Recap: D.C. United plays to a disappointing 1-1 draw with Chicago
Feature image courtesy of D.C. United, Hannah Wagner.
D.C. United played to a disappointing 1-1 draw with 14th place Chicago Fire in front of a home crowd of 19,081 at Buzzard Point. The draw comes on the heels of two losses, at home to New York Red Bulls and on the road at Inter Miami.
The Black-and-Red played a strong first half, putting the pressure on the Fire early in the game, and relentlessly bearing down on their back line.
Chances were abundant for D.C. as they kept play mostly to Chicago’s defensive half. Jackson Hopkins had two missed attempts in the 7′ and 9′, showing the weakness of Chicago’s backline. Christian Benteke tested the Fire’s defenses himself in the 19′, attempting a header from the center of the box.
With copious chances, it didn’t take long before D.C. found purchase. Christopher McVey opened the scoring with his first goal of the 2024 season in the 20′, slotting a right-footed shot past Chris Brady.
D.C. kept the pressure up throughout the first half, keeping Chicago easily at bay and heading to the locker room in the lead. However, with the number of opportunities, it seemed the scoreline should have been tipped further in the Black-and-Red’s favor.
From the whistle, D.C. United seemed ready to continue testing Chicago. Jared Stroud put a shot on frame in the 46′, however, Brady made the save.
Chicago, perhaps feeling the weight of recent losses, began to turn the tide, striking back at D.C. United. Homegrown player, Brian Gutiérrez, tried his luck, but missed the attempt in the 49′. It was Kellyn Acosta who finally found an equalizer for Chicago in the 53′, putting the Black-and-Red under duress to find their next opportunity for a goal.
Andrew Gutman flung in a pass from the wing to Hugo Cuypers who found Acosta with a clever backpass. From there’s was smooth sailing as Acosta easily tipped the ball in from the top of the box.
Following Acosta’s goal, both sides leaned into a heightened sense of urgency, playing end-to-end, but it would be the Fire who would dominate the second half. Chicago found the urgency and aggressiveness the Black-and-Red had displayed earlier in the match, taking advantage of tired legs with quick turnovers.
The Fire, also after points that are so dear at this time in the season, staged multiple counter-attacks to try and outrun D.C.’s backline. Gutman streaked quickly down the wing and flung a ball front and center to Cuypers who tried to slip a shot past Alex Bono, but was soundly denied. Steve Birnbaum headed away the attempt for good measure. Relief was palpable as the Bono and Birnbaum looked at each other after the close call.
In the post match press conference, head coach Troy Lesesne told The District Press, “Alex Bono though is someone…[who] should absolutely feel good about his performance tonight, without him and some of the saves that he makes, then it’s gone the other way.”
A late chaotic sequence would see Chicago once again mount a quick counter attack. Unfortunately, the attempt to score would find D.C. goalkeeper Alex Bono mowed down in the box and Cuypers, rather than the ball in the back of the net.
With seven minutes of stoppage time added by official Mark Allatin, D.C. and Chicago were in a fight the bitter end to find the final goal. Rain started to fall on Audi Field the match reached its final minutes and yet, neither team found the game-winner. It was a frustrating end to a match that on paper, D.C. should have won.
Alex Bono told media, “We have everything in front of us to go and execute and do what we need to do to get three points. We’re past the point of taking small positives and trying to work them into our process. I think it’s time that the results need to come and that’s, you know, I put that on myself as much as anybody does. I know that everyone feels it in this in this room.”
D.C. United hits the road to take on CF Montréal on Wednesday, May 29, and returns home to face Toronto FC on June 1.
Watch the highlights from D.C. United vs. Chicago Fire
Box Score
MLS Regular Season – Week 16
D.C. United: 1 McVey 20′
Chicago Fire FC: 1 Acosta 53′
Lineups
D.C. United: Alex Bono, Lucas Bartlett (Garrison Tubbs 79′), Christopher McVey (Matti Peltola 46′), Steven Birnbaum, Aaron Herrera, Jared Stroud (Jacob Murrell 71′), Mateusz Klich, Jackson Hopkins (Gabriel Pirani 83′), Cristian Dájome, Ted Ku-DiPietro (Kristian Fletcher 71′), Christian Benteke
Chicago Fire FC: Chris Brady, Carlos Teran, Rafael Czichos, Andrew Gutman (Arnaud Souquet 85′), Allan Arigoni (Jonathan Dean 66′), Mauricio Pineda, Kellyn Acosta (Fabian Herbers 66′), Federico Navarro, Hugo Cuypers (Maren Haile-Selassie 85′), Tom Barlow (Georgios Koutsias 78′), Brian Gutiérrez
Misconduct Summary
D.C. United: Dájome 41′, Benteke 46′, Birnbaum 83′
Chicago Fire FC: Arigoni 36′, Terán 45′
If you read the comment section often, you know where I’m at, but let me ask y’all: Are you concerned that the system is not yielding enough goals?
