Eastern Conference regular-season champion D.C. United beat the New York Red Bulls, 1-0, on Christian Gomez's 77th-minute goal in the first leg of their Eastern Conference semifinal series on Saturday afternoon before a sparce crowd at Giants Stadium.
New York's best chance came in the first minute of stoppage time when Jeff Parke's header from a Youri Djorkaeff free kick struck the crossbar.
The second leg will be played Sunday, Oct. 29, at 6 p.m. ET (ESPN2).
Oct. 21 in East Rutherford, N.J.
New York 0. D.C. United 1. Goals: Gomez 15 (Jaime Moreno 11) 77
D.C. United — Perkins, Namoff, Boswell, Erpen, Adu (Prideaux 78), B.Carroll, Gomez, Gros, Olsen (J.Carroll 96+), Eskandarian (Simms 85), Moreno.
New York — Conway, Wynne, Mendes (Wolyniec, 82), Parke, Dunivant, Kovalenko (Graham 96+), Guevara, Stammler, Schopp (Henderson 88), Djorkaeff, Altidore.
Yellow cards: New York — Mendes 76, Guevara 92+; D.C. United — Gomez 73, Namoff, 75.
Referee: Michael Kennedy.
Att.: 8,630