A Nervy, Needed Win!!
DC United 2-1 New York Red Bulls, 14 October 2026
On a hot, humid day of record-breaking October heat, DC United got a desperately needed 3 points against the New York Red Bulls to rekindle hopes of making the playoffs.
The lineup:
Johnson in goal
Kurokawa, Rowles, Bartlett, Hefti in defense
Servania, Dozzell, Nono in midfield
Hopkins, Baribo, Avilez at forward
Subs: Peglow for Hopkins (56th), Stroud for Avilez (56th), Nealis for Servania (70th)
New York came out in a high, aggressive press, but DC got an early break; Baribo was fouled in the box in the 3rd minute, and converted the resulting penalty in the 5th minute to give DC an early 1-0 lead.
New York dominated possession for the rest of the half's regulation time, but DC stood firm with the usual help from Sean Johnson in goal. (He had 5 for the game.)
DC came alive in stoppage time. Aviles hit the post in the second minute (New York was lucky the ball didn't carom back into the goal after hitting their goalie Ethan Horvath). Then on literally the last play of first half, Baribo headed a Kurokawa corner from the far post back into the center, and Hefti headed it in. It was his first goal of the season. DC led 2-0 at the half, a great score considering New York had 70% of the half's possession and dominated other statistics as well.
The second half went well early for DC; New York continued to dominate possession, but DC was holding comfortably on defense and their two-goal lead. The game changed drastically in the 68th minute, however. Bartlett had taken a yellow card for the team in the first half to stop a dangerous attack, and the referee thought he took too long to take a free kick and gave him a second yellow, sending him off. It seemed soft to me but maybe someone else should have taken the kick.
New York capitalized quickly, getting a goal in the 71st minute from Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting who took a cross in the middle and slid around Johnson. It looked offside on the replay, but was not called or reviewed. Twenty nervous minutes to go. New York stormed the gates but couldn't score. DC bunkered down, with a couple of players occasionally venturing forward but the rest staying back. Bartlett's replacement Nealis made several good plays, including a great sliding tackle in front of the goal. Cameron Harper had New York's best chance, but it went off the far post. The sparse crowd (including me) was very happy when the final whistle blew.
DC's next game will be Saturday, October 17 at 730pm in Orlando against Orlando City SC. It will be a busy stretch for the next two weeks, with two games a week: October 21 at Cincinnati (the lightning makeup game), October 24 vs Cincinnati (yes, we play them twice in 4 days), October 28 at Toronto, and October 31 at Columbus. The season finishes November 7 at home vs NYCFC.
Look at the graphic below to get a sense of the playoff picture:
DC is only 3 points below a playoff spot, with a game in hand over everyone except Cincinnati. Note that ALL of the remaining six games are against teams in this graphic, from 7th to 12th. DC controls its own fate, but will need to win or draw most of their remaining games. They will need to be road warriors, as 4 of the 6 games are away. The Cincinnati games in particular will be key. However, they do control their own fate at this point.
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