It's been quite the season for Major League Soccer, at least in terms of parity. Coming into Saturday's activity, only Columbus had laid claim to one of the eight MLS Cup playoffs spots, and every single team in the league remained mathematically alive in the chase for the playoffs.

The glass half full assessment: the fates in command of D.C. United certainly chose a good year to force so many injuries and absences to their key performers. The glass half empty assessment: any more performances like Saturday night's, and United might just find themselves on the outside looking in, regardless of the scenario. Lacking their usual one-two punch of Jaime Moreno and Luciano Emilio, United's offensively-challenged squad suffered one of their most frustrating losses of the year to Chivas USA, 3-0.

(Kyle Gustafson / www.photokyle.com)

 

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The second largest home crowd of the season, at well over 28,000, witnessed the return of Alecko Eskandarian to the field where he began his career and scored 24 goals in four years. With his first-half marker, Eskandarian's warpath of revenge is now complete: the man has now exacted tallies against each of his previous three employers (Toronto FC and Real Salt Lake the others). His first-half tally not only completed a personal milestone for the diminutive forward, but rendered United shell-shocked after a strong opening 30 minutes. Goals from new acquisitions Sasha Victorine and Dejair made things elementary, sealing a trying evening for even the most ardent of United fans.

D.C. certainly could have used a presence like Eskandarian - coach Tom Soehn chose to play with two attacking midfielders at forward positions. Both Fred and Santino Quaranta played up top, which is more indicative of United's forward depth than the attacking capabilities of either midfielder.

Marcello Gallardo, captaining the side in place of the suspended Jaime Moreno, looked to press the center of Chivas' defense early. What appeared to be an uncalled push to his back irked the crowd early on - and they were doubly irked as an eerily similar foul was called at the other end minutes later.

United lacked final quality in the first half - for instance, wasting an unbelievable bit of skill from Gallardo in the 13th, as he outfoxed two defenders and found two United men unmarked with his cross. Sadly, though, Khumalo forced a pullback and the chance dissipated. Chivas was constantly dumping two men deep into the corner, and United were able to fancily dribble through it for the first third of the match.

But for all their attacking flair, an error from the so-far steady Louis Crayton put the Black-and-Red behind one-nil. Crayton came all the way out of his box to play a ball, but stalled in his decision whether to boot it or knock it out of bounds. After he was stripped, two Chivas players had a wide open goal to shoot at - and Eskandarian could have almost walked it into the net. Like sharks to blood, the attacking was all now coming from the team in white.

Chivas continued the momentum that they had built up after the interval. Both Sacha Kjlistan and Atiba Harris had good chances bred from bullying runs at the backline of D.C., but both went longing. To add to the issues, Fred was replaced in the 51st for a hamstring injury, leaving an already impotent attack without any engine. Shortly thereafter, some pretty football led to another Eskandarian chance: at the end of a few one-touch passes, he fired point blank into Crayton's chest. The rebound fell to Victorine, and he couldn't miss.

United did have two rapid fire chances to get back into the game, but couldn't capitalize. Substitute Francis Doe first failed to get a good angle on his header from Guerrero's cross and sent it wide left. Then seconds later, Doe found himself alone with the keeper, only to fire directly into the sprawled Dan Kennedy. The crowd grew more and more restless as United were forced into more and more desperate tactics - hitting long balls and making ticky tack fouls in the center of midfield to stall Chivas. Finally, the death blow came from Chivas when an optimistic-at-best ball played through the middle of the penalty area was somehow whiffed on by both Crayton and Peralta. Chivas' newest addition, Dejair, could hardly believe his luck and bungled home the third goal of the evening. It was the first career MLS goal for the newly signed Brazilian and it put the game to rest.

With three games remaining in the league schedule for United, the team needs to take the maximum in order to avoid missing the postseason for the first time since they missed the playoffs from 2000 through 2002. After the match, Soehn noted that "at no point are we hanging our heads," and the squad currently sits only one point behind Dallas and Colorado for the final playoff spot. Unfortunately, it hardly gets easier: United's last three games are against the three best teams in the league - next up is New England on Thursday, October 16 at RFK.