Last night's driving rain was the first of two adversaries D.C. United encountered last night at RFK stadium. The other was a desperate CD Olimpia, eager to quickly erase the 4-1 deficit from last week's encounter in Tegucigalpa. Though Olimpia coach Nahum Espinoza conceded after the game that United won the series in the first leg, his players didn't show it.

After taking several minutes to adjust to the field conditions, Olimpia began pressuring United on all fronts, forcing D.C. back into it's own third of the field. The pressure got to United in the 28th minute when Bryan Namoff hit Wilfredo Barahona with a hard sliding challenge inside the penalty box and got whistled for a PK. Hendry Thomas converted, putting United in a pivotal postition. Faced with the decision to either retreat into a defensive shell or take their game to Olimpia, United chose the latter.

For the remainder of the first half, United turned the tables on Olimpia, probing the midfield with short passes while making periodic runs along the left side of the pitch. These wide runs opened up the middle for Jaime Moreno, who was able to control the ball at the top of the box and cut diagonally to his left. Eying Luciano Emilio's incisive run, Moreno rewarded him, leaving Emilio with only GK Noel Valladares to beat. Emilio's right-footed laser went between the legs of Valladares and into the back of the net, leveling the score.

Photos by Kyle Gustafson. More here.

United didn't lose any of their intensity after returning from the halftime break, thanks in part to the inclusion of second-half sub Ben Olsen. His tenacity was rewarded when he ran onto a ball in the penalty box and was clipped by Valladares, earning a PK. Christian Gomez nonchalantly converted seemingly a full second after Valladares committed himself.

United seemed to tire around the 60th minute. Complicating matters, keeper Troy Perkins strained his quadricep and was replaced by newly acquired backup Jay Nolly in the 66th minute. It was evident that Olimpia smelled blood. They leveled the score in the 75th minute when Wilson Palacios beat United's defense with a pass to Jose Pacini, who easily slid the ball past Nolly before he rushed up to meet him.

United regained their intensity shortly after Olsen suffered a hard foul in the 76th minute. From this point on, the result was never really in question. United put an exclamation point on the series in the 84th minute when Emilio's brilliant individual effort netted him another goal. Gomez sent a somewhat speculative floating pass into the penalty box. Though Emilio was marked tightly, he was somehow able to hold off his man while settling the ball at his feet. From the tightest of angles, he astutely shot the ball over the feet of Valladares, across the mouth of the goal, and into the side of the net.

The sizeable contingent of Olimpia supporters shuffled out of RFK wet and disappointed, but could not deny that they lost to a better team. For the majority of the night, United were the aggressors. Josh Gros ran circles around his less fit opponents (Walter Lopez, we'd like to tell you about NutriSystem. It's okay, Dan Marino uses it. Hey, he's back at his playing weight now!). Emilio looked positively lethal the entire night. We are giddy for the Emilio era, and you should be too. This guy can play. The backline had a couple of slips, but for the most part looked solid, especially Bobby Boswell.

In his first home game as head coach, Tom Soehn did an admirable job. He very easily could have called for a more conservative gameplan, but made the right decision in encouraging his team to attack. He also displayed a fiery disposition reminiscent of former head coach Peter Nowak, who was on hand for Soehn's press conference. When faced with the question, "How do you feel going on to face [semifinal opponent] Chivas, the real ones?" He quickly retorted,

What, is that assuming that we're not a real club? We're gonna be ready for everybody. We'll watch enough tape and recognize what their strengths and weaknesses are. And in the same respect, we're gonna go down there and do completely well, and let them worry about us.