United drops third straight

During the third, a convincing 2-0 defeat to Chivas USA on Saturday that put United’s playoff hopes on the ropes, they angled their frustration at one person: head coach Tom Soehn.

Ultimately, both the players and coach took responsibility for the inconsistency that produced the franchise’s first-ever back-to-back-to-back home losing streak, including Ben Olsen, whose 65th-minute red card sealed the result.

“It doesn’t look so great right now,” said Olsen. “I certainly can hold my hand up today and say, I was part of this loss, and I’ll leave it at that. I’ll take this game. I’ll take the loss on myself tonight. But I still don’t think we’re the greatest team.”

Still, it was Soehn who was singled out in front of 24,175, the biggest RFK Stadium crowd of the year, from which chants of “Fire Soehn” echoed during the first half and after the final whistle.

“It sucks to hear that,” said United midfielder Santino Quaranta. “We’re the guys out there playing, not him.”

With a postseason berth likely on the line, Soehn stuck with the squad rotation policy he had utilized all season, hanging his offensive hopes for the night the forward pairing of Christian Gómez, who had scored twice in D.C.’s midweek win over Jabloteh, a team from Trinidad, and rookie Chris Pontius, who had played well of late but hadn’t scored in league play since June. D.C.’s two highest scorers, Luciano Emilio (9 goals) and Jaime Moreno (8 goals), started on the bench by virtue of their recent struggles.

But instead of the move inspiring Soehn’s team to play like it deserved to be in the postseason, D.C. United (8-8-12) looked frayed at the edges and capable of being easily ripped apart from the opening kickoff.

“The rhythm isn’t there because we haven’t played two games in a row with the same team,” said Moreno. “It’s very simple.”

Meanwhile, Chivas (12-9-5) was organized, physical and ruthless en route to goalkeeper Zach Thornton’s league-leading 11th shutout.

Chants of “Jaime Moreno” began midway through the half, and by the time Chivas scored in the 32nd minute – courtesy of a fortunate shot by Maicon Santos that hit the post, bounced off the back of sprawled United goalkeeper Milos Kocic and trickled into the net – the diehards had enough, adding “Fire Soehn” alongside calls of “We want Jaime.”

“We’re all disappointed,” said Soehn. “I thought our fans were amazing tonight… They put on quite a show. Unfortunately, we didn’t put on a show for them… You don’t hear anything. I’m looking to win a game, that’s what I’m looking to do.”

Whether he heard the fans or not, Soehn inserted Moreno for Gómez just before halftime.

But D.C. still didn’t register a second-half shot on goal, and it took Chivas less than ten minutes after the break to pad their lead, again with the aid of a deflection off a United player. In the 53rd minute, Jonathan Bornstein lifted a ball over the United defense to Jesus Padilla. Marc Burch battled to corral the initial ball, but it ended up hitting his face and settling perfectly for Padilla, who fired home past Kocic.

Soehn immediately called on Emilio to replace Burch, but the damage was done, and Olsen compounded matters in the 65th minute, when he was ejected for kicking a ball at Chivas defender Yamith Cuesta, who had just fouled him.

“I was frustrated, and I lost my head for a second,” said Olsen. “I got hit pretty hard, and that’s it. I left the guys out to dry, which I’m obviously not happy about, and I feel bad about it. This is something that I’ll deal with.”