D.C. United hangs tough

Steve Carp

Thursday, Sept. 30, 1999 | 11:05 a.m.

Tournament schedule

All games at Sam Boyd Stadium

Friday

Semifinals

Chicago Fire vs. Alajuela, 6 p.m.

D.C. United vs. Necaxa, 8 p.m.

Sunday

Consolation final

Semifinal losers, 2 p.m.

Championship

Semifinal winners, 4 p.m.

In a matter of seconds, Tom Presthus went on the wildest ride of his life.

And in the process, it created some serious drama in the quarterfinals of The Football Confederation Champions Cup Wednesday at Sam Boyd Stadium.

The D.C. United goalkeeper was going to be one of the stars of the Major League Soccer team's 1-0 decision over Olimpia of Honduras as he had four saves in the books and was en route to a shutout.

But with the final seconds ticking away, Olimpia's Wilmer Velasquez was knocked to the ground by a sliding Presthus in the penalty box in an attempt to corral a loose ball. Referee Carlos Batres quickly and correctly pointed to the penalty spot and awarded the Hondurans a penalty kick.

If Olimpia converted, the game would have gone to a full round of penalties with the loser going home. A former United player, Arnold Cruz, was selected to take the kick instead of Velasquez.

Presthus dove to his right and smothered Cruz's ground-hugging shot, cradling the ball tightly as the final whistle blew to preserve D.C.'s 1-0 win as an announced crowd of 7,127 looked on in amazement at the wild finish.

"That last minute was quite a roller coaster," Presthus said. "I saw the ball come in and I didn't see him (Velasquez). He was quicker than I thought.

"It was a 50-50 ball and I went for it. Unfortunately, I hit him. But I deserved the call. I was really lucky that I held onto the ball at the end. I just guessed right."

Jaime Moreno's goal in the 68th minute was all the defending champions needed to advance as D.C. United will meet Necaxa of Mexico, a 3-2 winner over Saprissa of Costa Rica, in Friday's semifinals.

"The first game of any tournament is tough," United coach Thomas Rongen said. "We wanted to get that first one out of the way."

While United had the better of play most of the night, it struggled to hit on its short passing combinations so it was forced to play long-ball. But when the U.S. entry connected, it created some great chances.

Olimpia proved to be a patient side, looking to counterattack when possible while trying to control D.C. United in its own half. And the Hondurans had some golden opportunities as well, mostly by Velasquez, the team's fine striker.

Velasquez had two close-in chances in the 21st minute, but both sailed wide. Then in the 51st, he stripped Carlos Llamosa inside the box and beat Presthus, only to hit the crossbar.

"That's the nature of being a striker," Velasquez said. "Sometimes you hit, sometimes you miss."

But midway through the second half, D.C. United finally got untracked and overcame its own sloppiness as well as the narrow 65-yard width of the Sam Boyd pitch. Marco Etcheverry quickly laid the ball off to Ben Olsen on the right side and he gave it up to Carey Talley, making an overlapping run from his right fullback spot.

Talley, who had come on as a substitute 10 minutes earlier, put the ball right to the onrushing feet of Moreno, who was making a strong run to the right post. Goalie Carlos Enrique Prono had no chance to stop Moreno's attempt.

"We had looked for that ball all evening and Jaime did a good job of finishing," Rongen said of the game's lone tally. "The condition of the field is a concern so we talked about being more direct with our passes."

United will have to play better Friday to match up with an explosive Necaxa side that scored twice in the first half on goals by Agustin Delgado and Sergio Vasquez and made that 2-0 lead stand up.