Hard-Fought Draw Against Miami
- Jim Shine
- 3 minutes ago
- 3 min read
DC battled to an unexpected draw against Miami, 1-1, last night (August 23) at Audi Field.
DC was fortunate to catch Miami after a Leagues Cup quarterfinal on Wednesday, and another Leagues cup match next Wednesday. Miami was without the Big Kahuna, Lionel Messi, due to a leg injury. Despite his absence, extra security was in full force at halftime (see photo above). Jordi Alba was also out with injury, and Miami rested other stars Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, Rodrigo De Paul and Baltasar Rodriguez to start the game. How do they get so many quality players with the 3 DP rule?
DC was missing their ONE DP Christian Benteke with yellow card accumulation, and new acquisition Caden Clark (shown below) was out with a head injury. DC paid Montreal $700,000 to obtain Clark from Montreal earlier in the week.
DC's starting lineup and substitutions:
Forward: Hopkins (Peglow, 74th)
Midfield: Kijima (Murrell, 61st) Peltola Pirani (Stroud, 61st) Servania (Zouhir, 74th) Herrera
Defense: Schnegg Rowles Bartlett Antley (Badji, 79th)
Goal: Barraza
DC had a good first half. Hopkins started as forward and was the team captain for the game, and he scored his second goal in as many weeks in the 13th minute. Miami cleared the ball after a corner kick, but Peltola sent a towering ball back into the box, and Hopkins beat his defender to it and scored from the right side of the box. While DC had less than 40% of the first half possession, they had 8 shots (2 on goal) compared to 4 shots (none on goal) for Miami. Herrera just missed a header in the 10th minute, and Kijima had a good shot saved in the 29th minute.
DC held steady for the first 10 minutes of the second half, but then Miami brought their regulars in. Busquets, De Paul and Rodriguez entered in the 55th minute, and Suarez entered in the 63rd. The game changed dramatically. Rodriguez hit a rocket from outside the box in the 64th minute to tie the game, and Miami had DC hanging on for dear life for about 10 minutes and on the back foot for the rest of the game. DC did get a couple of counterattacks; Murrell hit the post in the 72nd minute and had a goal disallowed for offside in the 78th minute. Miami had close to 80% possession in the second half. but DC hung on for the draw.
The stadium was quiet during the game. There were no drums in the supporters section, and chants were few and far between (and not all initiated behind the north goal). My guess is that this is a result of discontent with Levien's ownership. While there were no "sell the team" chants this week (probably because Miami's goal was unstoppable and DC was never behind), there were a few "free DC" chants, presumably because of the National Guard presence called into the city (with no immediate signs of leaving) over the last 2 weeks.
Also, DC was officially, mathematically eliminated from the playoffs after tonight's result. No surprise there with 4 wins and 15 losses (and now, 9 draws); . The big question remains whether they can avoid "winning" the Wooden Spoon as the team with the worst record in the league.
Six games to go. DC plays again this coming Saturday, August 30 at 730pm in New York City's Yankee Stadium against NYCFC.