It seems to me this is more about the players than the system. Ppl are consistently taking too long with the ball at their feet in the vicinity of the box… we had several breakaways in this game where our guy on the ball rejected (or was too late to recognize) good pass #1, rejected good pass #2, and then flubbed option #3 also. I mean, maybe Lesesne just needs to run a ****ton of drills for this stuff, but otherwise I can’t fault the coach when the ballcarrier waits until all his outlets are offside before making a play.
I could make a separate comment out of this, but I think I’ll just shorten up and put it here: we’ve hit the ceiling with the roster we have. This game was there for the taking, but we did not, and cannot currently, have enough difference-makers to take it. And we won’t for the duration of the season. We’ll get a nice, full evaluation of Hopkins, Fletcher, Murrell, Tubbs; maybe we can bring in a couple trial balloons in addition to Schnegg; but in general what we see is what we’ve got.
Totally agree–our roster has given us the best they can (or rather, the system/scheme has gotten the max out of the roster).
No. Frankly, most of us–evaluating the talent–expected far worse. The system has been great. But what we lack is finishers who can give us a second or third goal (or any goal when a smart team collapses on Benteke so he doesn’t score). That’s not the system. That’s a team that lacks a threat besides Benteke.
And on defense–Herrera deserves acclaim. And we’ve got a bunch of guys who are playing well. But let’s be brutally honest–Santos, McVey, and Bartlett are all players that their previous teams (who’ve done a good job assessing talent) were very willing to let go. We are truly a team where the sum of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
We almost never have a game where the opposing team goes “damn, we’re down 3-0, no chance of coming back” and so they let up. Instead, it’s 1-0 and they’re thinking “United isn’t going to get a second goal” and they keep pressing for an equalizer.
I think it’s not accurate to make it an either/or judgment, and that’s why I didn’t frame the question that way. Even as we were, we are better than this Chicago side. I give Lesesne a lot of credit for the collectivity that this side shows, they’re bought in, and our shape out of possession has drastically improved. But you don’t get points for being more collective if it doesn’t lead to goals, especially in stretches where the opposition is struggling.
What I’m seeing is a pattern that I doubt changes with personnel entirely. This is impressive effort, but huffing and puffing isn’t finishing.
If you look at our expected goals, we’re amongst the league leaders. And we’re underperforming that in terms of actual goals. So it seems like the system is working pretty well, and we just don’t have the proper players to finish off goals. Ku-DiPietro hasn’t really looked sharp all year, and Stroud probably should have had a couple others by this point. Herrera has a thunderous shot that has resulted in some good saves by opposing keepers. I was expecting our corner kick attack to be a bit more menacing, and we’ve finally started to get a couple of goals from our center backs on set pieces.
Benteke has been awesome, but he runs hot and cold in front of net. He started off this season on a scorcher, but he’s starting to get a little colder, and teams are defending him better. He’s still an amazing focal point for the attack, but the rest of the team needs to boost him up.
Klich has been a fantastic provider, but hasn’t been much of a scoring threat. I was hoping for more from Fletcher this year, but it hasn’t happened yet. If Pirani was a goalscorer, that might help things, but he’s just not.
So to sum up, I’m not concerned about the system. We just need players who are better at scoring.
While Bono made some clutch saves, for me the man of the match has to be Dajome. His end product was lacking a bit but he put in a shift defensively and won several balls high up the pitch that should have resulted in goals.
Gut punch . This needed to be 3 points, not 1. This hurts.
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I thought that Carlos Terán (if I’ve identified the Fire’s #4 correctly) neutralized Benteke ( but for one early header) better than any other center back we’ve seen.