D.C. United and the Houston Dynamo, Major League Soccer’s Concacaf Champions Cup representatives, had poor showings over the weekend in their league debut, losing 2-0 and 3-0, respectively. Of course, it’s no secret that both teams had bigger fish to fry: United has a Champions Cup semifinal date at 7,900 feet with the competition’s defending champion Pachuca on Wednesday night, while Houston hosts Costa Rican champion Saprissa at Robertson Stadium Thursday night.
Both games now have their full attention now that the season opener is out of the way, although neither result was good preparation for a semifinal. However, as the Washington Post’s Steve Goff points out, there’s not much United could have done to prepare for the Pachuca match, as physiological research suggests that the best approach to playing at altitude is to acclimate for at least a week or wait as long as possible before arriving. Forced to take the latter route, United arrived in Mexico only Monday.
In preparation for the game, coach Tom Soehn played Brazilian Fred for just 33 minutes against the Wizards, while taking off diminutive striker Franco Niell early in the second half. He also decided not to risk veteran Jaime Moreno, who had a hamstring injury. Goff says United would be sufficiently happy bringing a draw or one-goal defeat home for the second leg at RFK next week. Ominously, United has never won in Mexico.