On a night when Salvadoran fans outnumbered United fans 10-1 in the stands, United prevailed 1-0, on a second half goal by Adam Cristman, that was very nicely set up by Junior Carriero and crossed in by Kurt Morsink. Although D.C. didn't really dominate the scoreboard, they did dominate possession by all accounts, and held on for the win despite a late surge by the Central Americans.
Judging from United's match report and this highlight package, each team had some quality chances. United came close to adding goals from free kicks twice in the match. Here's a couple of points to consider.
- This has to be the best timing possible for the return of Marc Burch. The defender saw his first action of 2010 last night and played 60 minutes. With Rodney Wallace reportedly out 8-12 weeks after suffering a fractured fibula on June 5, and Jordan Graye also recovering, Burch (who actually got married last weekend - congratulations!) will be asked to step in and start at left back in United's next action on June 26th.
- D.C. failing to score in the first half means that the team has still not scored a single goal with Jaime Moreno and Luciano Emilio on the field at the same time. And that even includes the 45 minutes they played together in a reserve match against the PDL Northern Virginia Royals. What happened to the tandem that combined for 19 goals in 2009, and 67 goals in the last three years?
- The team did its best to make it a festive atmosphere at the game, with Will Chang waving a United flag with the Barra Brava and Cristian Castillo beating the drum. Yet the general admission ticket sales resulted in fights in the stands, multiple pitch invasions, and the Barra being escorted out of the stadium by security. Does anyone else have stories of issues?