D.C. United gets a much-needed three points at home against Colorado
- Mario Amaya
- May 4
- 5 min read
Saturday night marked the return of D.C. United to Audi Field in Washington, D.C., after back-to-back road games. Entering their busiest month of the season, D.C. was looking to stir the ship and earn positive results, in a juncture that could either make or break their season.
After losing to Philadelphia last weekend, D.C. looked to get a much better result in front of their fervent supporters Saturday night against the Colorado Rapids.
D.C. managed to do just that as they defeated the Rapids 2-1 to earn their second home win of the season.
“When you go down one-nil and you’ve had the better of the chances and the better of the game, and you’ve been in a difficult spot five out of the last six weeks, it would be easy for the group to roll over,” said D.C. United head coach Troy Lesense. “And so when you talk about grit, relentlessness, determination, being resilient, our group just displayed that.”
A familiar face returns to Audi Field
Saturday night’s game marked the return of a fan favorite to Audi Field, Colorado midfielder Ted Ku-DiPietro.
DiPietro played his way up the D.C. United, through the club’s development system, made his debut for Loudon United of the USL Championship before making the jump to play for the Black and Red in 2022, quickly becoming a fan favorite. Ku DiPietro made 65 appearances for D.C. scoring 7 goals and was sold at the start of this season for $1.4 million to the Rapids.
Ku DiPietro came off the bench in the 62nd, receiving a warm reception from fans as he entered the field.
The Game
D.C. was missing several key players for this match due to either injury or suspension. Including midfielder João Peglow, who missed his second consecutive game due to a hamstring injury, center back Lucas Bartlett, who missed Saturday’s game due to a calf injury, Gabriel Pirani was ruled out with a knee injury, and center back Kye Rowles was suspended for the game due to yellow card accumulation.
With Bartlett and Rowles out, Lesense called on Lucas MacNaughton and Matti Peltola to play at center back, along with the returning Conor Antley, who started his first game for D.C. since tearing his ACL last season. MacNaughton would be subbed off late in the first half due to a hamstring injury.
Colorado had the first big scoring opportunity of the game early in the first half, after a throw-in found Reggie Cannon inside the box. The former FC Dallas and Boavista center back flicked the ball to Rafael Navarro, who laid the ball to Djordje Mihailovic, who one-timed the ball to the far post of Luis Barraza, but the shot hit the crossbar, the rebound landed at the feet of Navarro, but his attempt ended up the hands of Barraza.
D.C. would respond with a goal-scoring opportunity of their own after Christian Benteke played the ball to Hosei Kajima inside the box. Kajima cut back with the ball and placed a shot on target that ended up hitting the crossbar and going out for a goal kick.
In the 15th minute, after Colorado goalkeeper Zach Steffen stopped a Brandon Servania shot from outside the box, both Benteke and Jarrod Stroud went after the rebound; however, both ended colliding with each other, with Benteke down on the ground momentarily. After a brief check by the medical staff, the Belgian striker was allowed to come back into the game.
“I think, I think, tonight he had a complete performance. This is what we need to do. Moreover, I think even when they scored,” said Benteke, “We didn't doubt, we stuck to our game and our game plan and got the three points.”
Colorado would open up the scoring in the 43rd minute. David Schnegg gave away the ball inside Colorado’s area, the ball was cleared downfield to a wide-open Navarro. The Brazilian forward took the ball into the box, taking a shot on target that was stopped by Barraza, but Navarro picked up the ensuing rebound and crossed the ball to Darren Yapi, who was waiting in the back post. Yapi headed the ball towards the goal and into the back of the net to give Colorado the lead.
D.C. would strike twice in stoppage time to retake control of the game. In the 45th +4 minute of stoppage time, Schnegg sent a cross into the box that deflected off Servania’s head, finding its way to Benteke, beating Chidozie Awaziem to the ball and heading it downward to secure his 6th goal of the season.
“Usually when we play those types of games and the opponent scores, we have the tendency to drop our energy,” said Benteke. “But I didn’t feel like we were in doubt, and we showed that because we reacted straight away.”
D.C. would take the lead three minutes later. Stroud played the ball towards Aaron Herrera. Herrera lifted a cross into the box, finding Kajima. Kajima raced towards the ball, beating Cannon on the run, and volleyed the ball towards the net. Steffen got a hand to it, but was not able to keep the ball from crossing the line, giving United the lead heading into halftime.
Benteke would be subbed off in the 72nd minute with a sore shoulder after his collision with Stroud early in the first half.
Despite some scoring opportunities, both teams did not create many clear scoring opportunities to bother the goalkeepers, solidifying all three points for United at the end of 90 minutes.
“Because of the run of games we’ve had,” Barraza said, “it really put a little bit of pressure on us.”
With this result, D.C. remains in 12th place in the Eastern Conference with 12 points, as Colorado drops to 8th place in the Western Conference with 16 points.
No Chris Armas on the touch line
Colorado’s assistant head coach, Chris Little, was tasked with being the Rapid’s head coach for the game, as head coach Chris Armas was being inducted into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame earlier in the day.
Armas was scheduled to arrive in D.C. before kickoff; however, his plane was grounded due to mechanical issues and was not able to leave the greater Dallas area.
Busy week for D.C.
Now D.C. faces the beginning of a set of back-to-back games in May, starting with the club’s participation in the US Open Cup, where they will host the Charleston Battery of the USL Championship on Tuesday night at Audi Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 pm.
After their cup tie, United traveled to Canada to play Toronto FC in their second match of the season at BMO Field. The match will take place on Saturday, May 10th, with kickoff starting at 4:30 pm.
