Clearly offensive production is no longer a concern for D.C. United, which extended its longest unbeaten streak of the season with a 3-1 victory over lowly San Jose on Sunday afternoon.
But the shadow of Major League Soccer’s most potent attacking team, the Los Angeles Galaxy, next weekend’s opponent, loomed large over a match in which D.C. was flat early and failed again to go 90 minutes without allowing a goal.
“I thought as a whole, we didn’t show up today,” said United head coach Tom Soehn. “We came in with the mentality that we won the game, and that’s discouraging for me because on the day, I don’t think we were good on the competitive side, the soccer side.”
However, United (6-7-1) still produced the goods (improving to 2.8 goals per game during its current five-game unbeaten run), including the first MLS score for defender Gonzalo Martinez, who broke a 1-1 tie in the 55th minute with precision strike from the left side that kissed the inside of the far post.
“He had a great goal for us after we let in a soft goal, coming back and putting us on our shoulders a little bit,” said United defender Devon McTavish.
The tally made up for United goalkeeper Zach Wells’ 51st minute error, when he fumbled a cross into the path of John Cunliffe, who gave the Earthquakes (3-8-2) their first goal in three matches.
“It’s pretty [expletive] frustrating because it’s the easiest thing I had to do all game, and I flubbed it,” said Wells.
San Jose’s score briefly took the life out of the 17,922 at RFK Stadium who watched Clyde Simms give United the lead just one minute prior.
Marcelo Gallardo, who set up Martinez, picked up his second assist of the match on Luciano Emilio’s result-clinching 88th-minute goal. United will need all its cylinders firing with similar effectiveness against the Galaxy, who despite averaging a league-high 1.85 goals against have scored a league-high 31 times (2.38 goals per game).
“They give up a lot of goals so we just need to tighten it up defensively,” said Simms, “and I think it’ll be all right because I really think we have the attacking options to take advantage of them.”
