DC United Roll To 5-0 Win Over Harbour View

Chris Webb

March 18, 2008

DC United's Devon McTavish celebrates his second goal of the night against Harbour View FC

DC United's Devon McTavish celebrates his second goal of the night against Harbour View FC
Photo: Martin Fernandez

Behind a brace from both Devon McTavish (left) and Luciano Emilio, United exploded for four second half goals to put the tie beyond all doubt and excise some early pre-season scoring woes in the process.

Washington, D.C. DC United dominated their return leg with Harbour View tonight with an emphatic 5-0 drubbing to win the aggregate series 6-1 before 12,394 satisfied souls at RFK Stadium. United now moves onto the semi-final round where they will face either Pachuca of Mexico or Motagua of Honduras. Their series is tied 0-0 after their match in Honduras last week.

United controlled the flow of play from the start and Harbour View had only one thing on their minds. Penalties. Harbour View sat 8 or 9 players behind the ball to stop the penatrating runs and decisive passes from the United offense. The strategy worked until the 26th minute when Devon McTavish got on the end of a Marcelo Gallardo free kick and easily tapped it past Harbour View keeper Dwayne Miller. The free kick was set up by the hard work of diminutive United forward Franco Niell who battled two Harbour View players along the left sideline and held the ball up enough to draw a foul. Gallardo sent the free kick into a thicket of players and it bounded through the box to McTavish who was waiting at the back post.

McTavish had another opportunity to add to his rising goal tally when he collided with Miller in the box in the 33rd minute after being sent in from a beautifully lofted cross from defender Marc Burch, who had beaten numerous defenders to get off the pass. After the collision, Miller lay on the ground for a moment before getting his bearings together. United threatened the goal again in the 39th minute when Gallardo gracefully eluded several defenders before being felled just outside the box. The resulting free kick hit the wall and rebounded back to Gallardo who unleashed a wicked 25 yard side volley that was tipped over the bar by Miller.

United continued their threat on goal just before the half when defender Gonzalo Peralta sent Niell on the run and after bodying off his defender, Niell hit a succession of cutback moves only to see his open shot from 15 yards sky over the bar and United went into halftime with a 1-0 lead.

United continued to apply high pressure from the start of the second half and when striker Luciano Emilio headed just wide left of the post, it looked as if United were about to erupt. And erupt they did. In a span of five minutes United increased their lead from 1-0 to 4-0. Emilio and compatriot Fred worked a lovely 1-2 combination just outside the box that freed Fred and his slick cutback pass to Emilio was slammed into the empty net to give United a 2-0 lead. Just three minutes later Emilio was the benefit again of solid build up play and substitue Santino Quaranta saw his shot saved only to have the rebound fall to the head of Emilio who easily lofted it into the net for a 3-0 scoreline. And then only two minutes later a Bryan Namoff cross was chested down by Quaranta who touched it into the path of the oncoming McTavish who scored his second goal of the game and his third goal in two matches.

"He got to play a lot of different positions and the only one I didn't put him at is at striker. So maybe he's trying to show me that we can play him there." said Head Coach Tom Soehn jokingly after the match.

Mercifully the scoring ended in the 88th minute when Quaranta sent in Fred all alone and he neatly dispatched the ball under the helpless Miller for the final nail in Harbour View's coffin.

Asked about what the difference is in having seasoned professionals like Gallardo, Niell and Gonzalo Martinez in the squad, Soehn responded "We've brought in a lot of guys with experience and I think experience goes a long way in a competition like this."

Soehn was also visibly pleased with the overall effort from the team "I'm much more pleased with our orgainazation, our shape in the back and of course finishing off chances."

Also a good sign was the relief of the team to finally be back in Washington, D.C. and back on a proper field at RFK. "You know the field conditions, just everything with the stadium being in such good shape, it was a benefit for us. And I think being gone so long and playing in Jamaica and now coming home it's exciting for everybody. You can see the excitement from the guys the minute we got back."

United now has to wait and see how the Pachuca/Motagua match ends up to see who is next on the docket. United will travel to Richmond, Virginia this weekend to play an exhibition match with the Richmond Kickers before getting ready for their MLS opener on Saturday March 29th in Kansas City.





Match Lineups:

DC - Zach Wells, Bryan Namoff, Gonzalo Peralta, Gonzalo Martinez, Marc Burch (Mediate 82), Devon McTavish, Marcelo Gallardo (Dyachenko 72), Clyde Simms, Fred, Luciano Emilio, Franco Niell (Quaranta 64)

Harbour View FC - Dwayne Miller, Ronny Amaguana, Christopher Harvey, Robert Scarlett, Jermaine Taylor, Donald Stewart (Petrekin 78), Richard Edwards, Jermaine Hue, Lovell Palmer (Kelly 72), Kavin Bryan (Blackburn 71), Fabian Taylor


Scoring Summary:

DC - 26 McTavish (Gallardo)
DC - 63 Emilio (Fred)
DC - 66 Emilio (unassisted)
DC - 68 McTavish (Quaranta)
DC - 88 Fred (Quaranta)

Misconduct Summary:

HRV - 4 Edwards (yellow)
HRV - 19 Stewart (yellow)


Referee: German Arredondo
Asst. Referee - Joel Rangel
Asst. Referee - Hector Delgadillo
4th Official - Terry Vaughn


Weather: Cloudy and 54 degrees
Attendance: 12,394

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