Recap: New look D.C. United excite in home opener with 3-1 win over the New England Revolution
Featured image courtesy of D.C. United, Hannah Wagner
D.C. United started their 2024 MLS charge on a high, claiming three points against the New England Revolution in a well deserved 3-1 win at Audi Field.
The revamped D.C. squad gave fans a glimpse of what they can look forward to this year under new head coach Troy Lesesne in a win that extended their hot streak in home openers to 5-1-0 in the last six.
Fluid passing, organized high pressing, and a sturdier looking back line were a few of the bright spots on show that helped the Black-and-Red best a team that did the double over them in the league last season.
The quick yet calm passing from D.C. forced New England to chase the game, resulting in a late challenge from Revolution forward Giacomo Vrioni in the 25′, which earned him a second yellow card.
Though the red card certainly helped, D.C.’s intensity and relentless pressure was ushering the game in their favor well before the mismatch in numbers. This press made the Revolution noticeably uncomfortable and allowed the Black-and-Red to win the ball high up the field throughout the match, leading to a plethora of attacking chances.
One of these chances finally yielded a result in the 34′ after a sequence of blocked shots eventually led to a terrific cross from Pedro Santos that was met by a towering header from Christian Benteke. Initially thought to be a save by Henrich Ravas, the goal was given after a VAR check confirmed that the ball had crossed the goal line.
Just before the break, a D.C. United corner saw another Santos cross connect to a Benteke header, this time to square the ball back into the center of the area where Jared Stroud’s volley then smashed against the crossbar.
Shortly after the half, Santos received a yellow for his challenge on Esmir Bajraktarević. Initially given as a penalty, a VAR check determined the foul was outside of the box, earning the Revs a free kick instead.
Roughly five minutes on, New England gained another free kick just beyond the 18 where Carles Gil’s promising attempt to curl it into the top left corner forced a good save from Alex Bono.
A little over 10 minutes later, Gil would find that desired top left corner with a stunning goal. Cutting in from the right, the 2021 MLS MVP curled it home on his favored left foot in the 67′.
Immediately following Gil’s wonder goal, Santos was replaced by Connor Antley who made an instant impact, following suit of the man he replaced by assisting Benteke, only minutes after coming on. Gabriel Pirani’s deflected shot flew straight up where Antley then followed the play and beat his man to the dropping ball in order to head it on for a wide open Benteke to bag his second of the night. The 72′ goal, an instant rebuttal to whatever life Gil’s strike had given to the Revs.
United fought hard the rest of the 90′ before securing the three points through Benteke’s third goal in the 92′. New acquisition Aaron Herrera won the ball back on the right flank and put in a terrific cross, connecting with the head of Benteke who out-jumped the 6’5″ keeper to net his second ever D.C. United hat trick.
Takeaways:
New signings showed a ton of promise: The new players who took part tonight all made a great impact, and no discredit to those not individually named, but some specific standouts would be the duo joining from St. Louis City SC, Jared Stroud and Lucas Bartlett. Stroud was an absolute engine the entire match. Going on mazy dribbling runs and getting the ball off of his foot at the right time, as well as tracking back tirelessly on defense. And Bartlett was central to the refreshing composure shown by the back line. Consistently positioning himself well to block shots and acrobatically cutting out several balls put into the box, he looked more than up for it last night.
Lesesne ball?: Considering it is the first league game of the season, it’s quite optimistic to discern so many positives about the upcoming campaign. But while Lesesne wasn’t on the touchline, he voiced post-game his intentions to continue with the type of style and approach we saw last night.
“Tonight I think you were able to see for your own eyes, especially whenever we were 11v11, the type of team that we’re trying to be and what we aspire to do in the match,” Lesesne said. “And that’s what we’ve been working on for six weeks, is just trying to be an aggressive team, a proactive team, but also creative at the right times,” he further voiced. “And I think we displayed a number of those characteristics tonight.”
