Mired in a 4-game winless slump and experiencing an offensive drought, DC United headed into last night's match against Red Bull New York with a degree of uncertainty. Would United's forwards be able to capitalize on the scoring chances that had slipped by them in past games? Could the team regain its competitive edge? Was it time for another early exit from U.S. Open Cup play?

United provided an emphatic answer to these questions, dispatching New York 3-1 and earning the right to play Chicago in the Cup semifinals. Behind a starting lineup featuring 5 players accustomed to the bench, DC capitalized on a first half goal by Josh Gros and Jamil Walker's second half brace to assure former coach Bruce Arena an unpleasant homecoming.

Several of the absences in the starting 11 were expected. Freddy Adu and Christain Gomez were recovering from minor injuries, while veteran Nick Rimando resumed his role as Open Cup goalkeeper. Ben Olsen and Jaime Moreno, on the other hand, were given a mid-season reprieve. To fill these spots, Coach Peter Nowak enthusiastically went to his deep bench, rewarding team members that had performed well in practice. Nowak specifically pointed to the contributions of Jamil Walker, Domenic Mediate, and 78th minute sub DJ Stokes, noting, "It's good to give them the time, and I think everyone enjoyed them playing."

All photos by Kyle Gustafson. For more photos, click here.

None may have enjoyed playing with Mediate more than Rod Dyachenko and Josh Gros, as the two received an assist and a goal, respectively, on Mediate's 37th minute cross. Defender Bryan Namoff, wearing the captain's armband, made a gutsy run down the right wing before passing the ball off to Mediate. The Columbus castoff sent a cross to the far end of the box, finding a leaping Dyachenko. Assuming Christian Gomez's role of attacking midfielder, Dyachenko made several dangerous runs on the night, but his most important contribution was distributing Mediate's cross to Josh Gros, who knocked the ball past a diving Tony Meola.

United's joy was short-lived, as New York struck back 4 minutes later. The Red Bulls received a free kick on the side of United's penalty box from what appeared to be a phantom foul on Youri Djorkaeff. After the former World Cup star sent the ball into the United box, it was cleared to the feet of defender Marvell Wynne, who fired a blistering shot on goal. Rimando blocked the shot, but the rebound landed at the feet of Amado Guevara. As all good attacking players do, Guevara ignored the possibility probability of an offsides call and struck the ball into the back of the net.

Less than a minute after Guevara's goal, New York had a chance to take the lead. Another free kick deep in United's zone passed by 3 Red Bull players, any one of which could have had their way with the open mouth of United's goal. United regained their composure, however, and headed into the locker room knotted at 1.

Apart from the closing minutes of the first half, United was thoroughly in control of the game. Josh Gros, named as a defender for last night's game, made his presence felt throughout the entire field. Dyachenko continued to threaten, while Alecko Eskandarian and Jamil Walker constantly ran at the New York defense. United's back line was led by Facundo Erpen, who cleverly anticipated Red Bull attacking balls. Nick Rimando made the best of his minutes, avoiding ill-advised charges and making several spectacular saves.

A DC go-ahead goal was not unexpected, with their offense maintaining copious amounts of possession. Ben Olsen and Jaime Moreno entered in the 59th minute, and a United goal was scored only a minute later, resulting from a free kick in the attacking third. After taking a lackluster corner kick in the first half, Eskandarian redeemed himself with a vicious, whipping cross into the box. The ball found Walker, who trapped it into the net. There looked to be the possibility of a hand-ball on the play, but the referee saw no reason to stop play and awarded the goal to United.

United's third goal on the evening was initialized by Ben Olsen, who collected a loose ball about 40 yards out. Though he had made several overly-ambitious attacking runs, he made sure his last one counted. Navigating through the Red Bull defense, Olsen served up an immaculate ball to a wide open Walker. Eschewing his recent failures in 1-on-1 situations, Walker beat Meola, sending the ball into the lower left corner of the net and sealing the victory.

After the game, coach Nowak summed up the victory succinctly and appropriately: "We had a pretty good game... [New York] gave us trouble in the first half, but I think at the end of the day, the better team wins." After 3 weeks of being mediocre at best, Nowak's confidence might be just the thing to make sure his good team stays better.