When all is said and done, D.C. United’s 2014 season will be remembered as a historically good one. United put together the greatest single-season turnaround in Major League Soccer history. Just a year after setting multiple records for futility — collecting a scant 16 points over 34 games — D.C. finished their regular season in first place, storming into the playoffs with 59 points.
And there were other positives: United managed to emerge from CONCACAF Champions League group play undefeated, earning a crucial top seed in next year’s knockout round. Fans finally came back to RFK, as crowds swelled in size toward year’s end.
And still, despite all of that positivity, United’s season came to a disappointing end on Saturday afternoon as they were eliminated in the Eastern Conference semifinals by their most hated rival, the New York Red Bulls.
D.C. actually won the match, putting together a 2-1 performance and controlling play for most of the game. But this series wasn’t about Saturday’s game; it ended up being about United’s poor performance the previous Sunday, the 2-0 loss at Red Bull Arena that proved insurmountable in Saturday’s return leg.
“I’m gutted for our guys obviously,” D.C. United head coach Ben Olsen said after the match. “[New York] gave us everything today that they had and we fell short. They’re a good team and they’re a tough team to keep off the board. You have to be perfect in particular when you’re going for the second or third goal. You gotta make all the plays on the other side, and we didn’t.
“Overall I’m extremely pleased at the effort tonight and the performance they put on. I’m sure we’ll look back sometime soon and say this was a good season and pat ourselves on the back. Right now it doesn’t feel great.”
D.C. opened the match with good energy, earning a number of set pieces in the opening quarter hour and pinning the Red Bulls in their own end. They fed off the energy from a sell-out crowd of over 20,000, but when they struggled to find an early goal, New York seized control of the match.
United’s positive start nearly turned disastrous in the 33rd minute when Red Bulls striker Bradley Wright-Phillips stormed into the penalty area and struck a shot that appeared to strike United captain Bobby Boswell in the hand. Referee Ismael Elfath, however, saw otherwise, allowing play to continue despite the pleas of New York’s players and coaches.
Four minutes later, D.C. would notch the game’s opening goal. Rookie defender Taylor Kemp played a picture-perfect cross in from the left flank, the bending service finding Nick Deleon at the top of the six-yard box. Deleon made no mistake with the service, powering a header home and drawing United to 2-1 on aggregate.
The opening moments of the second half saw more positives for United. They looked primed to equalize the series score in the 54th minute, when Deleon found Fabian Espindola alone in the box with a cross from the right flank. Espindola’s effort, however, would trickle wide. It would prove a costly mistake.
Three minutes later, former French international Thierry Henry, largely invisible throughout the match, took a touch towards the endline and whipped a cross into the box. Fellow Frenchman Peguy Luyindula was there for the finish, hopping up to meet the service and smashing it in with his right foot. The goal, made all the more devastating by MLS’ incorporation this year of the “away goals” rule, effectively ended United’s hope of advancing.
Still, D.C. pressed on and found a faint glimmer of hope in injury time when Sean Franklin smashed home United’s second of the evening.
But the hill was simply too steep to climb. As time expired, New York’s players and coaches celebrated their first ever playoff series victory over D.C. It was tough to watch.
United’s locker room at RFK Stadium was predictably quiet after the match. Players spoke in hushed tones, lamenting the performance a week earlier that had made advancing on Saturday nearly impossible. There were hugs, handshakes, thousand-yard stares and a whole lot of silence.
But amid the darkness, there was plenty of hope. The core of this group — the veterans brought in by Olsen to right the ship after 2013’s failure — all expressed a desire to give it another go next year.
The weeks to come will see plenty of ink spilled about United’s 2014 campaign and their playoff flame-out. I’m sure I will write my own piece, but I actually think I’ll struggle to sum their season up any better than their own goalkeeper did Saturday afternoon, when I asked him to reflect on United’s accomplishments throughout the year.
“We brought life back to the club from 2013,” said Bill Hamid, “which is a great positive sign. We brought life back to the world of soccer in this city because 2013 was a year that a lot of people gave up on us, and we knew that. And we approached this season with the right mindset.
“We brought an energy and a buzz back to this city.”
