WASHINGTON – D.C. United entered Tuesday night’s Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League encounter with Panamanian side Árabe Unido needing only a draw claim the group title.
For good measure, they went ahead and won.
D.C. rode first-half goals from Conor Doyle and Jared Jeffrey to a 2-0 victory over Unido at RFK Stadium. The win leaves them six points clear atop Group H, eliminating both Unido and Jamaican minnows Montego Bay United with a game to spare, the second year in a row that D.C. have sewn their group up early.
United needed all of 34 seconds to get on the board. Center back Steve Birnbaum – among the only regulars in a lineup built mostly around depth players – collected the ball in United’s own end and cut a path up the middle of the field before spraying it out wide to Chris Pontius.
Pontius took a touch and swung the ball toward Jairo Arrieta at the penalty spot. The former Columbus Crew SC forward couldn’t connect, but fellow attacker Doyle ran onto the ball on the near side and hammered home a one-time blast, giving United the early lead.
D.C. doubled their lead in the 22nd minute. Argentine midfielder Facundo Coria sent in a corner kick from the near side, finding a wide-open Jeffrey at the far edge of the six-yard box; the midfielder made no mistake with the header, nodding it down and out of reach of Árabe goalkeeper Miguel Lloyd.
Árabe Unido, who very nearly extracted a result from their first encounter with United in mid-August, looked out-of-sorts during the game’s opening stanza and failed to apply any real pressure. Though the Panamanians outshot United 10-5 in the first half, only one of those efforts was on frame; all of the others were largely speculative.
Their best chances at pulling one back came on the other side of the halftime whistle. In the 52nd minute, Renan Addles, the club’s leading scorer in league play, stepped up to a free kick 25 yards from goal and sent an absolute screamer over the wall, off of United 'keeper Andrew Dykstra’s fingertips and into the crossbar. Five minutes later, midfielder Abdiel Macea’s close-range attempt also found the crossbar before heading over the goal.
United’s early lead allowed them the luxury of subbing out a couple of key pieces – Birnbaum and Pontius – both of whom may be leaned upon during D.C.’s crucial Eastern Conference clash with Crew SC on Saturday.
Tuesday’s match renders United’s Group H finale at Montego Bay on Sept. 22 largely meaningless; aside for quarterfinal-round seeding, with advancement assured.
