A week after suffering their worst defeat of the season and seeing their winless streak extended to five matches, D.C. United showed their resiliency and bounced back to earn a difficult 2-1 win over Chivas USA at The Home Depot Center on Sunday afternoon.
Entering the match, United were mired in a month-long slump (their last league victory came on July 15), capped by last week's 5-2 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Galaxy. Despite their recent struggles, United became the first team to clinch a spot in the MLS playoffs after a Kansas City Wizards loss the previous day.
"It was an important win for us," said coach Peter Nowak of Sunday's victory. "The whole team was sick and tired to be stuck on 13 wins and now we're moving forward."
United responded to last week's dismal performance with a strong defensive showing.
"Against L.A. we allowed a lot of space and we learned a lesson," Nowak said. "Chivas didn't have too many chances."
Earning a win against Chivas was high on United's collective mind heading into the match.
"We came out with a winning mentality from the beginning and we didn't concede many chances to Chivas today," said midfielder Christian Gomez, whose impressive two-goal performance sunk Chivas.
Chivas' lone tally came courtesy of a penalty kick in the 32nd minute after forward Ante Razov was kicked in the head inside the penalty area by D.C. defender Facundo Erpen. The goal offset a third-minute strike from Gomez, a 20-yard free kick goal.
Gomez countered the Chivas goal with the go-ahead goal in the 33rd minute and D.C.'s defense made the result stand.
Gomez's impressive performance -- he also had a shot go off the crossbar and sent another just wide of the goal -- fueled United's performance, as has been the case for much of the season.
"Christian is a very important part of our team and with a performance like that, that's why he's a candidate for league MVP," said Nowak.
Gomez, however, was forced to leave the match on the hour mark after suffering from what appeared to be leg cramps.
The match was physical from the onset and finished with six yellow cards and two ejections.
Bobby Boswell, Brian Carroll, Alecko Eskandarian and Gomez each were shown yellow cards, while Josh Gros was ejected in stoppage time as tempers flared on both sides. Chivas USA's Juan Francisco Palencia also was ejected in stoppage time.
Boswell, Eskandarian and Gomez each will miss United's upcoming match against Real Salt Lake on Saturday on yellow card accumulation.
"It was a hard-fought game," said Carroll. "It certainly wasn't the prettiest as far as our play was concerned, but being able to win felt good no matter how we did it; I'd rather win playing ugly than lose playing pretty."
When asked what areas United needs to improve on as they finish the regular season and prepare for the playoffs, Carroll pointed to the defense.
"We can always improve defensively with our communication and our pressure and how we win the ball," he said. "This will help us going forward and keeping possession so if we can keep improving defensively, that will allow us to play better offensively.
"We've been in a rut lately and it was important for us confidence-wise to get a win today and get something going again."
Danny Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
