Tai Baribo’s penalty goal in the 10th minute of second half stoppage time was the difference as DC United beat Toronto FC 2-1 before a sellout crowd of 19,215 fans at Audi Field on Saturday night. DC United benefitted from an own goal to take a lead in the first half, and Toronto equalized in the 76th minute before DC won it in the final minutes.

“I’m happy that we have won this game,” DC head coach René Weiler said after the match. “I saw a good first half and we should [have] scored more than only one goal. But then it wasn’t really relaxed the second half. So, of course when you are down as opponent, then you have to push and they tied the game. Not by coincidence. It’s sometimes difficult. You have to find a way maybe to break the rhythm to keep the ball a little bit more. But we hadn’t these means and yeah, off to the equalizer. We came back and at the end luckily.”

DC United was back in the friendly confines of Audi Field for the first time since May 23rd to take on Toronto before. DC United had one change from their starting XI on Wednesday, with João Peglow starting in place of Sean Nealis. There was no Josh Sargent in the lineup for Toronto FC, as he reportedly picked up a knock during warmups that forced him off the matchday roster.

It didn’t take long for the teams to trade scoring chances. In the 7th minute, on the break, Louis Munteanu found Jackson Hopkins, who fired a shot that Luka Gavran saved. Toronto went right down the field, with Dániel Sallói getting a shot off that required a Sean Johnson save.

In the 13th minute, DC United get out on the break with Munteanu starting it with some back-to-goal control. Jackson Hopkins gets out on the long dribble and fires a shot from 25 yards out that Gavran had to stretch to save. His rebound came to the middle of the penalty area, where João Peglow sent the ball well high of the net.

Toronto had a close chance a few minutes later, when Richie Laryea got a shot off from just outside the box. Andre Dozzell got a deflection on it, and the ball skipped millimeters wide of the net for a corner kick.

Both teams settled in a bit more, not getting terrific chances on goal. However, in the 35th minute, Toronto got another shot on goal from Emilio Aristizábal that took a deflection and switched directions. Sean Johnson, initially going the wrong way once the ball was deflected, was able to stop his momentum and double back to get a hand on the ball and push it away to keep the match scoreless.

Just a few minutes later, it was Louis Munteanu trying to make something happen on the break. He unleashed a shot from about 35 yards out that required a Luka Gavran save over the crossbar.

On the ensuing corner kick, DC United opened their account. Off the Keisuke Kurokawa service into the box, it was Kye Rowles on the header that trickled into the left corner of the net to give the Black-and-Red the 1-0 lead in the 41st minute. The credit was switched at halftime to an own goal by Toronto FC’s Kobe Franklin.

Kurokawa almost gave DC United a chance at a second when he got the ball on the left flank and sent a cross towards the middle, where a diving Tai Baribo was waiting. However, the pass was broken up by Toronto’s defense, but it was clear the team was operating with a boost of energy. The team took the 1-0 lead into halftime.

The second half started and DC came out swinging again. Just 30 seconds in, Tai Baribo got the ball in space and unleashed a shot from 30 yards that went just wide of the net. The Black-and-Red created a couple more chances in the first few minutes of the second half.

In the 55th minute, Toronto FC almost had the equalizer. Off a corner kick, Toronto had 3 point blank chances on goal that were each parried away by DC’s Sean Johnson in heroic fashion before the flag was raised for offside.

DC’s defense proved to be stellar when needed, keeping the ball out of the net. Sean Johnson made several tremendous saves to keep DC up 1-0 through 70 minutes.

In the 76th minute, Toronto finally pushed through with the equalizer. Off a set piece, Sean Johnson was able to stop the first shot. However, the second one proved to be too much. Theo Corbeanu fired home a rebound, and the score was level at 1-1.

DC went right back down the field off the restart, with Louis Munteanu firing a shot that forced Gavran to save it out for a corner kick. The Black-and-Red got another shot off that corner kick, but it was able to be collected.

The final minutes of stoppage time were chaotic, with both teams trying to get more than the one point that a draw would award them. DC United thought they had a penalty shout when Jared Stroud was taken out by Luka Gavran, but the referee whistled for play to be continued.

Just a minute later, there was another shout for a penalty when Andre Dozzell was taken down in the box. This time, the ref was signaled by VAR to review the play. After review, the referee awarded DC United the penalty. “I [felt] like it was a pen, yeah,” Dozzell said after the match.

Tai Baribo stepped up to take it and buried it in the left side of the net to give DC the 2-1 lead with seconds to go. It was Baribo’s 10th goal of the season.

DC United had to navigate one final surge by Toronto, and they were able to do so. The final whistle finally sounded, giving the Black-and-Red the win.

“It’s about the fight. It’s about the character,” Tai Baribo said of the team’s mentality to pull out the win. “We conceded the goal, but we creates more chances after that.”

“Thankfully, we got the win,” Andre Dozzell stated. “I think we persevered tonight and it wasn’t pretty, but it’s three points and we needed that.”

DC United return to action next Saturday at Audi Field when they host Nashville SC. They hope the boost from this win will help them as they go up against the best team in the league.