WASHINGTON -- D.C. United's prolific strike force has displayed a knack for providing their team with flattering scorelines of late. Sunday's 3-1 defeat of the San Jose Earthquakes can certainly be added to that list as the Black-and-Red overcame a sluggish first half and a poorly-timed error from goalkeeper Zach Wells to earn their fourth win in the last five games.
"As a whole, we didn't show up today," said United boss 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 [or] the soccer side. We addressed it at halftime and it got a little bit better, but there's not too many days you can come like we did today and come out with a result."
But even the aggrieved Soehn had to compliment his players' ability to scratch out a victory despite a limp first-half display that ceded the impetus to San Jose and drew a halftime tongue-lashing from the second-year boss.
"Yeah, and rightfully so," said midfielder Clyde Simms, when asked about the locker room reprimand. "It was not a good half that we played. We had to move around some things a few different times during the first half to try to find an answer, and we still didn't do that. But fortunately we were able to come out of there 0-0 at halftime and we were able to treat it as a different game in the second half."
This was a match that, had it taken place during their wretched spring skid, United would surely have found a way to lose. But the side has enjoyed the rub of the green lately and a rejuvenated attack, led by Emilio's ruthlessly efficient finishing, has been a major factor in that development.
"The game was very compact in the first half. We didn't have space in the midfield and forward [areas]," said the Brazilian frontrunner. "But in the second half I think we moved the ball side to side, we looked for space, we played forward fast, we got chances and we scored goals."
United got the better of Earthquakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon in the 50th minute with Simms' twice-deflected blast from range. But Wells' fumble allowed San Jose to level matters almost immediately and the home side had to rely on a tremendous individual play from Gonzalo Martinez five minutes later.
The former Colombian international has been one of United's steadiest performers this season and his hard work was finally translated onto the scoresheet when he cut past Ronnie O'Brien and hammered his first-ever MLS goal past Cannon in the 55th minute.
"It was a great goal," said Emilio, an expert on the topic if there ever was one. "It's good for him, for his confidence. I think he was very good today and the goal was an award for that."
Even so, United let the Quakes hang around and were nearly punished for it when Shea Salinas broke clear and juked past Wells, necessitating a frantic goalmouth block by Devon McTavish to keep his team in front.
"They got in behind us," said McTavish, "Zach came out and did a good job of forcing him out wide, and I just went to cover the goal. I actually thought it went through my legs at first and then I popped up and saw it was outside the net. It's something that you're taught at a young age: when the goalie comes out, cover the goal."
A sending-off for San Jose defender James Riley, followed soon after by Emilio's late clincher, helped D.C. escape with a 3-1 win that was nowhere near as comfortable as it would seem on paper. A long, hard week on the training ground surely awaits the Black-and-Red.
"I always say that that's part of a good team," said Soehn. "When you don't have it, you still pull out a result. So we're going to chalk that one up to that, but we're going to get back to work and make sure we don't come out with the complacency we did today."
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