D.C. United defeated the New York Red Bulls 0-1 in dramatic fashion as Erik Sorga netted a late stoppage time winner at Red Bull Arena. The victory marks D.C. United’s first win away to the New York Red Bulls since July, 9 2011, when the Black-and-Red also came away from the match with a 1-0 result.
D.C. United were faced with having to make several changes to the starting lineup as the club continues to deal with a long list of injuries. Head Coach, Ben Olsen, stuck with the 3-5-2 formation that they’ve used since returning from the MLS is Back Tournament in Orlando. Chris Seitz started his second straight match in net for the Black-and-Red, and with a back three of Frédéric Brillant, Donovan Pines and Joseph Mora in front of him, he kept United’s second clean sheet of the season. Mohammed Abu made his first ever start for the club in the midfield alongside Júnior Moreno. Kevin Paredes and Julian Gressel started as the two wingbacks, and Ola Kamara and Ulises Segura partnered up front.
The first half saw a well-organized defensive shape from the Black-and-Red, which stifled the New York Red Bulls attack as they looked to start the game on the front foot. Offensively, the Black-and-Red were led by Ola Kamara, who got behind the Red Bulls defense on multiple occasions and created chances, including a goalbound strike headed for the top corner in the 32nd minute, forcing a good save by Ryan Meara at his near post. The match went into halftime tied 0-0 thanks to a couple great saves by Chris Seitz. On two separate occasions he stood up strong as he denied Tom Barlow who had broken free of United’s defense in the 26th minute, and followed that with a tremendous kick save denying the Red Bulls from point-blank range in the 35th minute.
The second half was more of the same for D.C. United. They defended well and broke forward to create chances when the opportunity presented itself. In the 52nd minute, Ola Kamara nearly broke the deadlock as he ran onto a beautiful lofted ball played over the top by Yamil Asad only to be denied by a last-ditch tackle by a Red Bulls defender.
The match looked destined to finish scoreless as it entered stoppage time. D.C. United kept the pressure on until the end, and after a corner kick was headed away in the 98th minute, Erik Sorga picked up the ball outside the box, took a couple touches to his right, and fired the match winner past Ryan Meara. It was Sorga’s first goal for the Black-and-Red, and it came on his first touches of the match since coming on as a sub in the 90th minute.
D.C. United’s Homegrown players continued to impress on Wednesday night. Donovan Pines and Kevin Paredes both played well from the start, with Donovan leading the defense and Paredes, in his fourth straight start, controlling the left side of the field from his wingback position. 16-year old Moses Nyeman made his second career MLS appearance on Wednesday night and made his presence felt defensively in the middle of the field as he entered the game as a second-half substitute.
D.C. United will look to ride the momentum from this win into their next match on Sunday, September 6 against New York City FC at Audi Field at 7:00 p.m. EST. Tune in on WJLA 24/7 News.
