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.