With at least 180 minutes of soccer to play in a two-game Eastern Conference semifinal against Chicago, D.C. United head coach Tom Soehn hedged his bets in Thursday night’s series opener, starting with his top two forwards, both coming off injuries, on the bench.
Although both played in the second half, the move didn’t work out for United, which lost to Chicago, 1-0.
It was the first time all season that Jaime Moreno (foot) and Luciano Emilio (ankle) were both out of the starting lineup.
Playing with a steady wind at their backs in the first half, the Fire set the tone from the opening kick, pressuring a United team that appeared nervous and hesitant without Emilio and Moreno.
It took under 15 minutes for Chicago to grab the lead, with United defender Greg Vanney misplaying a long ball due to the breeze. The ball fell to the ground in the middle of the box, where Fire forward Chris Rolfe raced past a ball-watching Marc Burch and buried the ball in the upper left corner to put the home team ahead.
Moreno was inserted at halftime, and Emilio came on late, but United couldn’t capitalize despite controlling play for much of the final 45 minutes.
The two teams will play the second leg of the total-goals series next Thursday at RFK Stadium.
