Sunday afternoon D.C. United went toe-to-toe with the New England Revolution in a battle for supremacy of the Eastern Conference, and arguably the entire MLS. The match did not disappoint. It was a competitive affair in which each side took turns playing from behind before United dealt the knockout blow and cruised to victory. By most standards, it was a fantastic match.

Flash forward to last night. D.C. United is facing a Real Salt Lake team residing in the basement of the Western Conference; a team that, for all intents and purposes, is on life support. Replace the verve and inspiration of Sunday’s match with angst and frustration. Add eight yellow cards, 39 fouls, two missed penalty kicks, and more questionable calls than we could shake a fist at, and you get last night’s clusterfuck of a soccer match. When the dust settled, D.C. emerged with the 2-1 victory behind goals by Luciano Emilio and Christian Gomez.

During the first 15 minutes of the match, United slipped into their old habit of playing down to their opponent. RSL took advantage of United’s indifference to push forward offensively; two RSL wins and a draw in the two teams’ last three meetings provided a boost to the visitors’ confidence. Looking particularly dangerous was forward Alecko Eskandarian. The former United striker, fan favorite, and all around colorful character made a couple of jutting runs to the middle of the field before unleashing low, powerful drives that goalkeeper Troy Perkins could only parry out of bounds.

Photos by Kyle Gustafson