WASHINGTON — It was all set up quite nicely for D.C. United heading into Thursday's knockout round playoff game against Montreal.
United built up a head of steam at the end of the season, winning four straight games before starting a reserve side in an ultimately meaningless loss against Orlando City on Sunday.
Well-rested and feeling confident, United ran into an unexpected buzzsaw in the form of an underdog Impact side at RFK Stadium on Thursday. DCU's season ended in a 4-2 defeat that wasn't nearly as close as that scoreline might suggest.
United fell behind early and never recovered, eventually and shockingly finding itself down 4-0 after 83 minutes.
A pair of DCU consolation goals after the 90th minute made the final score a bit more respectable, but did little to mitigate the stunned feeling on a night that promised so much more.
"We were second best from the go tonight," head coach Ben Olsen said. "I’ll look at myself and analyze why that was the case. I don’t know why."
Olsen can start his analysis in the fourth minute, when Laurent Ciman's goal off a corner kick gave the visiting side the ideal start, allowing it to settle into its counterattacking game plan.
"If you give up a goal against them you’re in trouble because they counterattack as good as anybody in the league," Olsen said.
Though the early goal rattled DCU and allowed Montreal to settle into its game plan, it wasn't the only reason United got so thoroughly outplayed at home in an elimination game.
After a late-season run that made it a dark horse for a MLS Cup run, did United buy into its own hype?
"I don’t know if we’re reading our own press a little bit and thinking it was going to be easy and we were going to walk to the championship, but that’s not how it goes," Olsen said.
United midfielder Patrick Nyarko agreed that overconfidence might have been an issue.
"I think that confidence that we built actually let us down a little bit," Nyarko told reporters. "We came out expecting to win the game at home because we were playing so well. Mentally we were a little lackadaisical coming out of the gate, and this team is one of the few teams in the league that can punish you when you give them an early goal."
Whether it was overconfidence, a lack of momentum after the starters sat out on Sunday or simply running into a more prepared team, United now has an entire offseason to ponder what could have been, and the awful performance that was.
"It’s a disappointing night," Olsen said. "I want to say sorry to the fans, they deserved more than that. But that’s how it goes sometimes."