A dreadful final act for United

But in front of a meager 7,156 at RFK Stadium on Wednesday, United suffered one final, painful blow to follow its elimination of the MLS postseason just three days before, with two red cards in a 4-2 defeat to Honduran club CD Marathon. With the loss, United ended its campaign in the inaugural CONCACAF Champions League with a nightmarish 0-5-1 record.

“It feels like a dream, surreal,” said United midfielder Santino Quaranta, who was sent off just before halftime. “We need to get away from this place for a while.”

The chilly fall evening began brightly, despite the meaninglessness of the match. With United already out of the tournament, it still fielded the strongest lineup it could muster, minus injuries and suspensions.

It didn’t take long for D.C. to get on the scoreboard, either, with Francis Doe pouncing on a 10th minute loose ball for a 1-0 lead. The play began with a free kick that had skipped off the head of Marc Burch and a Marathon defender before bouncing into the post and back to Doe. Doe also hit the woodwork later in the half.

“Tonight was all about pride, and the first half we played some of our better soccer in a while,” said United head coach Tom Soehn. “We were knocking the ball around, exposing the weaknesses, and we created chances — the postman rang again. But it’s unfortunate that we went down a man because the game changes dramatically.”

The cracks in United’s defense that existed all season also began to appear more frequently as the game wore on, and Marathon forward Milton Nunez rifled a shot past United goalkeeper Zach Wells in the 31st minute after receiving a ball over the top of the D.C. back line from his strike partner, Saul Martinez.

The game took an ugly turn for United just before the break. The dueling yellow cards issued to United forward Francis Doe and Marathon defender Oscar Bonilla after battling in front of the Honduran goal in the 44th minute were disappointing, as Doe also walked away from the fracas with a bloody mouth.

But then, with United still fuming, Quaranta picked up a caution for a hard challenge and vented his frustration at Mexican referee Benito Archundia, prompting the yellow card a second time, which meant a red card ejection for the D.C. midfielder.

“I’m not sure how far Tino pushed it there,” said Soehn. “But I think there was some aggravation, Francis’s lip was split, and he was obviously frustrated over that. He’s got to control himself.”

Down a man, United went down a goal less than a minute into the second half when the D.C. defense failed to clear the ball out of the box, leaving Mario Berrios wide open to beat Wells from distance.

The Hondurans doubled their lead in the 53rd minute on Nunez’s second goal of the night.

United defender Greg Janicki cut the deficit to 3-2 in the 61st minute. But in contrast to the 24-year-old’s recent bright performances in league play, he was exposed repeatedly by Marathon, with Nunez beating him to a head ball and finding Marvin Chavez to restore the visitors’ two-goal lead, 4-2, in the 68th minute.

Doe’s reckless 93rd-minute challenge was the night’s last indignity, and he was given a straight red just before the final whistle.

“It was intense game as it was,” said Quaranta. “With what just happened this weekend, everybody was a little on edge. I guess was the buildup from the whole year, and then the referee was calling fouls like he was. You get to a point where you just can’t take it anymore, and I lost my head a little bit.”