We’re still only about a month into preseason, but D.C. United is already showing the kind of form that saw it dominate MLS in the first half of last season. On Thursday, United capped an impressive two-leg series with Honduras champ Club Deportivo Olimpia with a 3-2 win that saw the MLS club safely through to the semifinals of the Champions Cup, 7-3 on aggregate.
They say that strikers always score against their former clubs. Well, true to form, new United signing Luciano Emilio terrorized his former club over the two legs, scoring once in last week’s 4-1 demolition of Olimpia and twice in Thursday’s 3-2 win. Fellow South American Christian Gomez, the MLS MVP in 2006, was equally destructive, scoring twice in last week’s win and adding another Thursday.
Coach Tom Soehn was understandably happy with United’s offensive performance over the two legs. “If you look at the opportunities we create and the people that are creating them . . . I might even score a couple goals if I had that kind of service,” he said. To be sure, a far sterner test awaits United against Mexican giant Guadalajara on March 15 with the first leg of the semifinals at RFK Stadium.