Box Score
D.C. United: 3 Benteke (34′, 72′, 90+2)
New England Revolution: 1 Gil 67′
Lineups
D.C. United: Alex Bono, Lucas Bartlett, Matti Peltola, Pedro Santos (Conner Antley 68’), Aaron Herrera, Christopher McVey, Jared Stroud (Jackson Hopkins 84’), Gabriel Pirani (Kristian Fletcher 74’), Ted Ku-DiPietro (Christian Dajome 72’), Mateusz Klich, Christian Benteke (C)
New England Revolution: Henrich Ravas, DeJuan Jones, Dave Romney, Jonathan Mensah, Nick Lima (Ryan Spaulding 88’), Matt Polster (Emmanuel Boateng 77’), Noel Buck (Ian Harkes 61’), Tomás Chancalay, Carles Gil (C), Esmir Bajraktarević (Nacho Gil 88’), Giacomo Vrioni
Misconduct Summary
D.C. United: Pedro Santos (Yellow Card) 49’, Jared Stroud (Yellow Card) 54’, Kristian Flecther (Yellow Card) 77’
New England Revolution: Giacomo Vrioni (Yellow Card) 12’, Giacomo Vrioni (Red Card) 25’, Carles Gil (Yellow Card) 39’, Tomás Chancalay (Yellow Card) 70′, Ian Harkes (Yellow Card) 90′
I liked what I saw prior to the ejection to Vrioni. Crisp movement, forcing NE to chase the ball, decent composure, an attacking mindset, not instantly going vertical but doing so wisely. What was true for the entire game as well as the first 25 was–other than Benteke, our finishing was dreck. A lot of shots, a lot of wasted chances. That’s gotta change.
A couple of other points. I thought the newcomers impressed. I particularly liked the CB play. Santos had lost a step last year and I think he’s lost another step but man he’s got a nice touch on the ball so I can see why he’s still around (at least these year). I thought the subs made were smart and timely–Lesesne/Prince didn’t wait until someone (like Santos) was clearly dragging.
As for our next match, I’m not sure what you can tell from the Portland beat-down of Colorado. Any team coached by Armas is starting with a deficit in my book. I watched the match highlights and Colorado looked lame–poor marking, Steffen didn’t do a good job playing the angles from my perspective.
Finally, I’m interested in the explanation for the roster situation: with some players healthy but not on the game day roster, being at home but only fielding 18 bodies. That implies that either a move (or two or three) is imminent or there were some disciplinary issues. I hope that question (about the game day roster) gets addressed.
This was a dominant performance where we scored three goals and underperformed XG significantly. If you’d have told me this nonsense before, I would have not remotely believed it.
Anyway, before I do an assessment of the starters, I gotta give some credit to this ref. No ref will ever be perfect, but he approached the game with a refreshing lack of ego and self importance that most of the striking MLS refs have in spades. He and VAR worked well in tandem. The reffing crew deserves some credit. I particularly liked how Peltola bodying players off the ball wasn’t deemed a foul every time.
I agree in particular about your points on the ref performance.
I’d like to second that. The refs rarely drew my ire, if at all, Saturday. I usually am appalled by our refs. The MLS guys can go enjoy their strike, and may do so permanently if these kind of outings become commonplace. Talonesque, I agree with your read on many MLS refs: ego and self-importance oozes from a good number of them.
So, here’s my position by position impression of the starters.
GK: Bono was very, very solid. I don’t know if that’s just a product of most shots being within his reach or not, and maybe we can expect some flux, but this was a starter’s showing. Well done.
Fullback: Herrera is an improvement on Ruan, full stop. His assist was class. Santos was ok early on, but quickly lost the plot, and I think it was lack of quickness and rapid onset mental fatigue. Credit to Antley for being a big improvement, and for the assist- maybe Pedro can be the wise old man in the locker room and bench now.
CB: Gotta say, I was liking Bartlett’s play a lot. Seemed to have a bit more mobility than we’ve seen from Birnbaum and Hines-Ike, did his defensive shift, and actually had some nice touches to settle possession. McVey was a partner to him, although made some careless decisions to let the ball roll past him, thinking it wasn’t his responsibility- faster forwards and 11 men would punish those. Still, it was a winning effort from both of them.
DM: Peltola I like. He is clearly intelligent enough to know what positions to take up, and is not confused about his role as a single pivot. He also just bodied NE players off the ball cleanly a lot. Not perfect decision making all the time, but vibrant green shoots. This allowed Klich to do his roaming and distributing pretty freely. Will be interesting when Canouse comes back.
