There have been plenty of times this season when RFK Stadium has shaken under the groundswell of screaming and jumping D.C. United fans. But nothing matched the explosion of elation and relief as United secured its spot in the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference finals on Sunday.
Despite being in desperate straits for most of the second leg of its conference semifinal series with New York, United midfielder Christian Gomez once again displayed his league most-valuable-player credentials, rescuing United and the 21,455 fans in attendance with an 86th-minute goal to earn a 1-1 draw with the New York Red Bulls.
With a 2-1 aggregate score, United advanced to the Eastern Conference finals, in which it will host the New England Revolution at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 5.
“We’re going to have to start calling him Uncle Gomez because he keeps coming in and giving us gifts. This guy is just a big time player,” said midfielder Ben Olsen. “It’s so nice to have him on the team because we played [terrible] the entire game. They did a great job. As bad as we were, they were equally as good. They pushed, they had a great game plan, and they were the better team.”
United entered the match with a 1-0 advantage, but they were under the gun from the outset. The Red Bulls took the lead and tied the series at one on forward Josmer Altidore’s 70th minute header.
United barely hung on and finally responded on a cross from Josh Gros from the right side. The ball was seemingly destined for United defender Bobby Boswell’s head, but at the last moment Boswell arched backwards and fell to the ground, allowing the ball to fall to Gomez, who poked the ball past Red Bulls goalkeeper Jon Conway.
“He has such a distinct voice,” said Boswell. “I heard him call me off, I just did my best Matrix impression, and he did his impression of making a near-post finish look easy.”
“Obviously, a little bit of a loss of concentration,” said Red Bulls head coach Bruce Arena of the game-tying score. Arena, who coached United from 1996-98, took over the Red Bulls on Aug. 12 after coaching the U.S. national team for eight years. “I think we were too focused on trying to maybe get the second goal and end the whole playoff.”
Rolling blackout
» The match was supposed to be the swan song for 38-year-old Red Bulls midfielder Youri Djorkaeff, who won the 1998 World Cup with France. But after straining his Achilles this week, Djorkaeff did not dress Sunday.
» New York forward Josmer Altidore hit the post in the 61st minute.
