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D.C. United weathers short bench, storm to down Rapids

Jun 29, 2007 - 3:45 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Leave it to the elements to delay a game that already was lacking star appeal due to Copa America.

Nicholas Addlery scored the go-ahead goal in the 71st minute as D.C. United downed the Colorado Rapids, 4-1, on Thursday in a game delayed 29 minutes by lightning.

D.C. United played without starters Bobby Boswell, Jaime Moreno and Ben Olsen, who were on Copa America duty in Venezuela.

The Rapids were without forward Herculez Gomez and midfielder Kyle Beckerman, who also were away for Copa America play. They were also without forward Conor Casey, who missed the game with a hamstring injury.

With the match tied at 1-1 midway through the second half, Addlery - who replaced injured forward Guy-Roland Kpene in the 12th minute - recorded his first MLS point as he headed a corner kick from Fred in the 71st minute.

"We lost the last game, so we came out with a passion and looked to get the three points at home," Addlery said of D.C. United's embarrassing 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake on June 23. "Salt Lake was just a bump in the road. We lost, picked ourselves up, dusted off and moved on. At home, you have to get the three points."

Fred and Luciano Emilio added insurance goals after the delay in 77th minute, helping D.C. United total 12 tallies over its last four contests.

"I needed to score a goal, and now I'm very happy," said Fred, who promptly drew a yellow card for excessive celebration following his goal.

Midfielder Jacob Peterson scored on a header to give the Rapids a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute. Terry Cooke collected his fifth assist of the season and Colin Clark notched the first of his career on the play.

"We're just a step off in every aspect of the game," Peterson said. "We're really not that bad. But we're clearly not getting results, and that's the name of the game."

D.C. United captain Christian Gomez's penalty kick from inside the penalty area tied the match at 1-1 in the 34th minute. It was Gomez's fourth goal of the season and the first tally allowed on a penalty kick this year by Colorado goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul.

"Anytime you inject so many new guys, regardless of them understanding the system, it takes a while to have the comfort level to play positive balls, and I thought we were very conservative early," D.C. United coach Tom Soehn said. "We addressed it at halftime and said they needed to be more direct. As the second half went on, we got better at that."

"In the first half, we didn't play very well as a team," Fred added. "Tommy gave us a good talk at halftime, and we played much better in the second half."

Colorado's Mike Petke departed in the 27th minute with a left ankle injury and was replaced by Chris Wingert. The Rapids defender was scheduled to undergo X-rays after the game to determine if his ankle was broken.

"I'm disappointed - very, very disappointed," said Colorado coach Fernando Clavijo, whose team has lost five in a row. "There are no excuses. We lost because we didn't play well enough."