D.C. coach Tom Soehn’s decision to bench several of his regulars backfired badly on Saturday as Real Salt Lake blanked United, 4-0, at Rice-Eccles Stadium. In the wake of United’s 2-1 midweek win against Mexican power Pachuca, Soehn decided to rest Marcelo Gallardo, Zach Wells, Gonzalo Martinez and Santino Quaranta. It was United’s fifth game in 15 days.
“We were put in a situation where it was important to rest some guys, but you still should have the confidence in the guys coming in,” said Soehn. “We still have a long way to go. It’s unacceptable to go down like you did tonight. I constantly question the character of teams and that character gets challenged not just with the [starters], but throughout the whole roster. When it is your time to step up and show what you are made of, you learn a lot on a day like today.”
Kyle Beckerman opened the scoring for RSL 12 minutes in match after Fred let him float into the box unmarked. Fabian Espindola scored a second seven minutes later, latching onto a poorly defended up-and-under from Dema Kovalenko. Beckerman killed the match in the 78th minute, unleashing a hammer that flew passed reserve keeper Jose Carvallo after a layoff from Robbie Findlay. Findlay added a fourth three minutes from time when a mistake from Gonzalo Peralta and Carvallo left him with an open header.