WASHINGTON -- With their domestic campaign already concluded, D.C. United did their best to play the spoiler's role against CD Marathon in their final CONCACAF Champions League match Wednesday night. But the Honduran side secured the victory they needed with an impressive offensive performance that led to a 4-2 win at chilly RFK Stadium.
Santino Quaranta's ejection just before halftime gave Marathon the considerable advantage of an extra man for more than 45 minutes, and while United showed no shortage of grit, they ultimately had no answer for the visitors' constant waves of attacks and will enter the offseason with an even poorer taste in their mouths after ending their CCL campaign with just a single point in the standings.
With veteran mainstays Jaime Moreno and Bryan Namoff sidelined by injury, United trotted out a first XI built around Fred in the playmaker's role, with Santino Quaranta and Ivan Guerrero in support on the wings while Francis Doe and Boyzzz Khumalo got the nod up front. Zach Wells manned the nets due to first-choice goalkeeper Louis Crayton's red-card suspension.
Seven minutes in, D.C. left back Marc Burch's inswinging corner kick was met by a firm header from Khumalo inside the six-yard box, but the South African was well-marked and the ball deflected over the crossbar.
United surged into the lead less than three minutes later, though, on another set-piece opportunity as Quaranta delivered a dangerous cross into a crowd of bodies in the Marathon box and a subtle deflection -- either off Burch's head or that of his marker -- surprised netminder Juan Angel Gutierrez. The ball caromed off the far post and sat up right in the path of Francis Doe, who calmly slotted home on the half-volley for a 1-0 D.C. advantage.
The Honduran tourists responded with the urgency required given their lingering hopes of advancement into the CCL's knockout rounds, as frontrunner Saul Martinez began to wreak havoc on the United rearguard.
First Marvin Chavez hit a good chance wide of the net, then Martinez's angled run gave him a golden opportunity to level matters, but he wastefully fired high with only Wells to beat.
The D.C. back line was gashed open again by another long through ball to Martinez in the 25th minute, but as Wells raced well outside his box to challenge him, the onetime Miami Fusion striker poked his early shot well wide of the target as his club's expatriate fans moaned.
But Marathon's No. 9 continued to exploit the large gaps granted to him by United's defense and finally beat Wells in the 31st minute, running on to Milton Nunez's looped through ball to clip home a tidy finish with the outside of his right foot.
Yet United's front line were producing quality soccer despite having nothing to play for, as Doe clipped the outside of the post minutes before Fred smacked a near-post header just wide in the 36th minute.
The match suddenly descended into a morass of short tempers, niggling fouls and angry reactions as the first half wound to a close, leading to a flurry of bookings by referee Benito Archundia -- most notably, an ejection for Quaranta.
The sequence began when Doe tangled with Oscar Bonilla as the Marathon defender lingered too long on the ball in his own penalty area -- and though Archundia whistled for a foul on Doe, both men were soon carded for dissent as they complained to the Mexican referee. When action switched to United's end, a frustrated Quaranta hacked down Mario Berrios and earned two yellows in quick succession as he jawed at the man in the middle, sending him to an early shower as his team braced for a shorthanded second half.
The visitors were surely optimistic of pressing that advantage after the break, but even head coach Manuel Keosseian might have been amazed at the speed with which they seized the advantage. Just 24 seconds after Archundia's opening whistle, Berrios latched onto Gonzalo Martinez's headed half-clearance and beat Wells with an excellent dipping half-volley into the upper corner to give Marathon their first lead of the night.
The side known to their fans as "The Green Monster" doubled their lead in the 53rd minute as Martinez broke loose again, slipping behind Greg Janicki to hit a low shot that was saved by Wells' outstretched left hand -- only for Nunez to poke home the rebound from close range just before the United 'keeper could recover to make it 3-1.
The tally gave the Honduran international his third goal in two appearances at RFK: seven years ago, the 35-year-old's brace helped pace his country to a stunning 3-2 win against the United States in a World Cup qualifier in the nation's capital, the last loss on home soil for the U.S.
But the home side showed impressive resolve to strike back just past the hour, once again making the most of a free kick as Devon McTavish flicked on Burch's delivery for Janicki deep in Gutierrez's box. Though he found himself right in the goalmouth, the tall center back nonetheless showed impressive composure, avoiding two defenders with a quick touch to his right before bulging the net for his first goal in a D.C. uniform.
D.C. boss Tom Soehn soon introduced leading scorer Luciano Emilio in place of Khumalo, and the Brazilian striker nearly grabbed a stunning leveler after a snappy passing sequence between Fred and Doe. But with Gutierrez exposed, no one in a black jersey could pull the trigger and the Hondurans were able to transition into attack at speed, leading to a goal for Marvin Chavez as he took a pass from Nunez and slotted a low shot past Wells to run the score to 4-2 in Marathon's favor.
Even a man down, the Black-and-Red were still seeing plenty of the ball and creating chances. A slick passing move ended just short of fruition when Emilio flicked a header into Gutierrez's arms, and Doe should have notched his second after being sent in by Fred in the 80th minute -- but Gutierrez produced an impressive one-on-one save to deny the Liberian and maintain his team's two-goal cushion.
The match ended on an ugly note as Marathon killed off the clock with an extended game of keepaway, drawing a series of lusty challenges from an increasingly frustrated United side and Doe was sent off in the final seconds to provide a sad but fitting finale for D.C.'s disappointing season.
Player Ratings: Villarreal 6-3 AaB Aalborg
Barcelona March On In Bilbao
Rolfe leads inspired Fire effort
