DC United had to dig deep on the road, but a second half stoppage time goal by Tai Baribo from the penalty spot was the difference in a 2-1 win against the Chicago Fire. After Hugo Cuypers’ 81st minute goal from the penalty spot, Matti Peltola equalized in the 84th minute before Baribo’s penalty goal in the fifth minute of second half stoppage proved to be the winner.

The match was marred by a stoppage of play in the 73rd minute due to an alleged discriminatory slur shouted towards forward Tai Baribo from someone in the Soldier Field crowd. Baribo initially tried talking to the assistant referee close to where the incident occurred, but play continued. After another minute, Baribo spoke to center referee Sergii Demianchuk, who initially let play continue for a bit before stopping the match to talk with both head coach René Weiler and Chicago Fire head coach Gregg Berhalter. After the match, Demianchuk confirmed to the MLS pool reporter that the delay was due to investigating the discriminatory slur made from the stands.

“It was an incident with somebody who mentioned something negative from the stands,” head coach René Weiler said after the match. “I don’t like to give it the focus or a stage, so it’s better to speak about the soccer. And I told [the referee,] ‘maybe we don’t have to stop. We have immediately to go on, and don’t give it the power and a scene.'”

There has not been any further comment by the league or either team on the incident.

The match started with DC and Chicago trying to feel out the match, but DC having the first chance of the match. Tai Baribo got a shot off in the third minute from outside the box, but the shot went over the bar.

There were some decent chances on both sides in the first half, but DC United continued to press. In the 43rd minute, DC United thought they had the opening goal. Off a corner kick, Tai Baribo had a free header that went through some traffic and bounced off the face of Chicago goalkeeper Chris Brady into the net. However, VAR was signaled and it was ruled that Jackson Hopkins impeded the goalkeeper in an offside position, taking the goal off the board.

Six minutes into first half stoppage, Chicago had their best chance of the first half when Jonathan Bamba took a shot from the left side of the box. It forced a diving save by Sean Johnson to keep the match scoreless entering halftime.

The second half started and both teams had trouble maintaining possession. That made for play that felt like it was bogged in the middle of the field. There wasn’t many chances in the first part of the second half for either team.

A few minutes after the match restarted following the incident involving discrimination towards Tai Baribo, DC United got caught in their penalty area. On a corner kick, the ball bounced off the arm of Jackson Hopkins after he misplayed the ball for a header and missed. It wasn’t ruled a penalty initially, but just a few seconds after the ball went out of bounds for what would have been another corner kick, the referee was signaled by VAR to review the play. It took only a few seconds of review for the referee to confirm that it was a handball and the penalty was awarded to Chicago. Chicago’s Hugo Cuypers took the penalty and put it away to give Chicago the 1-0 lead.

DC United had to act quickly to get back in the match, and act quickly they did. Trying to push downfield towards goal, Keisuke Kurokawa fired a cross into the box, which deflected off a Chicago defender outside the box to Matti Peltola. Peltola corralled the bouncing ball, took a dribble into the top of the penalty area, and fired a shot that took a deflection as it got past Chris Brady to level the game at 1-1. It was Peltola’s first ever goal for DC United.

A few minutes later, DC United got their own penalty call. After a free kick earned by Brandon Servania, the ball was sent into the box by Matti Peltola and seemingly headed out for a corner kick. However, play was held up as VAR called for a review for a potential handball. After a lengthy review, Jonathan Dean was called for a handball on the play in the box and DC United was awarded the penalty. With 3 points in the balance, Tai Baribo stepped up and scored it to put the Black-and-Red up 2-1. It was Baribo’s 3rd goal on the season.

There was still work left to do, as there eventually would be 18 minutes of stoppage time. However, Chicago only had one real scoring opportunity that was blocked by Kye Rowles in the box to preserve the win for DC United.

The win was DC’s second on the season, giving them a record of 2W-2L-0D and 6 points in the standings. DC United continues on the road this weekend when they travel to take on Atlanta United on Saturday.