As the final whistle blew last night, D.C. United’s players collapsed to the turf when their improbable ride through the playoffs finally came to an end. There was nothing left to play for—no MLS Cup, no Eastern Conference championship, no Champions League berth. The team that fought so admirably through so much adversity finally ran out of steam, unable to overcome the mountain of injuries, suspensions and misfortunes that beset it.
Down 3-1 on aggregate entering the match, United were forced to fight on without Chris Pontius, Andy Najar and Brandon McDonald. Goalkeeper Bill Hamid, suffering from back problems, was nearly a game-time scratch. Midfielders Marcelo Saragosa and Lewis Neal played hurt; Dwayne De Rosario finally returned in the second half but didn’t look fully recovered. It was just too much.
“I’m glad we hung on this long,” an emotional Ben Olsen said after the match. “I really am. It shows the spirit this group has because things have not been easy. I don’t even know if you guys know the half of it. There’s been obstacle after obstacle and these kids kept on pushing through and I’m really proud of them.”
With the 1-1 draw, Houston will advance to MLS Cup to face the Los Angeles Galaxy for the second time in as many years, while United will be left wondering what could have been. The fact that United exceeded every expectation set for them came as little consolation to a group of players that had drawn within 90 minutes of MLS Cup.
“We put our hearts and souls into this,” De Rosario, fighting back tears, said in the locker room. “We train hard and this is what we train hard for. To have that, to put that into perspective and have it end like that, it is definitely emotional.”
The atmosphere in RFK Stadium was electric, as a crowd of more than 20,000 seemed ready to lift the team over another hurdle. United supporters hoisted large banners and pieces of fabric which formed a massive display, referencing the mantra proclaimed by Hamid earlier in the post-season that had become the team’s battle cry: “They can’t hold us back.” After an opening 15 minutes that saw United seize control of the match, all of that energy dissipated when Houston forward Oscar Boniek Garcia found the back of the net in the 33rd minute.
United fought back in the second half, throwing everything they had at a Houston side content to sit back and defend. Olsen plugged the injured Neal in for Marcelo Saragosa at halftime. He replaced an ineffective Lionard Pajoy with Hamdi Salihi midway through the half and even inserted De Rosario for defender Emiliano Dudar with 30 minutes to play. Branko Boskovic—who played his best game of the season by far—managed to pull one back eight minutes from the end of the game, but it was too little, too late.
United’s problem, predictably, was finishing. Salihi missed several golden opportunities in the second half, but Santos and Pajoy were no better. Forced into a 4-4-2 formation by Neal’s injury, United looked no more threatening than they had in the more defensive-minded 4-5-1 they’d been playing with since De Rosario went down with an MCL sprain in September.
Still, there was a glimmer of hope in the locker room during a somber post-game media session. United are a young team and one that has grown closer with every game. The core of the team will undoubtedly be back next year, and will certainly expect more of themselves. Though Olsen mentioned after the match that the goal for next year remains the same—to make the playoffs—United surely won’t forget just how close they were to the promised land.
“There’s too many memories about this year,” Hamid reflected. “This is an unbelievable group of guys. We’ve always stuck together. We’ve always been like brothers in here. I don’t think you guys realize how much of a bond we have in this locker room. It feels like a real brotherhood. We’re going to miss that, but we’re going to take that into next year and push for more.”
Game Notes: A couple of interesting points from Olsen’s post-game press conference: I asked him about Salihi’s season and whether the Albanian striker would be back for 2013. Largely considered to be the latest disappointment in United’s string of international failures, Salihi’s future seems in doubt, a feeling which Olsen seemed to share: “We have to exhale tomorrow and we’ll get back to work on Tuesday. In this league, you end and you start making some serious decisions in the following couple of days.” As for Boskovic, who seemed safe after inking a new contract mid-season this year that would keep him in D.C. through the end of 2013, Olsen surprised some by saying, “We don’t know what’s going on with Branko next year.” Guess we’ll wait and see.
