D.C. United conjure up Open Cup win in rare Northern Virginia appearance

By Charles Boehm

D.C. United have made the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup a priority in recent seasons, devoting more focus to the 97-year-old knockout tournament than other Major League Soccer clubs due in large part to the avenue it offers to international competition now that the winner is awarded a berth in CONCACAF Champions League.

So it was little surprise to see D.C. field several starters and veterans alongside a number of reserves in the starting lineup for Wednesday night’s USOC round-of-16 match against the Richmond Kickers. Two such familiar faces, Jaime Moreno and Santino Quaranta, duly created the goals in a hard-earned 2-0 win over their third-division opponents.

But United certainly broke with habit in their choice of venue for the event. Leaving behind RFK Stadium as well as their traditional alternate home, the Maryland Soccerplex, the club reached out to its northern Virginia fans with a rare appearance at George Mason University, where verdant woods and a blazing sunset provided a down-home backdrop to United’s victory.

The 2,985 in attendance proved a curious mix of singing, chanting, hard-core supporters and casual suburban fans, though the Kickers faithful traveled in surprising numbers as well. With all seating on the east side of the pitch, all were united by a common enemy as the evening sun blinded everyone but the players throughout the first half.

“Obviously it’s not RFK Stadium. It’s a great environment at RFK but we wanted to try something new and the time to do that is during an Open Cup game because the crowd is expected to be a little bit smaller than a league game,” said D.C. assistant coach Kris Kelderman, who was in charge as Curt Onalfo finished a two-game suspension for arguing with officials in a USOC qualifying match earlier this year.

“It was great. The field was in great condition and the atmosphere was nice, it was a nice, cool night.”

The unfamiliar surroundings, as well as this game’s position in the midst of a busy stretch of their league calendar, did increase United’s vulnerability to the sort of upset that this historic tournament routinely serves up. The New York Red Bulls and Chicago Fire crashed out to lower-division teams in Tuesday’s Open Cup action and in the first half D.C. gave Richmond every reason to believe that they, too, could knock off their MLS adversaries. The USL-2 side maintained their defensive shape and matched United’s intensity while D.C. squandered several scoring chances.

Even Moreno, the all-time leading scorer in MLS, fell victim as he blazed over the crossbar on what should’ve been a simple tap-in just before intermission. But the Bolivian calmed United nerves two minutes into the second half with a neat finish to open the scoring before setting up Quaranta for the clincher in the 56th minute.

“You don’t want to go to penalties with them because then they think they can win,” said D.C. winger Boyzzz Khumalo, who laid the foundation for both goals with long runs down the right flank. “You’ve always got to win these games and take them serious. Coming into the second half, we decided that we have to go out there and perform, score goals.”

In contrast to their struggles in league play, United have now reached the quarterfinals of the Open Cup, where they face another USL-2 side in Harrisburg. Due to scheduling conflicts, that match will take place at the Maryland Soccerplex in Germantown in three weeks, but D.C. have not ruled out a return to GMU in future USOC games.

That would be welcome news for Virginian soccer devotees, though perhaps less so for those forced to battle rush-hour traffic en route from points north of the Potomac River. “We’ve seen a lot of MLS teams lose in these type of games,” said Quaranta, a Baltimore native. “Credit to the guys, it’s not easy – it took me three hours to get down here tonight, so it’s not always easy to get up for these games but we did well.”