D.C. United officials have expressed support for Mario Gori and Raul Diaz Arce, their two players arrested in Columbus, Ohio, Aug. 17 in connection with an alleged rape after the MLS champion’s game with the Columbus Crew the night before. D.C. United president Kevin Payne said that the club would fully support them, though it did not use them in its 2-0 Open Cup quarterfinal win over Tampa Bay Aug. 19 at RFK Stadium. “These are good people,” Payne told Steven Goff of the Washington Post. “They are both family men. I have a lot of respect for both and both have respect from their teammates about what kind of people they are.” Gori and Diaz Arce were released from jail after posting bond that had been set at $500,000 each by a Franklin County municipal court judge. Gori is charged with one count of rape, and Diaz Arce is charged with one count of complicity to rape. According to published reports, a woman told Columbus police she was raped by one player while another held her down in the hotel room of a player after having had drinks at the team’s hotel with members of the team. According to the Columbus Dispatch, an attorney for the players at their court appearance said four players were initially were identified as being involved in the alleged rape but one of them actually was in Colombia at the time. Bolivians Marco Etcheverry and Jaime Moreno are with their country’s national team for the World Cup qualifier in Barranquilla, Colombia, Aug. 20. Both players were allowed to keep their passports. They must return to Columbus Aug. 29 for preliminary hearings. Whether Diaz Arce, who is tied for the MLS scoring lead, will be allowed to leave the country to play in El Salvador’s World Cup ’98 qualifier in Canada Sept. 14 has not been determined. In a statement, MLS commissioner Doug Logan said MLS and D.C. United do not intend to minimize the gravity of the charges and condemn such behavior as alleged to have taken place, but he said the players will remain on D.C. United’s active roster. “The presumption of innocence is a scared right in this country and we will provide assistance to our players through the investigative process,” he said. MLS deputy commissioner Sunil Gulati had to postpone a trip to Veracruz, Mexico, to deal with the matter. He hoped to reach an agreement with Mexican club Veracruz for the sale of Colombian national team midfielder Leonel Alvarez back to the Dallas Burn.