AM: Pirani has a good short passing game and his touch retains the ball in some close spaces. But how can he be a pro and not kick it in the net sometimes? Woeful on the Benteke cross. However, he was part of an offense that generated a ton of chances and pressed. Still, kick it right.
Wingers: TKD seemed not to be at his best, despite being part of the generative soup. Think this was a product of having less space to counter into because we had them penned in. Stroud is a role player that had value. He will run a ton, track back, and pump the ball forward incessantly. That said, he is proof that industriousness and effectiveness are two different things( and we cannot count on him to be anything but a generative cog. That’s fine, though.
CF: Benteke is not perfect, but he fit perfectly into this game plan. He knew he was the tip of the spear, and when given a number of opportunities, will get into an impressive rhythm.
The subs were generally committed, but less to say about them.
I’ll finish by saying, I think Lesesne is a coach. This team already had a game plan and a sense of squad purpose, the lax individualism of last season is gone. Yay!
I was worried about the press. I still have a bad taste from Coach Loasada’s version of the press where guys just ran and ran and took goofy risks all over the field and got tired and injured.
I am cautiously optimistic about Lesense’s version of the press. It’s much more opportunistic and less risk taking just to take risk. It obviously is a work in progress just like any team after week 1.
I thought that Lesesne did wonders last year with an incomplete and demoralized Red Bulls roster and did a good job of running a press but still playing to the positive and hiding the roster’s negatives.
I also there is something to be said for a coach who came up through the minors and had to get the most out of and teach a system to journeymen pro players rather than stars.
The pace of this game seemed so fast after last year with Rooney!
Well, it was nice to get a win on the board straightaway. Mackay’s injection of speed into the team was the difference, we dominated most of the game by virtue of winning races. That’s not really a sustainable success model (keeping in mind that New England played midweek and was therefore disadvantaged in precisely this axis) without improvements in other areas; in many ways this felt like an MLS 1.0 or 2.0 game, where skill and tactical nous were a wash, and athleticism decided the outcome.
I was pleased to see that we didn’t do what everybody did the last time MLS had replacement refs, and what New England was hellbent on doing in this game, namely behaving like petulant children and pushing every boundary to see if the substitute would have the courage to lay down the law. Although he needed VAR to get there, he did get the big calls right in the end, though the lesser fouls were an inconsistent muddle at times.
Bono 6.5 Made a couple of fine saves and commanded his box well. He’s no great distributor, but we knew that.
Herrera 7.5 Used his speed to good advantage, tackling aggressively but smartly and picking off passes, combining well with Stroud, and of course serving up the last goal.
Bartlett 6.5 A fundamentally sound performance.
McVey 6 Had a few awkward moments but was fine overall.
Santos 2 It was evident last year that he no longer had the wheels to recover from his frequent bad decisions and stupid turnovers. Did he reflect on this in the offseason? Obviously not. Every serious NE chance in this game was the direct result of Santos’ unforced errors. He might still have limited utility as an attacking midfielder, but using him at left back now is suicidal.
Peltola 6 Did his job. Which is fine for a first outing in a new league and country. The Clydewinder imitation was a nice moment.
Stroud 8 A constant source of attacking threat. Bright, energetic, pacey, keeps his head up, tries different things. Uses the whole field. He has limitations of technique and possibly temperament, but getting this guy and Bartlett *and* allocation money for Chris Durkin was straight larceny.
Klich 6 I didn’t actually notice him that much, so this may be more a reflection of my lack of perception than any fault of his. *shrugs*
Pirani 4.5 The whole team was a smidge too slow when marrying up technique to ideas, which is why our attacks kept fizzling in the box. The problem for Pirani is that this is what he needs to be good at. Klich is an all-action type; Stroud has speed to lean on; KDP is good at this but wasn’t really “on” tonight; Benteke comes and goes with this but has other obvious strengths. Pirani must be faster when turning his choices into actions, or he’ll bust.
Ku-DiPietro 5.5 Rather an off night, compared to what we saw most of last year.
