D.C. United's winless streak continues after loss at home to Austin FC

D.C. United played in front of their home crowd for the first time in three weeks and looked to reverse their fortunes after back-to-back losses on the road when they hosted Austin FC on Saturday night at Audi Field. 

João Peglow and Gabriel Pirani were the goal scorers on the night for D.C. Photo Credit: D.C. United

In a night where D.C. honored past club legends such as Jaime Moreno and Marco Etcheverry, in front of 17,474 fans, D.C. could not get past Austin FC, as the Texan club defeated D.C. by a score of 2-4.

Since both clubs first met in 2022, Austin has enjoyed a clear dominance over D.C, having a record of 3-0-0 all-time over The Balck-and-Red. 

D.C. is now in a nine-game winless streak (0-1-8) since May, having won their last league match on May 31st against FC Cincinnati, and having won their last league match at home on May 3rd against the Colorado Rapids. 

“It’s a really tough moment for the club. It’s a really tough moment for the players,” D.C. United interim coach Kevin Flanagan said. “It’s just important we’re all resilient throughout this moment.” 

The Game: 

Austin opened up the scoring in the 22nd minute when former D.C. United defender Brendan Hines-Ike played a through ball from midfield to Myrto Uzuni. The Albanian striker sped past the D.C. back line and placed the ball in the back of the net to give Austin the lead. 

D.C. had no answer to Austin’s offensive onslaught throughout the remainder of the first half, as they created several goal-scoring opportunities, including a shot from distance by Guilherme Biro that would be saved by Luis Barraza. 

Austin’s persistence paid off in the 43rd minute. Osman Bukari started dribbling around D.C. defenders as he created a string of give-and-go passes with Mikkel Desler. Dessler would send a cross towards the back post to Owen Wolff. Wolff headed over Randal Leal and headed the ball towards goal, doubling Austin’s lead at halftime.  

D.C. fans voiced their displeasure with the team's performance with chants of “Sell The Team” aimed at team ownership over D.C.'s run of form. 

D.C. would find some life three minutes into the second half. João Peglow would play the ball to Boris Enow in midfield. The Cameroonian international played the ball to Gabriel Pirani. Pirani would dribble away from his marker and feed the ball to Peglow with a through ball inside the box. Peglow cut inside to beat an Austin defender and placed the ball in the lower right corner of Brad Stuver’s net to pull D.C. within one. 

“I feel like this is the story of our season,” Christian Benteke said. “We start okay, then we concede one, concede two, and then we are now trying to come back. That’s not the way to win a match, by trying to [come from behind] every time.”

United found some momentum and started creating some goal-scoring chances of their own, but that momentum would not last as Austin would find an answer to United’s offensive pressure in the 60th minute. 

It all started from their end as Stuver played the ball to Dani Periera, who played the ball to a Wolff. Wolff carried the ball deep into D.C.’s territory, laying the ball to Pereira, who played the ball to a wide-open Bukari inside the box. Bukari would slot the ball past a charging Barraza with a one-time shot to double Austin’s lead once again. 

“It's a tough one to analyze,” said D.C defender Derek Dodson. “We were getting chances, we were getting shots on goal, and then we gave up another one, which is tough. If we keep it two to one a lot longer, I feel like we can build a lot better into the game. I feel like we can build a lot better into the game. And then again, we go down through one to get a goal. That's unfortunate. That's offside to make it competitive towards the end of the game.”

D.C., though they had cut Austin’s lead back to one, when Leal played the ball to Benteke. The Belgian striker flicked the ball ahead to an incoming Pirani, who charged into the box, and the Brazilian midfielder would place the ball into the lower left-hand side of Stuver’s goal, but the referee of the match, Rubiel Vazquez, would go to VAR and nullify the goal due to Benteke being offside on the play. 

Fans started filing out of their seats 10 minutes before time, with the returning chants of “Sell The Team” reverberating throughout the stadium to voice their discontent with the team’s performance. 

Austin would score the fourth goal of the match in the 93rd minute when Nicolás Dubersarsky cut back into the box and laid off the ball to Robert Taylor outside the box. Taylor shot the ball from outside the box, and the shot sped past Baraza as the ball touched the inside of the post before crossing the goal line. 

“It’s tough to compete in games when you concede goals like we did tonight,” Flanigan said

In the dying moments of the game, D.C. would win a penalty as Oleksandr Svatok pulled down Benteke inside the box. 

Benteke would be the one to step up to take the penalty and would place the ball on the left-hand side of the net. 

With this result, D.C. stays in fourteenth place of the Eastern Conference with 19 points, while Austin stays in 7th place of the Western Conference with 33 points. 

D.C. will go on the road once again, as they travel to Foxboro, MA, when they take on the New England Revolution. The game will take place on August 9th with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 pm.