D.C. United won 1-0 against the New York Red Bulls in their 14th match of the 2021 Major League Soccer (MLS) Regular Season. United won their sixth match of the season thanks to stellar play by the defense and a first half goal by Ola Kamara.
D.C. United started with Bill Hamid in net and Andy Najar, FrédéricBrillant, and Tony Alfaro as the defensive back three with Julian Gressel and Joseph Mora playing as the two wingbacks. Junior Moreno, Felipe Martins, and Drew Skundrich started in the midfield and Ola Kamara and Kevin Paredes partnered up-top for the Black-and-Red.
D.C. United scored the lone goal of the first half in the 27th minute when Julian Gressel stole the ball from a Red Bulls defender and squared it to Ola Kamara who coolly finished it first-time past the onrushing goalkeeper. Gressel made another perfect pass ahead to put Kamara through in the first minute of added time, but his shot was blocked at the last second by a Red Bull defender. United were solid defensively all half, not allowing a single shot by New York. The defensive trio of FrédéricBrillant, Andy Najar, and Tony Alfaro closed off every opportunity for the Red Bulls attack and were excellent in the air, winning a majority of first balls. The Black-and-Red went into halftime leading 1-0.
United continued their strong defensive effort in the second half, only allowing New York one shot on target all match. Julian Gressel nearly doubled United’s lead on multiple occasions late in the match including an 87th minute free kick that was saved by the goalkeeper and a shot from his own half in added time that went just wide when as he looked to catch the goalkeeper off his line. D.C. United were able to close out the match for a 1-0 win.
Bill Hamid collected his fourth clean sheet of the season and the 74th of his career, which is the ninth most of any goalkeeper in MLS history. The clean sheet was the fifth in of the season for D.C. United, tying for the sixth most in the MLS during the 2021 season.
D.C. United’s next match is away against FC Cincinnati on Saturday, July 31 at 7:30 PM ET. Tune into NBC Sports Washington, TeleXitos, and www.dcunited.com to watch the match.
