It wasn’t particularly surprising that D.C. United and the Houston Dynamo failed to advance to the Champions Cup final, given the huge hole these teams dug for themselves in their first-leg matches, but “at least United can rightly claim to have made a game of it,” says ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle. Indeed, it was a little ironic that United’s defeat to Pachuca turned out to be a closer call than Houston’s comprehensive thumping at the hands of Saprissa, because United went into its home match trailing 2-0 after the first leg, while Houston entered its match in Costa Rica on even terms.
Sure, the Dynamo was working with a makeshift defense, but the teamwork and cohesiveness were also completely missing. Dwayne De Rosario, the team’s creative force, was almost completely absent. United, for its part, played a pretty good match, though Luciano Emilio was wasteful on too many occasions. Damian Alvarez’s goal should have killed the tie, but United showed great spirit to rally and get two late goals. Had the rally started earlier, the outcome might have been different.
Even so, an “A for effort” doesn’t cut it at this level. So what can MLS do to help its teams reach the continental championship final? Not much, says Carlisle, apart from continuing to grow. The league simply needs to develop more and better players and continue making more money so it can attract expensive, higher quality talent.