Thursday's 1-1 first leg draw with CD Guadalajara at soggy RFK Stadium leaves D.C. United with plenty of work to do in order to advance to the CONCACAF Champions' Cup final, but the Black-and-Red were glad to take the result after an underwhelming performance that was only redeemed by a clutch injury-time header from striker Luciano Emilio.
"I think we were a little bit fortunate to get that goal in the last minute," said winger Josh Gros. "In the first half, I don't think we connected more than three passes - we just weren't sharp in the beginning. ... If anything we should've had the advantage. It was cold and rainy, and I'm sure we're more used to that than they are. But we just didn't come out with the same sharpness."
United's tepid start ceded the early advantage to their illustrious Mexican guests and after Omar Bravo put Chivas ahead with a deflected header in the 63rd minute, D.C. clambered back into contention with a fightback featuring far more grit than glamour.
"We're still early in the preseason and we haven't really been pressured like that," said Ben Olsen. "So it took us some time to get used to that. We've got to keep in mind that we're still a month in, and there's still plenty of fitness [training], and in the end it was a good battle to get a 1-1 tie on a day when we didn't play the best soccer."
Chivas looked to be cruising to a priceless away win that would have been devastating for their MLS opponents, but a well-placed Christian Gomez free kick found Emilio inside the six-yard box in the first minute of stoppage time, and the Brazilian nodded home his fourth goal of the competition to preserve D.C.'s hopes.
"It's a play we practice a lot in training," said Emilio afterwards. "Christian raised his hand and I went to the first post, then I went to the second to shake the defender. He hit a nice ball through the box and I was able to put it in."
The set piece was well earned by a lung-bursting run from Olsen, who won a physical tussle against Ramon Morales that prompted the Chivas captain to commit a foul at the edge of his own penalty area.
"I was kind of trying to take some frustration out on him and we got tangled up," said the veteran D.C. midfielder. "I think I got a lucky call there."
The result means United will have to take a more adventurous approach at the Estadio Jalisco on April 3, and while the magnitude of that task is undeniable, man-of-the-match Olsen believes time is on his team's side.
"Yeah, absolutely, we're disappointed with a 1-1 tie," he admitted. "We needed to get a result tonight, but we didn't. It's a 1-1 tie and it's done. It's not the end of the world. We've got a tough challenge ahead of us in Mexico, but it was going to be tough either way. We know now that we can play with this team. We're only going to get better, we're only going to get more fit, and I think we know now what to expect a little bit."
United coach Tom Soehn was far from satisfied with his team's display, but knows that with the draw his team remains within a shout of pulling off a famous upset.
"We still have to create more chances, and they disrupted our possession, which we're going to have to work on," he said. "But we scored a goal, an important goal that we build off of and get ready for our next test."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
