Copa Sudamericana (In Progress)

If you are reading this now, and I don't know if anyone does read this during these times, then get to DCUNITED.COM NOW and kick up the audio broadcast. I don't know how this will turn out. But this could be big. Big. Crazy Big. Or not. Can't breathe.

We're in the 31st minute. 2-0. But it is 2-0 for DC. 3-1 Aggregate for DC. Away goals 2-1 for DC.

LISTEN NOW!

UPDATE 41st Minute. Catolica gets one back, and nearly got a 2nd. 2-1 for DC. 3-2 Aggregate. Away goals still 2-1.

UPDATE 45 - HALF. Score is still 2-1 DC. They were starting to get real sloppy at the end there. Multiple players with yellows. Jamil Walker needs to be quiet at times (and yes, Jamil started). I would get him out now and put Adu in. He's used to taking cheap shots, so he'll keep his mouth shut. C'mon... close it out guys.

UPDATE AGAIN. I need a cigarette. I'll be back.

UPDATE 46th Minute. We're under way. Gros in for Walker. Erpen is still in, and not having his best game.

UPDATE 49th Minute. A little more pressure now, with some posession. Namoff, feeling left out, decided to get his name in the book. I want to see Wilson or Boswell.

UPDATE 56th Minute. Tino goes in the book. Nice to learn that cards don't accumulate from match to match, if we advance.

UPDATE 58th Minute Gomez tries a chip, kinda more hopeful than anything, but his position is very deep. Then the corner leads to a ball that hovers in front of an open net the way Coyote would hover over a precipice after chasing Road Runner off a cliff. Some real chances now, but not finished.

UPDATE 60th Minute 30 minutes to go. Maybe I should try sedation...

UPDATE 63rd Minute Catolica having multiple chances, playing balls forward into the box. Gomez is going out (and he had a great goal). Wilson comes in. I don't like a pure defensive sub at this point, I'd prefer Adu in. But I'm not a coach with an MLS cup ring. Sounds like we're trying to close up shop.

UPDATE 68th Minute I haven't felt ulcers forming in my stomach this way since the Eastern Conference Final. Still 2-1 DCU, 3-2 Aggregate, and DCU with the Away goal tiebreaker. No chance for this game to go to penalties, either DCU or Catolica will advance when we reach full time.

UPDATE 69th Minute Catolica nearly equalizes. The post is Nicky Rimando's friend. Catolica must not think a lot of Nicky coming off his line, or his positioning, or something, because they play like the expect him to make a mistake and give him a goal. And the most alarming thing is that he might. Carroll is having the kind of match that makes you wonder why Hudson never looked at him.

UPDATE 71st Minute Please tell Nowak and company that you don't get extra points for the goal if it comes from a nice set of passes. Adu in for Quaranta.

UPDATE 75th Minute Catolica with some sustained pressure and earning some corners.

UPDATE 78th Minute Catolica earns a free kick in a dangerous area...

UPDATE 78th Minute God is testing me. It's a goal. 2-2. 3-3 on aggregate. DCU has the tiebreaker. Catolica gets the lead, and it is over.

UPDATE 83rd Minute I have no fingernails. I am now chewing bits of styofoam around the house. Catolica with sustained pressure on DCU. I don't think it's been out of the DCU third of the field for more than fifty seconds over the last ten minutes

UPDATE 85th Minute Adu and Moreno starting to break the pressure. Dema seems to have lost whatever touch he had about three weeks ago, as he's sent a few shots over the crossbar now. Catolica still dangerous.

UPDATE 86th Minute I am cursed. Catolica scores, they lead 3-2, 4-3 on aggregate.

UPDATE 88th Minute You ever have a relationship that was pretty good, but then sort of fizzled out and ended -- not in anger, but in the crushing weight of familiarity and accumulated mistakes? That's how this feels right now. Like it hasn't ended yet, but you both are trying to figure out on the calendars when to end it so that no one has to miss a dinner party or dentist's appointment.

UPDATE 90th Minute Stoppage time. 2 minutes.

FULL TIME It is over. As if Raymond Carver wrote a short story about DC United, your most overwhelming sensation is the anger at possibility denied. There is a grief too deep for profanity, but some part of me is going to curse, under my breath, for the next day or so at random moments. There is no ambiguity any more, reality has collapsed into a long flight home. By then, composure will be regained, and the city will open its arms to our team. The season in this country will go on, a smaller stage than perhaps we wanted, but large enough if performed well.

[UPDATE: Welcome visitors from MGoBlog! The article you are probably looking for is here. This was just me experiencing the emotional equivalent of a Nazi seeing the Ark of the Covenant at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.]