D.C. United drew 0-0 against FC Cincinnati in their 16th match of the 2021 Major League Soccer (MLS) Regular Season. D.C. United kept their sixth clean sheet of the season and earned a hard-fought point on the road, despite two second half red cards. Their record is now 6-7-3 with 21 points.
D.C. United started with Bill Hamid in net and Tony Alfaro, Andy Najar, and Steve Birnbaum as the back three. Julian Gressel and Joseph Mora played as the two wingbacks and Junior Moreno and Moses Nyeman were partnered together in the middle of the park. Kevin Paredes, Yordy Reyna, and Drew Skundrich started as the Black-and-Red’s three strikers.
The match kicked-off at a fast pace with both sides getting chances early. FC Cincinnati had an open header off a corner kick in the 8th minute, but Bill Hamid recovered quickly to save the header at the back post. Kevin Paredes was active down the left wing and was able to take on defenders and create opportunities on multiple occasions. In the 45th minute, he beat two defenders as he cut inside and found Julian Gressel, but his shot from outside the box went just wide of the left post. United were aggressive offensively all half and had two goals taken away due to narrow offsides decisions. The match went into halftime tied 0-0.
Moses Nyeman was shown a red card in the 52nd when he was deemed to have denied a clear goal scoring breakaway opportunity, forcing United to play a man down for the remainder of the match. In the 59th minute, Hamid made another brilliant save, this time diving to his right to deny a one-on-one opportunity from in-close. Despite being at a man disadvantage, the Black-and-Red still found ways to manufacture goal-scoring chances. In the 61st minute, Yordy Reyna got free down the middle and ran into the box, but his effort was narrowly saved by the goalkeeper. Late in stoppage time, Joseph Mora received his second yellow card, forcing D.C. United to finish the match with nine players. United were able to hang on thanks to strong defensive play and keep their second clean sheet in a row. The match ended in a 0-0 draw.
Bill Hamid kept his fifth clean sheet of the 2021 season and the 75th of his career, moving him into a tie for seventh place on the all-time MLS clean sheets list. He made three saves on the night.
D.C. United’s next match is against Columbus Crew SC on Wednesday, August 4 at 7:30 PM ET. Tune into NBC Sports Washington, TeleXitos, and www.dcunited.com to watch the match.
