Querétaro F.C. leave RFK Stadium with their place in the CONCACAF Champions League (CCL) semifinals secure after drawing 1-1 with D.C. United on Tuesday night.

The Mexican club won the two legged series 3-1 on aggregate. The newcomers to the CCL will face the victor of the Tigres UANL and Real Salt Lake series, which will be decided on Wednesday night. However, in the mean time Los Gallos Blancos will be celebrating their quarterfinal series victory over DCU.

The Black and Red entered this game with a 2-0 deficit to the Liga MX club. Since the match was at home they still had a decent chance of winning. However, D.C. had no more room for error if they wanted to advance. If Querétaro scored then the dream of playing in the semifinals would become nearly impossible for the home side.

A Nightmare Start For United

The Major League Soccer (MLS) club got off to the worst possible start by allowing Querétaro to score a goal in the fourth minute. The play began with Querétaro midfielder Sinha crossing into the center of the penalty box from the right hand side of the field, where he picked out Édgar Benítez. The Paraguayan international forward jumped into the air and headed the ball back down to an open Ángel Sepúlveda, who wasted no time controlling the ball and fired a low shot to the bottom left hand corner to give the Mexican club the 1-0 lead on the road.

D.C. United midfielder Patrick Nyarko controlling the ball with his chest on Tuesday 1-1 draw against Querétaro F.C. Photo provided by Nick Wass-Associated Press.
D.C. United midfielder Patrick Nyarko controlling the ball with his chest on Tuesday 1-1 draw against Querétaro F.C. Photo provided by Nick Wass-Associated Press.

Five minutes had not even passed yet and D.C. was already down a goal on the night, 3-0 on aggregate and knowing that because of the away goals rule, they'd need to score four goals to advance. Los Gallos Blancos did not sit back, and went on to take 11 shots over the remainder of the match.

The Great Wall Of Volpi

Both clubs were attacking for a while until United started to show more initiative. They wound up launching 16 shots in the match with nine on target. However, Querétaro goalkeeper Tiago Volpi once again single handedly denied the Black and Red a potential victory.

Volpi followed his nine save performance in leg one last week with eight saves in the second leg. When United striker Chris Rolfe was subbed out of the game in the 60th minute, he left frustrated knowing that Volpi denied him twice in the game. Querétaro’s keeper even blocked his penalty in the 56th minute to keep his clubs’ 1-0 lead intact.

D.C. United's Fabian Espindola sending in a cross on Tuesday 1-1 draw against Querétaro F.C. at RFK Stadium. Photo provided by Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports.
D.C. United's Fabian Espindola sending in a cross on Tuesday 1-1 draw against Querétaro F.C. at RFK Stadium. Photo provided by Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports.

Too Little, Too Late For United

In the final six minutes of the match DCU finally broke through with a long range bomb from substitute midfielder Julian Bueschler. He was running with the ball heading towards the top of the box when he unleashed a thunderous strike from more than 20 yards out. The ball flew towards the right hand post and dinged in off the bar to tie the match at 1-1 in the 84th minute.

Regardless that D.C. was able to tie the game, their fate was already sealed, and they went out 3-1 on aggregate.     

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About the author
Jorge Belon
My name is Jorge Belon. I’m a writer for VAVEL USA and VAVEL UK. My focus is on soccer. Throughout the years I have created different blogs all revolving around soccer. My first was Mr. JB Soccer in 2012. Now I currently operate Belon Soccer News (BSN), where I cover soccer mostly from North America and international tournaments. I am a college at Los Angeles Valley College. I was a part of the college newspaper, The Valley Star for two years. At the Star I held the position of Sports Editor, News Editor, Managing Editor and Editor in Chief. I have been writing about soccer for the past three years. I have covered: Major League Soccer, Gold Cup, Under-20 Men’s World Cup, Women’s World Cup, Men’s World Cup and many more.