“Out with the old, in with the new” was the marketing slogan for D.C. United’s clash with the L.A. Galaxy. The vocal crowd of 26,622 at RFK Stadium seemed to have embraced the message as they roundly booed the aging David Beckham at every opportunity, while saving their biggest cheers for United’s youthful super-sub Charlie Davies. The quality of the game may have been lacking, but the fans left happy enough thanks to Davies’s last-gasp penalty that earned his side a barely-deserved 1-1 tie.
After the match, a gloomy Ben Olsen proffered this brutally honest assessment: “I’m happy we battled back and found a way to get a tie but overall, it’s not good enough.” Olsen continued: “Overall, I thought we weren’t as sharp as we needed to be tonight. I thought the energy was there but we just weren’t a good enough soccer team.”
The first half was a thoroughly scrappy affair, featuring countless stray passes from the boots of United players. With Perry Kitchen’s late withdrawal due to illness, Olsen was forced to start with an improvised back line of Dejan Jakovic and March Burch alongside rookies Ethan White and Chris Korb. Even without the injured Landon Donovan, the Galaxy dominated the early possession, as D.C. was apparently content to sit back and watch Beckham control the play from central midfield.
L.A.’s pressure paid off soon enough. On 11 minutes, Juninho’s long snap shot bounced awkwardly in front of Bill Hamid, forcing the United ‘keeper to shovel the ball round his post. Beckham’s subsequent corner was met by the back of Mike Magee’s head to give the visitors the early lead.
Midway through the first period, referee Abiodun Okulaja made the first of several potentially game-changing decisions when he chose to issue only a yellow card to Todd Dunivant for what can only be described a remarkably reckless challenge. Dax McCarty sprayed a cross-field pass towards Korb but it was too far ahead of the United right back. Korb hustled and just managed to claim the ball before the charging Dunivant slid right into Korb’s legs at full tilt, leaving both players in a heap. Both required several minutes of treatment before eventually returning to the action.
On 28 minutes, United’s best chance of the half fell to Jakovic, but his attempt to finish at the far post from a tight angle off Santino Quaranta’s cross was not a thing of beauty.
Magee nearly doubled his tally in the 35th minute, but with Hamid out of position after failing to intercept a cross, Ethan White showed no sign of rookie nerves as he cleared the angled shot off the goal line.
The referee was in the spotlight again with five minutes left in the first half when Beckham took Josh Wolff down clumsily from behind. The official appeared initially to reach for his red card but brandished yellow when he arrived at the crime-scene, much to the disappointment of the crowd and Quaranta in particular. The fiery United midfielder, who had been been booked for a foul two minutes earlier, then took it upon himself to stick up for his downed teammate, launching into a heated verbal exchange with the former England captain. The pair had to be separated for a little while but referee Okulaja elected not to show either their second yellow. The friendly chat even continued after the half-time whistle blew, with an assistant referee in close attendance as they marched off the field.
After eight minutes of the second half, Olsen decided it was time to introduce the talismanic Charlie Davies, who had scored three goals in his previous two appearances off the bench, but had missed the last two matches with a groin injury. The change immediately energized United, who began to press forward with more urgency and better movement in the final third with Davies, Wolff and Chris Pontius working nicely off the ball for each other.
D.C. came tantalizingly close to an equalizer on 74 minutes when the man mountain that is Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts showed great agility to pull off a reflex save from Pontius’s powerful header from seven yards out. In the ensuing scramble to clear the ball, there was a big shout for an A.J. DeLaGarza handball but the referee wasn’t interested.
With just under ten minutes to go, Magee threatened yet again, pouncing on a loose ball that fell just behind him near the penalty spot but his swivel shot flew just wide of the left hand post.
The 83rd minute saw another dubious piece of officiating. Quaranta and Omar Gonzalez both tried to pounce on a loose ball at midfield and a 50-50 challenge was deemed a second yellow by referee Okulaja and Tino headed for the tunnel. The incident galvanized the United side, who seemed to find another gear, helped in no small part by the roaring encouragement of the 12th man (or do they become the 11th man when a player has been sent off?)
In the 89th minute, Charlie Davies took a pass from Branko Bošković into the L.A. penalty box. Omar Gonzalez was blocking Davies’s path to the goal. Davies described what happened next: “I know I am much quicker than Omar, so I was able to get him off-balance and take a touch by him. I was definitely going to be by him until he threw out his arm and put it right into my chest and knocked me off-balance.” Television replays told a less definitive story.
Referee Okulaja didn’t hesitate to point at the penalty spot, though. The Galaxy players were incensed, swarming the official to accuse Davies of diving. (After the final whistle, L.A.’s Jovan Kirovski would be shown a red card for his continued protestations.)
Davies stepped up to take the spot kick, as he had done successfully twice already this season. Facing 6’ 5” Donovan Ricketts in the net, Davies elected not to shoot for the left or right corner of the goal, but instead chipped the ball straight down the middle for his league-leading fourth goal in just three games played. To celebrate, the young striker proceeded to leap over the advertising boards and up onto the podium upon which sits a shiny new sedan from team sponsor Volkswagon. Davies tried to climb inside but sadly, unlike yesterday at training when he tested the idea, the doors were locked.
United’s record now stands at 1-2-1. The next opponent for both L.A. and D.C. is Toronto FC away, with the Galaxy facing the Canadian club this Wednesday while United look for their first road points on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
