United settles for draw

At the end of the first half, D.C. United forward Fred walked off the field holding his jaw, still feeling the effects of an unpunished elbow in the 16th minute.

Fred wasn’t the only one both vulnerable and frustrated with the physical play in United’s 1-1 tie with Monarcas Morelia before 13,335 at RFK Stadium last night in the first game of Group B play in the inaugural SuperLiga.

“It was an intense game,” D.C. United coach Tom Soehn said of a match in which his team had 22 of the combined 28 fouls. “But we had our chances to put the game away.”

It looked like Mexico and the United States carried their physical rivalry in international play over to club competition. The tournament features four teams each from MLS and the Mexican Football Federation.

“The rivalry now between American clubs and Mexican clubs is a good one,” Soehn said. “You could see both teams were hungry to win the game.”

D.C. United hoped to put the game away early after midfielder Christian Gomez took a free kick just outside the 18-yard line. With Morelia setting up a three-man wall in front of Gomez, he curved the ball just past Morelia defender Diego Martinez for a goal in the seventh minute. Goalkeeper Moises Munoz dived to his left, but the ball went just past him.

Martinez eventually paid back United with a goal from the corner of the penalty box in the 79th minute. The ball sailed high into the left corner of the net as United goalie Troy Perkins had trouble tracking the ball. His dive fell substantially short.

“We have to do better,” Perkins said. “We have to take care of the ball a little bit and maybe run them a little bit more by keeping the ball and possessing it. It’ll make them work to get it back.”

It didn’t help United that hamstring injuries kept forwards Jaime Moreno and Guy-Roland Kpene and defender Bryan Namoff out of the game.

The game turned particularly physical in the 55th minute when United defender Bobby Boswell kicked Morelia forward Luis Landin in the shin over a loose ball. Landin immediately stood up and hit Boswell from behind.

Referee Courtney Campbell issued Landin a red card, drawing loud cheers from the crowd. Boswell was issued a yellow card.

“I stepped in and won the ball,” Boswell said. “[Landin] got a hold of me in a spot that no man likes to be gotten a hold of in. Maybe I overreacted a bit. But the ref didn’t call it. He was going the other way, so I did my best to stop him. Maybe I kicked him harder than people would’ve liked.”

In the 61st minute, Morelia midfielder Gonzalo Choy had a yellow card after bringing United defender Josh Gros to the ground. Choy slammed the ball and expressed his frustration to Campbell. Gros and United forward Rod Dyachenko also received yellow cards.

United, meanwhile, was never able to add to its early goal. One of the best chances came in the 88th minute, when Gros passed to forward Nicholas Addlery, whose header sailed over the crossbar.

Forward Luciano Emilio, United’s leading goal-scorer, had four shots on goal. One of those plays involved Fred kicking the ball through the legs of Morelia defender Horacio Cervantes in the 34th minute. Dyachenko passed the ball in the box to Emilio, but his kick went over the crossbar.

That play frustrated Soehn and Emilio the most.

“The ball bounced in front of me and hit my shin guard,” Emilio said through an interpreter. “I wasn’t able to control it because [the ball] hit where the baseball configuration is. It had an affect on that particular play.”

Missed chances like those led to a tie in a game United felt it should have won.

“We were disappointed with the way it went down,” United midfielder Ben Olsen said. “Overall it was a good performance, but soccer can be cruel.”