Toluca tops D.C. United

August 27, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Hector Mancilla scored a pair of goals in the final 11 minutes to lift Toluca to a 3-1 win against D.C. United in a CONCACAF Champions League Group B match at RFK Stadium on Wednesday night.

With the game tied 1-1 in the 79th minute, Mancilla shook Marc Burch, cutting first inside and then outside of the D.C. United defender and placing the ball inside the far post for Toluca, which has maximum points from back-to-back road games to move on top of Group B.

The Chilean sealed the game five minutes from full time, tapping home a Nestor Calderon cross that took a deflection off a sliding Julius James at the near post.

Los Choriceros wasted little time taking advantage of yet another D.C. United defensive miscue as Vladimir Marin easily tapped the ball in on five minutes after D.C. goalkeeper Josh Wicks and defender David Habarugira both went for Zinha’s soft through ball a few meters inside the 18-yard box.

Wicks slid and the ball caromed off the two and bounced to Marin, who took it off his chest and easily touched the ball into the net.

In a 3-1 loss to Marathon last week on Matchday 1, all three goals scored by the hosts were off D.C. United gaffes in the defensive third.

Toluca also followed last week’s form, scoring an early goal on the road as Raul Nava struck on eight minutes for the lone goal in a 1-0 win against San Juan Jabloteh.

Marin nearly set up a second goal in the 33rd minute, serving a short corner that an unmarked Edgar Duenas headed off the outside netting.

Frustrated with his team’s inability to get much going in the attacking third, D.C. coach Tommy Soehn made a tactical substitution in the 37th minute, bringing on Brazilian Fred for Ely Allen.

As was the case last week, Santino Quaranta made his presence felt immediately after stepping onto the field as a halftime substitute, tracking down a ball along the touchline, settling and sending a cross back into the box where Chris Pontius split Toluca defenders to head the equalizer past goalkeeper Hernan Cristante from eight meters in the 47th minute.

After Mancilla’s go-ahead goal, Toluca had a pair of chances in quick succession to tack on to their lead, but Julius James knocked the ball away from Carlos Esquivel after Wicks was beaten in the 80th minute and then Calderon forced Wicks to lunge to his left and make an acrobatic save to tap the ball out for a corner kick on a blast from distance one minute later.

But an opportunistic tap by Mancilla at the far post sealed D.C. United’s fate in the 85th minute, putting Toluca in the drivers’ seat to advance. Meanwhile, D.C., which had just one point in last year’s group stage, faces an uphill battle to get into the knockout stage. They head to Trinidad & Tobago to take on San Juan Jabloteh on Sept. 15, while Toluca is home for Marathon on Sept. 17.

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