the rout was on.
United can now turn their attention to a looming showdown with their most competitive rivals in the East, as defending conference champions New England Revolution visit RFK on Saturday night.
"Any win like that is a good result, especially at home," said goalkeeper Troy Perkins. "A tough night to play - it was hot and humid. Our fans came out on a Wednesday night, and that's what they deserve. Certainly we can carry momentum over to this weekend and put this behind us - it's going to be a tough one on Saturday."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
