D.C. falls to the New York Red Bulls at home in another installment of the Atlantic Cup

Hosei Kajima played 45 minutes in D.C.'s loss to the Red Bulls on Saturday. Photo Credit: D.C. United

D.C. United came riding in on a high after qualifying for the quarterfinals of the US Open Cup in a thrilling round of 16 match against Charlotte. D.C. had a quick turnaround to focus its attention on Saturday night as they hosted its biggest rival, the New York Red Bulls 

In front of 19,290 fans who came out to Audi Field, the Red Bulls took all three points in the 110th meeting between these MLS original clubs, beating D.C. by a final score of 2-0. 

“Red Bull was better than us from the beginning through the majority of the match,” D.C. United head coach Troy Lesesne said. “We had some moments in the first half ... but we never really gained a lot of momentum.”

The Game

New York created the first goal-scoring opportunity of the match in the 3rd minute when the Red Bulls won the ball in midfield and fell to the feet of Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who played the ball to an open Cameron Harper in the box, but the midfielder’s shot would hit the side netting. 

New York would have another opportunity just six minutes later when Omar Valencia raced down the left-hand side to win a pass in midfield. The Panamanian played the ball across the middle to Emil Forsberg, who was left one-on-one with Luiz Barraza. Barraza would win the battle with Forsberg as he stopped the Swedish international's shot. 

In the 18th minute, D.C. would have a goalscoring opportunity of their own as Hosei Kajima took on several Red Bull defenders to place the ball to Jacob Murrell, who was left one-on-one with Carlos Coronel. Murrell settled the ball and shot the ball, but Coronel denied Murrell, and the rebound would be cleared out. 

“When you have a good stint [of games] at home, you want to make every match count and you need to collect points,” center back Kye Rowles said. “It’s just disappointing.”

In the 41st minute, New York would force D.C. to turn the ball over in midfield. Choupo-Moting won the ball and played out to Wilkerman Carmona. The Venezuelan international played the ball to Forsberg, who was on top of the area. Forsberg proceeded to pass the ball to a charging Harper inside the box. Harper got a one-timed shot that beat Barraza as the ball found its way into the left-hand side of the net to give the Red Bulls the lead. 

“Wiki (Carmona) does really well finding Emil at the top of the box,” Harper said. “Emil’s so good just holding onto the ball long enough to bring guys to him, and he made my job easy. Just slipped me in. The finish was pretty decent. Kind of put it in the only place I could have put it. So, yeah, I’m really happy with it. I had a similar chance early on in the game. So, you know, making amends on the second attempt was nice.”

D.C. looked to tie the game in the 69th minute when Jackson Hopkins found David Schnegg inside the box. Schnegg’s header did not have enough to bother Coronel, who was able to catch the ball and put a stop to D.C.'s attack. Hopkins would be subbed off in the 72nd minute due to injury. He had come on as a sub to start the second half. 

In the 93rd minute, Harper intercepted the ball in the midfield, driving the ball deep into D.C. territory, getting a shot from outside the box, forcing Barraza to dive and get a hand to the ball. The rebound fell to Wiktor Bogacz, who got the rebound and shot towards goal to be denied by Barraza. 

A minute later, Mohammed Sofo put the game to rest after a long ball found Bogacz, who headed the ball down to Sofo, who crossed his shot past Barraza to put the game away for the Red Bulls and secure their first road win of the season. 

“Going into the game, we knew about the away record,” Harper said. “So that was a big, big topic that we were talking about, trying to get our first win. And obviously against a rival, there’s built-in motivation. So, a lot was riding in this game, especially in our position on the table. I think we’re only 18 points behind in this game. We are just outside the playoff zone. It’s wins like these that can kind of change your season around.”

With this result, United stayed in 12th place of the Eastern Conference with 12 points, while the Red Bulls jumped to 9th place in the Eastern Conference with 21 points. 

D.C. will play one more home game in the month of May as they host the New England Revolution on Wednesday May 28th. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 pm.