Benteke 9 I don’t feel like he was really dominant in the way he can be, actually, but hat trick doesn’t lie.
Antley 6 I didn’t notice him mucking anything up.
Dajome 5 I didn’t notice him much at all.
Fletcher 6.5 As is his wont, provided an immediate spark, but his impact was inconsistent thereafter.
Hopkins 6 Showed a bit of his promise; not sure he’ll have the speed to succeed on the flank or the agility to succeed in the middle; might turn out to be a tweener with no good position.
This didn’t change my perception of the team as a whole. I still think we’re ticketed for the fringes of playoff contention. New England isn’t necessarily the best measuring stick; many other clubs have done more in reaction to Messi’s arrival, and we have exploitable weaknesses. Also, if Jeahze and Rodriguez are non-factors (and Lesesne’s post-match comments may imply that Jeahze is burning out his chances here), we are going to be very weak on the left flank, barring a massive breakout by Fletcher.
Yeah, in terms of Jeahze and left back, there could be a real crisis brewing there. Santos and Jeahze are the only left backs on the roster, and despite his assist, Santos was making plenty of mistakes on the defensive side of things. Now, I was anticipating that Jeahze would be the starter, and that there was a reason we made him the highest paid left back in MLS, and what kind of service he would provide for Benteke. But Lesesne is sounding like he doesn’t have plans for him going forward. That’s his coach’s perogative, but…
At least Conner Antley showed well in his debut. He could possibly be an answer there, but he’s been pegged more as a central or right sided defender. And if he does take over the left back role, then there’s no back up for Aaron Herrera at right back. Then we start asking questions like if Cristian Dajome or Jared Stroud can play back there. Or we remember way back when Ben Olsen would play Russell Canouse at right back.
With this game, fullback depth seems to be the most pressing need for the team.
Indeed, if Jeahze disappears into the doghouse, I would think we will be forced into 3 at the back, playing Santos out wide and demanding that the left side center back stay deep at all times to cover the inevitable procession of counterattacks. Say, a 3-4-1-2 with:
RCB Bartlett/McVey
CB Birnbaum
LCB Peltola
RW/WB Herrera
RCM Klich
LCM Canouse
LW/WB Santos/Dajome
AMC Pirani
F Benteke
F Ku-DiPietro
with Stroud as the attacking utility knife, playing regularly across a bunch of positions. Or similar. Not an attractive solution to my eye, but it gets all the significant players on the field in positions where they are not doomed to fail.
I was most impressed with Matti Peltola, our Finnish international midfielder/defender. Very composed. I believe that he never turned over the ball. Seemed to be organizing the defense. And his rocket of a shot from outside the box barely skimmed over the bar.
OK, I know it’s early, just the first game. And I know that the stadium is Buzzard Point. But, it this team continues to show what it showed and be a major pain for the opposition (something it hasn’t been for a while), doesn’t it just beg to refer to our home as “the Lesesne Asylum”?
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Very nice win, though hard to judge too much beyond that given the long time at 11 v 10.
One side note, I did not feel so sanguine about the replacement ref. Regular MLS refs can be frustratingly inconsistent. I thought the replacement ref was even more so. It was our luck that the balance of those calls seemed to go our way. Furthermore, it took VAR to get our first goal and to avoid a second half New England pk. Just one fan’s opinion.
It seemed like most people around MLS missed their PKs in Matchday 1. Something like four or five saved attempts. It might not have mattered if New England was awarded their PK!
I thought the VAR checks were fine. On the goal, it’s not the ref’s fault he doesn’t have goal line technology to be more definitive on the play, and we were lucky that cameras could be conclusive. It was checked, we got the goal, no issue. Santos’ tackle was so borderline that I personally wouldn’t have blamed the process for calling it a PK- the line is part of the box, so to judge whether that tackle was outside is a tough decision.
I’m not sure what inconsistency you’re referring to particularly, refs are there to make sure the game can be played, not to picture perfect- if no player ever made a mistake, goals would be blue moon events, so why are we demanding immaculate performance from the refs?
More than anything, MLS has housed a lot of refs who are egotistical menaces who want to make calls narratively rather than in the course of their duties. That’s where the improvement was.