DC UNITED CLINCH

Gomez excited he redeemed his missed PK
DC United became the first team to clinch a playoff spot by defeating Real Salt Lake 2-1. Emilio adds to his lead for Golden boot by opening the scoring for DC with his nineteenth goal of the season. Christian Gomez gets the game winner in the 73rd minute when he nodded in a far post serve by Fred.

The refereeing was inconsistent and baffling at times. Karma seemed to prevail however as each keeper saved a penalty. Christian Gomez and Alecko Eskandarian both saw PKs saved in the game. Four yellow cards were given to the Black and Red resulting in three players looking at suspension for the Chicago game. Ben Olsen, Christian Gomez and Fred will all see their lay off last until September 29th as they will be ineligible to play the 23rd in Chicago.

Real Salt Lake carried the play against a seemingly tired DC United. As so often is seen though better teams seem to do what it takes to win. The Coaches take wasn't quite as generous:

"You evaluate all the games we've had and ending on a period where now we can take a break you want to end it in a lot better way. I thought on the day it was bad all the way around. Having said that you know there's a lot of situations you are in where you don't play well and don't get the result. So I still give our guys credit that they did what it takes to win and get our three points and keep our streak alive -- whether it's Troy [Perkins] making a big save or Christian [Gomez] coming up after missing a penalty, Fred injecting some light. We found a way to win and it wasn't pretty today. Whether it's a combination of us and who we played or the reffing, or whatever it doesn't matter, there is no excuse for what we did and how we came out, but we found a way to win and that's still important."

DC gratefully takes the three points and continues to distance themselves from the pack for the Supporter's Shield. DC now has 49 points after 25 games, Houston has 42 points after 25 games, New England has 42 points after 24 games and Chivas has 40 points after 22 games. So turn on ESPN 2 tommorrow night and cheer for the Galaxy in the Super Classico.

Stay tuned, I'm trying to work out a "guess the roster" pool. Tom Soehn will ensure that will always be exciting!