D.C. United vs. New York Red Bulls: Preview, time and how to watch
The stage is a set for D.C. United’s penultimate home match of the MLS regular season, as they host the New York Red Bulls in what is a must-win fixture for both sides.
Amazingly D.C. United once again managed to hold their ground through another hectic round of fixtures, meaning they go into tonight’s match in ninth place. While sitting second from bottom in the Eastern Conference, the Red Bulls are in no way out of playoff contention as they trail D.C. by only five points.
With each passing matchday, the margin of points separating the teams fighting for playoff contention lessens, with this week seeing six points separate eighth-place CF Montréal from the fourteenth-place Red Bulls. The importance of points intensifies with each game as we rapidly approach the end of the regular season, and D.C. will need to end their recent trend of narrowly missing out on the full three points they’ve deserved if they want to hold on to their current playoff spot position.
The sides last met in late August, for what was both teams’ return to MLS play after their Leagues Cup hiatus. A match that saw the Red Bulls grab an 88′ winner to send D.C. United back to the capitol with no points in tow. D.C. will be looking to rectify that result as both sides go into the match with lackluster records from their past five matches, but with actual form slightly favoring United.
Key Player: Gabriel Pirani
The Brazilian midfielder has been class since joining D.C. United on loan last month (in which he made his debut against the New York Red Bulls). A noticeably skillful and entertaining player from the moment he stepped on the pitch for the Black-and-Red, he understandably looks more comfortable in the squad a month later. His dribbling and passing are enough to spark an attack on their own, but his intelligence in positioning and knowing when and how to retain possession are another enormous strength. Scoring his first goal for D.C. in their most recent match against Atlanta United will surely help boost his confidence as well, which is huge for a creative attacking player like him.
Watch out for: John Tolkin
The young left back has been one of the Red Bull’s more consistent performers this season and was even featured in this year’s MLS All-Star team. A defensively sound player adept in tackling and intercepting the ball, Tolkin is a more defensive fullback. However, he also has the second-highest number of goal contributions in the league for the Red Bulls this season with five. Four of those being assists, his only goal was the 88th minute winner against D.C. United in their previous meeting.
D.C. United Availability:
Out: Martin Rodriguez (long-term knee), Mohanad Jeahze (long-term ankle), Tyler Miller (season-ending shoulder)
New York Red Bulls Availability:
Out: Wiki Carmona (illness), Serge Ngoma (hamstring), Lewis Morgan (hip), Dante Vanzeir (back)
Questionable: Steven Sserwadda (knee)
Location: Audi Field, Washington, D.C.
Kickoff Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Referee: Alex Chilowicz
Available streaming: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
Someone’s gonna say it, so I’ll say it.
Lovely day for it….
Feeling very good about my choice to stay at home.
https://twitter.com/MLSist/status/1705713695744045125
TKD is starting. Yep, you heard it here first, oft-injured ankles Love tropical storm conditions
Play really shouldn’t be affected. As long as the grounds crew remembered to water the field properly.
I say we win as Eddie Pope heads in a cross from El Diablo for the golden goal…
It is definitely beautiful weather here. 😂
We couldn’t do much worse in the opening five minutes without conceding. Got to get it together
How on earth did Benteke not get that?
Well, DC and NJ all tied up with blown chances
Well, we’re down a goal
Very transitional game, only our shape is significantly more open for the break
Pines deprived of a headed goal by the NJ goalkeeper, and as I type this, Benteke converts the subsequent corner!
Chaos
Chaos goal!
2-1 United against our hated foe
Are we having fun now? 😈
Si!
Going to be rough losing Canouse for the next game, but he’s not quite as crucial now that we’ve swapped away from the three man back line. Durkin and Klich have a decent understanding and should be able to play a half decent double pivot.
I’m very glad to see Benteke scoring again. This team depends on his goals for results and when he’s playing well then we go from bubble playoff team to being able to hang with anyone.
Think he’s still crucial, neither Durkin nor Klich will cover as well.
That’s a friggin dive
That had better be card for simulation.
Okay who did NYRB pay the ref?
That’s a bs pk
That is the single worst referee decision I have seen in nearly fifteen years of watching this league.
Makeup pk
Honestly a more reasonable PK call than Tokin’s complete dive. Can MLS go back an fine Tolkin for simulation if their referees made such as shambles of the initial call?
Oh, I fully agree
If the other one is a pk then this is a pk.
That pk from Benteke was butter
When you have no control, you inherit this score line.
3-3, as much as one of those goals was bullshit
If Birnbaum is indeed bench ready, time for him to come on for Hines-Ike, slow and now on a yellow
Damn it last 2 Red Bull goals were both free players
4-3 for the Redbulls off a corner, and with the weather devolving further, if that’s even possible, it’s not looking good
Gonna post this here after somehow ending up on freekicks mistakenly posting this comment there –
Hines-Ike lucky indeed. Has not looked good, outside of some crisis defensive moments, with Birnbaum and Williams out. Might be better suited playing him as part of a back three.
