D.C. United fell 2-1 away to New York City FC in their 11th match of the 2021 MLS Regular Season. United found the first goal early in the match, but were unable to hang on, as NYCFC scored two late goals to steal the points from the Black-and-Red and drop them to 4-6-1 with 13 accumulated points on the season.
D.C. United made five changes to the squad that played against CF Montréal on June 23. Bill Hamid started in goal with Donovan Pines, Frédéric Brillant, and Brendan Hines-Ike as the back three. Julian Gressel and Joseph Mora played as the wingbacks and Moses Nyeman, Russell Canouse, and Yamil Asad started in the center of the midfield. Nigel Robertha and Paul Arriola were partnered up-top as the two strikers.
United began the match on the front foot and found a goal in the 9th minute. Moses Nyeman collected the ball in the midfield and sent a 40 yard diagonal pass right onto the foot of Nigel Robertha, who took it in stride, cut onto his left foot to beat the defender and fired his shot into the roof of the net. The goal was Robertha’s first for D.C. United and the assist for Nyeman was his second of the season. Bill Hamid made his best save of the night in the 26th minute when he denied a clear one-on-one opportunity for New York City from in-close. United went into the break leading 1-0.
The back-and-forth, high-paced match continued in the second half. Hamid’s first test of the second half came in the 62nd as his reactions were put to the task after not being able to see the attempt on goal until the last second. Shortly after, Russell Canouse found space at the top of the box, but his side-footed effort was saved by the NYCFC goalkeeper. New York City found the equalizing goal in the 85th minute when Keaton Parks scored a glancing header off a corner kick. United almost regained the lead in the 89th minute when Paul Arriola’s left-footed curling effort flew just wide of the left post. In the final stages of added time, the Black-and-Red nearly found the winner following a corner kick, as Arriola’s effort from in-close was parried away by New York City’s keeper. Following the save, the hosts quickly countered and scored their second of the night after a surging individual run down the right side of the pitch.
D.C. United’s next match is back home at Audi Field against Toronto FC on Saturday, July 3. Tune into NBC Sports Washington, TeleXitos, and www.dcunited.com to watch the match.
