D.C. and Orlando battle to a draw in our nation's Capital

After taking a week off due to the international break, MLS returned to action to finish off the remainder of the regular season. Saturday night, two teams on the opposite side of the playoff spectrum faced off at Audi Field in Washington, D.C., as D.C. United, which is already out of playoff contention and looking to play spoiler, was riding a four-game undefeated streak, ever since Rene Weiler took charge as D.C. head coach back in August, the team has not lost and gotten wins over New York City FC and Mexican side Club America in a friendly last weekend. 

Jackson Hopkins scored his 3rd goal of the season Saturday night against Orlando City. Photo Credit: D.C. United

D.C. hosted Orlando City SC, who were coming into this game looking to gain more ground in their push for the playoffs, sitting in fifth place in the Eastern Conference and boasting one of the best attacks in MLS, scoring 54 goals this season. 

In a hard-fought game, both teams had to settle for a 1-1 draw, as United played most of the second half with 10-men. 

“It was tough,” Weiler said. “With the stoppage time, almost 45 minutes against 11, and they are a very strong team. The team performed very well, with a big fighting spirit. It’s a solid point.”

The Game 

Orlando had the first big goal scoring chance of the game in the 5^th minute when Martin Ojeda carried the ball across midfield leaving the ball with Ivan Angulo, the Colombian midfielder laid the ball off back to Ojeda inside the box, who with a one-time shot try to put the ball into the back of the net, but D.C. goalkeeper Luis Barraza dove to get keep the ball away from the back of the net and sent the ball out for a corner.

In the ensuing corner, Ojeda placed the ball in the middle of the box in direction of Rodrigo Schlegel who headed the ball towards goal, but Barraza was equal to the play and kept the ball out of goal with a diving save to keep the game scoreless at that moment.

“I was like, ‘It’s going to be one of those days,’ and it was,” Barraza said. “The best thing you can do at that point is kind of just shrug it off and know that you’re in for a shift. … With the red card and everything, I think it’s a positive result. It showed again the fight in the guys.”

In the 21^st minute Croatian international Marco Pašalić attempted a shot from outside the box, but Barraza parried the ball away from goal.

“We have reasons to feel frustrated tonight for not achieving the objective of winning the game and getting the three points, especially after we tied the game and we have one more player. That feeling is there. But at the same time, I want to recognize that from the first minute, I thought Orlando dictated the tempo and the pace of the game and the majority of the options and many of the plays we could have scored, as well, has to be evaluated. And this frustration is part of the game.  Said Orlando City head coach Oscar Pareja “We have to polish in the last third again and be the team that we are when we create the options and score and that’s what makes you win games. But other than that, I thought the behavior of the boys tactically and the overall game, it was as you all saw it, very dominant for Orlando.”

D.C. would have an opportunity to open the scoring in the in the 30^th minute after pressuring Orlando’s defense off the ball. The ball found its way to Christian Benteke, who lined up a shot from distance, but the ball would travel shot of it’s mark and out of play.  

In the 33^rd minute Benteke played a short pass to Gabriel Pirani who circled the ball to Matti Peltola, who swung the ball to the wing to Connor Antley, who laid it off to João Peglow. The Brazilian midfielder played through ball to Antley, who cut back inside the box and played a pass to Jackson Hopkins. His shot rolled a past a standing Pedro Gallese and into the back of the net.

“I made a run in behind, made a chop, cut the [defender] and saw Jackson in the middle,” Antley said. “The form he’s been in, I knew he was going to put it in. It was a good goal, good team goal.”

This was Hopkins third goal of the season and his fourth goal in all competitions for the Black-and-Red.

“Connor [Antley] did a great job get to the sideline beating the defender” said Hopkins “I saw him kind of get to the endline and just tried to take a step back because the defense was dropping and there was a little gap and he played a great ball in.”

Orlando found the equalizer in the 53^rd minute. After a series of passes from the back Alex Freeman played the ball to Eduard Atuesta who placed a through ball to an open Pašalić down the right-hand side. Pašalić raced towards the box and got a violent shot off that Barraza was able to keep away from goal, but Freeman who followed the ball racing inside the box, picked up the ensuing rebound headed the ball into the back of the net and taking a boot to the face by Lucas MacNaughton, tying the game with the D.C. Defender earning a yellow card in the process.

“I think as a team, obviously we wanted more, be able to go away with three points.” Said Freeman “We had chances that if only we’d finished, but now I just think that it’s just being able to go and [watch] video and work on what we need to do that we weren’t great on in the game and being able to go home next week and get the three points.”

After the goal the referee Chris Penso to VAR to review MacNaughton’s foul on Freeman for a serious foul play. After the review Penso determined it was a serious foul play and reversed his decision to give MacNaughton a yellow card, to give the D.C. defender and a red card subsequently sending him off and leaving D.C. with 10 men for the rest of the game.

“I know Lukas MacNaughton is upset about that, but he’s our boy. Us as a back line and the goalkeeper, we put our heads down and work for him,” Antley said. “Conceding and going down a man can be tough mentally, but I think that shows a lot about our group. … Even though we tied, I feel like it’s still a positive result for us.”

Despite the man advantage Orlando created several goal scoring opportunities throughout the remainder of the second half but were unable to beat Barraza and the D.C. defense keeping the game tied after 90 minutes.

“It was tough,” Weiler said. “With the stoppage time, almost 45 minutes against 11, and they are a very strong team. The team made it very well with a huge, big fighting spirit. It’s a solid point.”

With this result D.C. sit in 14^th place of the Eastern Conference with 25 points, while Orlando sits in 6^th place of the Eastern Conference with 48 points.

D.C. will now travel to South Florida where they will visit Fort Lauderdale and face Inter Miami at Chase Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:30 pm.