Houston Hammers DC out of Superliga

Mike Martin

July 20, 2008

Zach Wells is unable to stop Bobby Boswell's Header

Zach Wells is unable to stop Bobby Boswell's Header
Photo: Martin Fernandez

The Dynamo drilled DC early to jump out to a two goal lead and never looked back cruising easily past DC 3-1 and into the semifinals of Superliga. Two set piece goals in the first half proved to be the difference as Houston held on to defeat DC 3-1.

Washington D.C., Well, for all those fans that expected pretty much a full reserve side by United against the Dynamo since DC was an incredible long shot to advance, DC coach Tommy Soehn threw a bit of a curve by trotting out quite a few starters for their final match in Superliga.

Yet, with almost the full starting defense except that Pat Carroll was in for the injured Peralta and regular player Marc Burch was in for Gonzalo Martinez, you would expect DC should have been able to keep the game tight; however, United’s defense was shredded for two set piece goals on Houston’s only two shots of the first half.

Barely 12 minutes into the match, DC gave up a corner kick and Houston’s Brad Davis curled a lovely ball to the near post where Ricardo Clark easily beat Ryan Cordiero and Emilio to the ball to slot a header into the near post. Sadly, Wells was beaten a bit too easily by the shot and Craig Thompson pulled a Burns on that near post and Houston was up 1-0.

Despite DC putting on a very nice display of possession soccer for long stretches, United was unable to seriously threaten the Dynamo net and allowed Houston to extend their lead with some more egregious errors on yet another free kick late in the first half.

This time it was DeRosario drawing a sketchy freekick after a blatant dive, but once again, Brad Davis curled a perfect free kick to former DC defender Bobby Boswell who easily beat United defender Devon McTavish to nod in the winning goal.

The argument that United was the better side in overall play in the first half could easily be made, but the fact remained that United was down 2-0 despite giving up only two shots. However, despite some very nice possession play, DC never actually put in a seriously frightening attempt at Houston’s goal until late in the match.

Finally, late in the second half, United broke through and scored a goal of their own on a set piece. Quavas Kirk, who had come on for Fred earned a corner kick and Burch rifled a sailing cross that fooled Onstad into an embarrassing whiff, but that fell pwerfectly to Doe to nod in almost uncontested.

United even had a chance to tie, but after Quavas Kirk maneuvered for a good shot in the 80th minute, his stunning shot pinged off the post, which pretty well summed up DC’s participation in this tournament. They get close, but can’t convert chances into goals when it counts.

Stuart Holden completed the scoring with a brilliant goal to make it 3-1. The young Scotsman, who will play for the US in the Olympics got onto the end of a nice ball from Brian Ching, easily got behind McTavish and blasted a shot in before Carroll could recover.

So, after rolling up a six match unbeaten streak in MLS play, DC tanks all three Superliga matches and is expelled winless for the first time ever in any group stage tournament. DC will return to MLS action against the same Houston Dynamo for a makeup match from a match that was rained out on June 6th.

Defender Bryan Namoff summed up this whole tournament for DC pretty nicely after the match. "It’s one of those middle-of-the-season lulls, so to speak. It's just difficult. This was a tough game. Motivationally, we're so far down and it [would be] almost a miracle to come back. Just with the heat and humidity, the number of games we've had this last month – it takes its toll on a player. We've got one more to go look for on Tuesday and then we'll have a little bit of a break which I think will be really needed to try to come back."

Visitor Comments

On July 20, 2008 - 05:19:03 PM Martin said:
Really - did anyone want to be at RFK last night? This tournament is a joke - My outlook would be much better, surely, if United had won at least one game - but I dont think Suprliga serves "anyone" other than a few pockets...

You could really tell from the players last night - they were just there to go through the emotions - except for Emilio who showed some "zest" the rest of the gang was "just there"...

Superliga, good riddance...
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