Saprissa struck on each side of halftime, with Walter Centeno opening the scoring in the 32nd minute. Alejandro Alpizar and Devon McTavish had been doing battle inside D.C.'s area for the ball, with McTavish dispossesing the Saprissa player, only to see Alpizar alertly pokeing the ball away from his position on the ground to a waiting Centeno, who placed his shot low and at the far post to beat United keeper Zach Wells.
Facing a one-goal deficit, things took a turn for the worse just minutes later when McTavish was shown a straight red card for a late challenge on Alexander Robinson in the 35th minute.
"I felt I was already in the tackle when the whistle blew," said McTavish. "I wasn't expecting a red card. It was a little shocking."
D.C.'s chances of finding an equalizing goal were dashed early in the second half when the Costa Rican club doubled their advantage in the 52nd minute through a strike from Jairo Arrieta. The back-breaking goal was made possible by United defender Marc Burch's inability to completely clear an incoming cross, as his touch put the ball directly into the path of Arrieta, who laced a left-footed shot past Wells at the far post.
The game would finish at 2-0, D.C. United becoming the latest MLS team to make a poor showing in the CCL."I thought we could have played with them and pulled out a win," said Burch. "But when you lose a man, you are chasing the game. And you are also down a goal, so you are chasing it for two reasons."
In other CCL action:
San Francisco FC 1
Pumas UNAM 1
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Puerto Rico Islanders 2
Tauro FC 1
The Houston Dynamo's first game of the group stage - originally scheduled for Wednesday night - has been pushed back until September 23rd due to logistics complications caused by Hurricane Ike, which passed through the Houston area recently.
*photo courtesy ISI Photos
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