CONCACAF Champions League
D.C. United 3, Marathón 0
D.C. United got both the victory and the margin of victory it needed Thursday to breathe life into its CONCACAF Champions League campaign. As an added benefit, two goals in the 3-0 win over travel-weary Marathón came from forward Luciano Emilio, who desperately needs to find his form for United’s domestic hopes to retain a similar vitality.
“We had a little while to prepare,” said United head coach Tom Soehn of his team’s nine-day layoff, its longest in nearly two months. “It almost felt like a month compared to what we’ve been going through. You could feel that there was a little more energy from our guys. It still wasn’t perfect, but it was more of complete performance than we’ve had in a while.”
In fact, the announced RFK Stadium crowd of just 5,280 saw what happened to be D.C.’s biggest shutout victory and first by three-goals since defeating Colorado on Aug. 23, 2008.
It moved United (2-2, six points) into second place in Group B. D.C. is tied with Marathon (2-2, six points) with two games remaining the group stage but holds the goal-differential tiebreaker advantage, 4-3, given its 3-1 loss in Honduras on Aug. 18.
Emilio broke through less than two minutes after halftime following six unsuccessful attempts on goal in the first half (three outright misses, two saves and one deflection), nodding home Avery John’s cross for a 1-0 lead. After Jaime Moreno, who came on as a substitute late in the first half for surprise starter Tiyi Shipalane, doubled the lead in the 55th minute, Emilio beat Juan Obelar for his second goal of the night in the 71st.
“I think after today I recovered my confidence a bit,” said Emilio. “I have other motivation for play on Sunday [vs. San Jose]. This is very positive, and I think Sunday I have a lot more confidence. This is going to be very good for me for the rest of the season.”
Marathón forced United goalkeeper Josh Wicks into three quality first-half saves but wore down after the break following an exceedingly long journey from Honduras caused by civil unrest in that country. The Honduran club traveled eight hours by bus to Guatemala, where it caught a flight to Washington, only to arrive at 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning.
“Without taking anything away from D.C. United, Marathón only played 45 minutes tonight,” said head coach Manuel Keosseian via an interpreter. “The other 45 minutes was just a valiant effort, but we really didn’t have much energy.”
The game ended on an unfortunate note, as Moreno was red carded by referee Silviu Petrescu in second-half stoppage time. Moreno had earned a yellow card for a foul on Mario Berrios. But after Petrescu conferred with another official, he sent Moreno off. As Moreno left the field, he appeared to have an exchange with Marathón coaches and then gestured the “3-0” scoreline to jeering Honduran fans in the stands.
“I thought the referee should’ve done better in the first place,” said Moreno. “The guy kicked me three times. That’s why I retaliated a little bit but I didn’t get him with the elbow.”
