Photo by Matt Mathai

For many fans, D.C. United hosting AC Milan was set up to be an entertaining friendly that Ronaldinho and company would ultimately dance comfortably away to victory in.

Apparently the United players didn’t get the message.

Amidst the humidity of a Wednesday night in the nation’s capital, D.C. United held on for a 3-2 win against the Italian giants.

Photo by Matt Mathai

First half goals from Luciano Emilio and Chris Pontius along with another from Danny Allsopp in the second half were enough to earn United a rare home win.

An announced crowd of 30,367 came to see the Brazilian stylings of Ronaldinho and Alexandre Pato.  The 20-year-old striker narrowly scored in the matches opening minutes, but was denied by fellow youngster, D.C. goalkeeper, Bill Hamid.

“Bill is a gamer.  The kid is something special,” head coach Curt Onalfo said of his 19-year-old netminder.

Although Milan came out strong, it was the black and red that stole the first-half show.  Emilio put United ahead when he tapped in a Pontius header at the back post in the 20th minute.

Ten minutes later Pontius added his name to the scores sheet with a header from a Santino Quaranta corner kick.

United went to half with a surprisingly comfortable 2-0 lead.

Photo By Matt Mathai

Replacing several players at the start of the second half, United looked to maintain and even add to its lead.

D.C. would add to their lead when Allsopp would pressure the Milan goalkeeper, Christian Abbiati, on a loose ball six yards out.  Abbiati’s attempted clearance deflected off Allsopp giving home side a 3-0 lead after 61 minutes.

After Brandon Barklage went down with a knee injury, United was forced to defend its lead with 10 men against a Milan team in hot pursuit of a comeback.

A handball in the box allowed Massimo Oddo to cut the lead to two in the 70th minute.  The veteran defender would then double his tally four minutes later with a strike to the left of Troy Perkins, who replaced Hamid at halftime.

Oddo almost single handedly brought Milan back moments later, but he skied his volley on a pass from Pato.

Against the strong efforts of Milan, D.C. would eventually hold on for the victory.

The match was not only a chance to entertain the American fans with a high level of European football, but as well a chance for United’s younger players to gain valuable experience.

“Big thing was to keep it real simple,” Onalfo told his younger players.

Photo by Matt Mathai

When asked if United could use this victory as a springboard for the rest of the season, Onalfo said, ”It doesn’t happen overnight.  And this has been a trying time, now we have to know this is one game.”

He’s right, but with a strong performance against Milan hopefully United can begin to turn this season around.