Nil-Nil in Nashville

Park the Bus

"Parking the bus" is a soccer strategy where a team just concentrates on defending their goal and not looking to create offensive chances except when opportunity arises. DC basically parked the bus at Nashville last night (May 17) and came away with a scoreless draw.

DC started

Barraza in goal

Schnegg, Tubbs, Bartlett, Antley in defense

Peglow, Peltola, Hopkins, Servania, Zouhir in midfield

Murrell at forward

Subs: Rowles for Hopkins (halftime), Leal for Peglow (57th), Enow for Peltola (58th), Herrera for Antley (65th), Kijima for Zouhir (75th)

With Benteke out for several more games with an ankle injury, and two games a week all month, DC rotated their squad from Wednesday and sat back defending as described above. Not at all exciting, but the best strategy in my opinion for weathering this period, especially for a road game against a good team.

DC had only 3 shots (1 on goal), 1 corner kick, and 41% of possession. Barraza had another good game in goal, but the defense played very well also. DC had a chance to steal the win in the 92nd minute when Murrell got a deflected ball in the box but he was unable to hit the target.

Next up: Charlotte FC in the US Open Cup Round of 16, Wednesday, May 21 at 730pm at Audi Field.