D.C. United remained alive in the CONCACAF Champions League as Christian Gomez's first-half penalty kick lifted United to a 1-0 win against San Juan Jabloteh at Hasley Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain, Trinidad Tuesday night.
The win, United's first-ever in the group stage, moved D.C. out of the Group B basement, while Jabloteh remains winless after three games.
Last year, D.C. only managed a draw in six group stage matches.
Gomez stepped to the spot after referee Trevor Taylor ruled Jabloteh defender Noel Williams handled a cross in the box after he slid in and tackled the ball away from Luciano Emilio. After a slight hesitation, Gomez scored low and to the right of Jabloteh goalkeeper Cleon John to give a shorthanded D.C. United squad a 1-0 lead on 14 minutes.
Williams had time and space and tried to make up for his mistake, but his low shot from distance rolled wide to D.C. United goalkeeper Milos Kocic's right in the 21st minute.
Four minutes later, Kocic came up big, making three saves at the near post, twice denying Lester Peltier. Moments later, Ataulla Guerra's attempt from 16 meters skipped wide of the far post for the hosts.
Off a D.C. United giveaway in the midfield, San Juan Jabloteh's Jason Marcano lobbed the ball at the open net after Kocic came off his line, but Julius James did well to track back and clear the ball off the line in the 42nd minute.
James also made a great recovery three minutes from full time after his bad touch allowed Peltier to run in on goal. The defender slid and blocked the shot to the right of Kocic. The ball rolled out for a corner kick, which didn't result in a dangerous chance for the hosts.
In addition to Gomez, Emilio, one of the few first team players to make the trip, had a solid game for United. The Brazilian nearly added onto United's lead, but his low, hard shot from distance in the 64th minute eluded a diving Cleon John, but was just wide of the far post.
In the 75th minute Jabloteh was given a golden chance to equalize when Taylor apparently ruled Kocic violated the six-second rule and the hosts had a free kick two yards inside the box. But Williams badly mishit his attempt from the top of the 18-yard box.
One minute later, Devon McTavish played a great ball inside the area that Gomez latched onto, but John bobbled the shot before it was cleared away for the game's first corner kick.
In the 83rd minute, Gomez played the ball over the top to Danny Szetela, who was unable to pull the trigger on a shot.
D.C. United return home to RFK Stadium to play CD Marathon next Thursday, attempting to avenge a 3-1 loss in Honduras on the opening day of group play last month. Marathon and Mexico's Toluca are tied for first in Group B with six points apiece, ahead of their Thursday meeting in Mexico.
Post-game quotes: Jabloteh vs United
dcunited.com
D.C. United Head Coach Tom Soehn
On the game:
I thought in the first half we started out the game well and then we lost our shape a little bit and they did a good job to expose us in those spots and they were actually unfortunate not to get one back. We adjusted a little bit second half and I thought we closed it up and we won a lot more balls high and created a lot of good opportunities. We’re happy to take the result home, but they had their moments and they’re a good side.
On the chances created by Jabloteh:
They came up short on some plays, but at the end we could have won it 2-0 – at the end we had a great opportunity, but that’s how the game goes. I thought we defended well as a team. I thought our commitment to defending was solid. It’s always difficult on the road and I thought we had a pretty good road mentality.
On getting three points in Champions League:
Every result is important. We’ve had a long stretch of games and we definitely needed to get a result in CONCACAF to keep us in, so this keeps us alive. And now we have Marathon at home next week and we need to take care of business at home.
On the play of Jabloteh:
They played very direct and they have some guys with some pace that can hurt you. And their set pieces – we gave them a lot of opportunities on set pieces. They obviously have some big targets who caused us some havoc. But, overall, like I said, we definitely shored things up in the second half, we had a lull in the first half where they could have put some away. We were fortunate to come out of that stretch clean and, second half, we were much better, I thought.
D.C. United midfielder Clyde Simms
On the game:
It was a good team effort. There were some guys for us who don’t normally get minutes getting good minutes and it was a good feeling to get the win. We got a little bit of a break coming up so it was huge to end this streak of games with a win.
On Jabloteh’s opportunities to score:
Most of their chances came in the first half. We noticed some things that we could have done differently – second balls in the midfield, we were losing a lot of those in the first half resulting in counterattacks and them keeping some possession. Fortunately, we came out of the half not giving up a goal. Of course, they came close a couple times, but we fixed some things at halftime and it was a much better second half.
On what the result means for the tournament:
We’re still in. We knew if we got a win here, we definitely have a chance. We need to take care of business at home and hopefully get a good result in Mexico and we think we can still advance.
D.C. United defender Avery John
On playing in his home country and getting the win:
It was great - It was my first time coming back for a club game. It was a very hard game, it was an honest game. We did our job, we got a result, we defended well, we played as a team. They created some chances, but we also created probably the same amount of chances or better chances. But, the feeling to come back on home soil, play well and get three points was… it’s honestly a beautiful feeling.
Jabloteh blames poor offence for CCL slide.
By: Randy Bando (ttproleague).
San Juan Jabloteh have lost all three opening matches of the CONCACAF Champions’ League group stage with their latest being a 1-0 defeat against visiting DC United on Tuesday night and team captain Marvin Oliver blames a lack of quality strikers at the club.
“It is something we have been suffering all season and a lot goes back to our key striker Jerrol Forbes who is injured since the beginning of the season,” said Oliver, the 2007 Toyota Player of the Year.
In all three defeats—1-0 against Mexican side Toluca, 3-1 against Honduran side CD Marathon and 1-0 against American club DC United—Jabloteh created numerous goalscoring opportunities which they failed to put away and paid dearly for it now sitting at the bottom of Group B following Tuesday’s match at home at the Hasely Crawford Stadium and without a point.
“When we take midfielders and try to convert them into strikers this is what happens,” said Oliver. “We have strikers Hector Sam and the young Jerrel Britto. Sam isn’t being used much by the coach at the moment, and Britto is young and now getting into the senior football.”
Key striker Jerrol Forbes has been injured at the beginning of the 2009 season, and since then coach Earl Jean—a former striker at W Connection and Jabloteh—shuffled attacking midfielders Jason Marcano and Lester Peltier and striker Hector Sam up front. However the goals have been slow coming.
Jabloteh suffered an early penalty against DC after a unfortunate handball by Noel Williams inside the area which Oliver describes as a soft penalty.
“It was a soft penalty called by the referee,” said the Jabloteh midfielder who played only an hour of the match suffering a niggling groin injury. “We should have gotten a similar call a few minutes later, but we were denied it.”
Head coach Earl Jean may be disappointed in end results and poor finishing but says he applauds his team for some great “build-up” football.
“We are playing good football at the moment but just not putting away our chances. We are going hard for our remaining matches,” said Jean. “The players are all confident and want to play the football.”
Jabloteh will meet United Petrotrin from 6pm at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium in their 2009 First Citizens Cup quarterfinal clash on Friday. They will then depart Trinidad on Sunday for Mexico to take on Toluca in the Champions’ League next week at the Estadio Nemesio Diez.
Oliver who is likely to rest out Friday’s First Citizens Cup quarterfinal match still holds faith in Jabloteh’s Group B chances.
“Anything is possible,” he said. “I think we did what we set out to do this season, which is to get past the qualifying stage and into the group stage of the Champions’ League. Now with better team play and finishing we can maybe go further despite losing our first three matches. I’m very pleased with performances despite suffering losses.”