CONCACAF Champions League
D.C. United 5, San Juan Jabloteh (Trinidad) 1
D.C. United temporarily put aside its suffering MLS playoff hopes to win its third consecutive match in the CONCACAF Champions League in front of the smallest RFK Stadium crowd in nine years.
Christian Gómez and Thabiso “Boyzzz” Khumalo each scored twice in the 5-1 win over San Juan Jabloteh in front of just 3,411, an audience only slightly larger than the 3,127 who watched a 3-0 defeat of Rochester in the third round of the 2000 U.S. Open Cup.
The second victory in two matches against the Trinidadian club also moved United (3-2-0, 6 points) to the brink of advancement out of Group B and into the tournament quarterfinals, which will take place next spring.
Gómez, who had the game-winning penalty kick at Jabloteh (0-5-0, zero) on Sept. 15, took less than a quarter of an hour to open the scoring, finishing off a deflected cross by Rodney Wallace in the 13th minute. He then powered a ball through the hands of goalkeeper Cleon John to make it 4-0 in the 68th minute.
“When you play more minutes, obviously, as a player, you feel more confident,” said Gómez, who has played more than a half in only two of United’s last seven matches in all competitions. “I think the last time I had played a whole game against the same team in Trinidad so obviously I felt good tonight. Anytime you play minutes, you feel confident.”
After Fred doubled the lead off a through ball by Chris Pontius in the 30th minute, Khumalo added a third goal, blasting home a pass from Gómez two minutes before halftime.
Khumalo also finished off the match with a stoppage-time strike for his second of the night, capping off his first start since suffering a broken wrist on July 21.
“Our mentality, obviously coming off a dramatic loss was pretty good,” said United head coach Tom Soehn. “I think everybody was looking to rectify things, and it’s important that we take a step in the right direction. But you also have to have short memory because our opponent won’t be the same on Saturday [vs. Chivas USA]. It’s going to be a lot more difficult.”
United (3-2-0, nine points) can clinch passage into the Champions League knockout stage with a loss by third-place Marathón (2-2-0, six) at group-leading Toluca (4-0-0, 12) on Thursday.
“It feels great, especially after last year,” said Pontius. “They didn’t win a game in this competition, right? And now three in a row, and the last two have been convincing wins.”
