United Drop Home Points Again, Draw Real Salt Lake 0-0
From the start, it just seemed like a match that one goal would win. After all, the evening's opponents just so happened to be winless (0-4-0) on the road, without a single goal to their name. But unfortunately for United, that vital tally never came -- the team couldn't avenge their loss to Real Salt Lake earlier this season and sent 16,089 away kissing their sisters after last night's 0-0 draw at RFK.
"I wanna win so bad," lamented defender Marc Burch after the match. "I'll do anything."
Indeed, while one would be hard pressed to necessarily quantify United's performance this year as poor, as they headed into last night's game tied for first place in the Eastern Conference. But their performance at home has been striking: after yesterday, a record of 2-0-4 -- without a loss, sure, but just far too many draws, points which will be missed as the team enters an upcoming one and a half month stretch of difficult road games.
But a scoreless draw was just fine with Real Salt Lake, who obviously came into the match willing to settle for their first positive road result of the season.
"We talked about them bunkering, and they did just that. They bunkered very deep...and we kind of lulled ourselves to sleep, and quit moving," Coach Tom Soehn said post game.
Of course, the reason that United was even able to earn a point last night was goalkeeper Josh Wicks. After a fairly questionable performance on Wednesday in the Cup victory over New York, Soehn handed Wicks the start -- and he provided a tremendous performance.
Showing no signs of the tentative goalkeeping which he provided on Wednesday, Wicks bullied straight out and kept Real striker Robbie Findley from beating him on a broken offside trap in the first half. He also came to the rescue in the second forty-five, putting on a highlight display in net: a powerful punch and a flying grab, diving to deny Kyle Beckerman's dipping knuckler, and parrying away Findlay's headed effort off an ensuing corner.
"As a keeper, it's always good to get consistency, get a rhythm. Being a keeper, it's important to be consistent," Wicks said.
Or as Soehn put it, Wicks "did what he needed to do to win us a game."
D.C. held the lions' share of the possession in the first ten minutes, but lacked the incision and delicate touch to penetrate the Salt Lake defense. Real seemed perfectly content with allowing United the space to spray the ball all around the field -- working for the counter attack with Findley, RSL's leading scorer with five goals, looking to get on the end of longballs.
About twenty minutes into the first half, though, Real began to come out of their shell, taking much more initiative than they previously had, and generally evening the game.
An excellent indirect free kick led to United's best chance of the first half -- Burch laid the ball into a dangerous area, where Santino Quaranta skied to meet the ball. His header landed at the feet of Namoff, who calmly flipped the ball to Fred at the back post -- but his touch was heavy, and he pushed the ball wide. Fred then kicked the barrier in disgust, this miss the latest in a series of misses over the past few weeks.
For the remainder of the half, there was some nice play through Christian Gomez and Quaranta, but some lackadaisical finishing from Luciano Emilio and others led them into the land of lost chances.
Entering halftime, Soehn's men looked tired and the stats didn't lie -- United failed to record a shot on goal in the first half. The fitness of the team was a constant concern throughout the game, especially in the second half. Attacking trio Jaime Moreno, Luciano Emilio and Fred were all subbed off in a scoreless game, a sure sign of tired legs; and by the end of the game, Christian Gomez looked completely gassed.
Fullback Bryan Namoff explained that the run of recent games had affected the side's energy level. "We looked a little tired," said Namoff.
Fred, who did not have a game to remember, again had a chance to score right after the kick off, but again, he tried to do too much and the chance was wasted. The second half was a game of posession and quick forays into attacking zones which really went nowhere.
Salt Lake were clearly the aggressors in the second half -- especially midfielders Javier Morales and Ned Grabavoy. But Wicks saved the day time after time, and United at least was able to hold their ground. A couple of half-chances fell their way, but the team looked simply too tired and frustrated to really get a good look in on goal -- hence, the scoreless draw.
"We weren't used to seeing a team pack it in like that. I think we were a little impatient," said Namoff.