This side is gonna need some magic to get anything more than a draw out of this one.
Yeah, I said above, if Steve can play, that’s the sub
I think a draw is wishful thinking at this point with how the 2nd half is going so far.
Might well be, seems the only thing marginally in reach now.
I don’t think another goal is out of reach, but not conceding again? That’s iffy
Everyone but Klich is just so inconsistent with the simple things. Whether it’s first touch or simple passes. They’ve been like that all season and at some point Rooney needs to be held accountable for it.
KDP needs to start playing simpler with these field conditions. He’s holding onto the ball too long and trying to make quick cuts that are hard to pull off with a soaked field.
Also, Luquinhos is definitely my least favorite metro player right now.
Oh not good Najar getting ready to come in for Ruan it looks like.
If there’s one player I want on against NYRB, it’s Asad. He’s so good at drawing fouls and getting in other peoples heads.
How the frack was that not a free kick and a card against Nealis
That was some NFL torpedo shit on Dajome from Nealis. That’s a foul
Apparently already on a yellow, so should’ve been a 2nd yellow. No attempt whatsoever to play the ball.
MLS and PRO don’t care. I’m convinced there are some that still think allowing this kind of physicality is necessary to draw in a certain kind of casual American soccer fan.
No I just think MLS and PRO would prefer having NY in the playoffs than DC…I think that to an extent, but i don’t think that’s it. I think you’re on to something there though.
Alright Fajardo, time to make up for Wednesday. How about a brace 😉
These are dice rolls that will decide this season for Rooney. Says a lot about this club and its depth.
Just hope they told Fajardo which way to run
Who had Asad missing from range on their “obvious bingo” card?
NJ is a seller’s market, and the ref is buying
Maybe an obvious observation, think DC needs to score in regular time to have a chance in stoppage
I see MLS has implemented timeouts now. Nice!
Asad has not had a good game as a sub maintaining possession with his touches
I’ve been told once this team are effectively eliminated from playoffs that’s when they will start renegotiating with Rooney to sign on for another year. All a part of Dave Kasper’s 5D chess to save a few hundred bucks on the managers salary 😉
Dave Kasper once Tolkin scores, securing the discount:
I don’t want Rooney back. He hasn’t shown anything to prove he can be a good MLS coach. Get someone in here that is willing to work with the team and embrace MLS’ weird rules rather than just ask for better players.
DC has vastly underperformed during this “mini season” that Rooney called this race towards the playoffs. Tear it down and start new. I’d rather sacrifice the next 2-3 years if it meant this organization was making a whole new identity from the bottom up. This is just embarrassing and frustrating.
This team has had some flashes of good play, but overall Rooney hasn’t made the team better than the sun of its parts. The switch to a 3 back gave us a short burst of form but other teams caught up to him tactically within a couple of months. The team has been decent at chance since the league cup break so his current formation isn’t without benefits. And yet we’ve only got one win in six while his in game subs/adjustments have been predictable and reactive.
My main judging points on a coach are “does the team show good fight and resilience” and “does the coach make players better”. Rooney has mostly failed at both of these. Pines is really our only player who’s shown marked improvement over last season (and debated ly KDP, but he barely had any playing time last year with DC so sample size is tough to make an objective judgement on).
Maybe with a better GM he does better, but I personally doubt it.
You hit the nail on the head. If DC was losing, but you could see the foundation of a plan/style of play then maybe I’d feel better thinking about next year. But this team has zero fight and zero clue what they are doing half of the time.
Yes the team has improved over last year but they were literally the worst team in the league. Congrats you won more games than the wooden spoon winners.
How has Coronel not been carded for time wasting?
Oh look another must win game not won….
Fajarado missed again….
Subpar result, but I’ve seen enough to think I want Eric Davis back next season, and Fajardo is not an MLS pro.
Agreed on Davis, so long as he wants to stay. I think a full offseason and more time to get to know his teammates would help a lot.
Fitting end to this campaign. I’m sure there will be some degree of effort to point out how this team progressed from wooden spoon to playoff contenders, but with MLS’s expanded playoff format that is hardly anything at all.
That’s not to say this team hasn’t taken some steps forward this year, but the larger truth is this club is not clearly better than any side the Eastern conference other than TOR. They are, at best, on par with CHI, CHA, NYCx2, and MTL and clearly worse than every other side in the East.
Maybe now this club’s leadership can finally begin their GM search …
So I’m not one who thinks conspiracy in refereeing, but, man, it seemed last night that NYRB had that ref in their pocket. Yeah, he (rightly) overturned the first PK on a hand ball outside the box, but Tolkin’s dive was Greg Louganis-worthy and Nealis’ freight-train job on Dajome should have been a yellow-red.
It really seems like DC ends up a on the short-end of these non-calls. Maybe that’s me looking through my fan goggles, but it is sus, as the kids say these days.
OMG. Benteke gets a 10 from robots at WhoScored. The rest of the team? You know the story.