D.C. United defeated El Salvador Primera División side, Alianza FC 1-0 in an international friendly at Audi Field on Wednesday, July 14.
Hernán Losada fielded a blend of Major League Soccer veterans, homegrown talents, and rising stars from Loudoun United FC, D.C. United’s USL Championship Side. Chris Seitz started in goal with Hassan Pinto, Allexon Saravia, Matt Di Rosa in front of him as the back three. Jacob Greene and Chris Odoi-Atsem played as the two wingbacks and Landry Houssou, Nicky Downs, and Yordy Reyna slotted into the middle of the park. Jovanny BolÃvar and Kimarni Smith partnered up front to lead the line for the Black-and-Red.
A tense first half ended scoreless and the sides went into the break level at 0-0. The best chance in the opening forty-five minutes came in the 17th minute off a Yordy Reyna freekick. Kimarni Smith cleverly drew in an Alianza defender on the edge of the box and picked-up a foul in a dangerous spot. The Peruvian international stepped up and his dipping effort sailed narrowly over.
Shortly after the restart, United went down to ten man as Landry Houssou saw his second yellow of the evening. Alianza almost broke the deadlock with a shot that skidded just wide of Chris Seitz far post in the 51st minute. United quickly broke the other way and after a nice bit of combination play between Reyna and BolÃvar they almost found the opening, but Bolivar’s low-driven cross flew through the six untouched. The Black-and-Red took the lead in the 71st minute when second half substitute Massimo Ferrin found the back of the net with a well-struck volley from just inside the eighteen following a Darluis Paz shot that cannoned off the post. The hosts nearly doubled their lead in the 76th minute as Kairou Amoustapha weaved his way across the top of the box before seeing his goal-bound strike deflect over for a corner. In the 89th minute, Amoustapha had another great chance to double United’s lead, but his breakaway effort was tipped to safety by the Alianza keeper. The Black-and-Red closed out the remainder of the 90 minutes in professional fashion and the match ended 1-0 in their favor.Â
D.C. United return to Major League Soccer action on Saturday, July 17 at 7:30 p.m. EST when they travel north to face-off against the Philadelphia Union.
The match will be broadcast live in English on NBC Sports Washington and on www.dcunited.com and is available live in Spanish on TeleXitos.
