DC United wasn’t able to muster much on the night, but before 14,189 at Audi Field on Saturday night they were able to leave with a scoreless draw against Atlanta United. In a match where Atlanta held a lot of the possession, they kept a clean sheet and earned the point.

“We didn’t play the best game,” head coach René Weiler said after the match. “It was at the end a good result with that draw, but we didn’t play a good game.” 

With João Peglow out of the lineup due to yellow card accumulation, head coach René Weiler made a couple of changes to his lineup from the win on Wednesday. Nathan Ordaz made his second start since DC United traded for him in July, and Brandon Servania moved into the midfield, with Jackson Hopkins beginning the match on the bench.

In the 8th minute, DC United got their first chance of the evening, as Brandon Servania did well to hustle to intercept an Atlanta pass inside Atlanta’s half. Servania passed it to Tai Baribo who made a quick pass to the left to Nathan Ordaz. Ordaz dribbled it to the box and then took a shot that went just wide right of the goal.

Two minutes later, some sloppy play lead to Atlanta’s first chance on goal. Sean Johnson gets a hand on it and Kye Rowles was able to break up Breel Embolo’s rebound shot.

In the 24th minute, Kimito Nono received the long ball down the right flank and sent a pass towards Brandon Servania on the edge of the box. Servania sent a low cross in intended for Tai Baribo that was blocked out of play at the last second for a corner kick. DC almost forced an own goal off the corner, leading to a second try. On that corner kick, the ball bounced out to Andre Dozzell, who fired a laser from 30 yards out that went just high of the net.

There wasn’t much action for the 10-15 minutes after that, with both teams not giving the other much ground. In the 42nd minute, Atlanta got a chance on goal when Miguel Almiron was able to get a shot off in the left side of the box. The shot went into the side netting, with Sean Johnson diving to give the shot an escort out of play. Atlanta got another good chance off a Alexey Mirachuk shot that went just wide of the net just before halftime, but the stalemate continued into the halftime break.

The second half started with no changes on either side, and DC United looked to be aggressive early. But the first few minutes were both teams trying to find the opening that they could expose on offense. DC made some substitutes in the 55th minute, bringing on Matti Peltola, Jackson Hopkins, and Jared Stroud in an effort to provide some sort of boost.

In the 60th minute, Atlanta was able to get a turnover in the middle of the field and go the other way. Miguel Almiron, dribbling down the middle of the field, found Breel Embolo to his left. Embolo took a hard shot, but Sean Johnson was able to push it away for the save.

Four minutes later, Atlanta had another great opportunity when Matthew Edwards raced down the right flank and sent a cross into the box. Embolo played a dummy, letting the ball sneak through to a streaking Almiron. However, Almiron pushed his shot wide and high of the net. On the other end, DC got a chance when Kimito Nono sent a cross high into the box. Tai Baribo jumped over the traffic to get a head on it, but the header went just over the crossbar.

There wasn’t a lot of positive action on either side until the 80th minute, whe Breel Embolo saw a bouncing ball in the box during a corner kick and attempted a bicycle kick. The shot hit the left post, but it was all for naught as the play was whistled dead on an offside call. As the final minutes ticked away, DC United had issues maintaining possession beyond midfield, allowing Atlanta to be more aggressive going towards goal. René Weiler brought some more defensive subs late to try and hang on.

Right on the edge of the full time whistle, Atlanta almost backended a shot into the net. A bouncing ball in the box found Luke Brennan, who got a header that hit the crossbar and stayed out of the net. The referee blew the whistle for full time seconds later, and DC and Atlanta each went home sharing the points.

Full Stats

DC United only had 4 shots in the match, with zero on target compared to Atlanta’s 17 shots with 4 on frame. While Weiler felt that some players didn’t have a terrible outing, it was not a great night offensively.

“Some key players, they didn’t perform how they have to perform in our squad,” Weiler said. “And maybe sometimes the money is as well a factor. [Breel] Embolo, he didn’t score, but they spent a lot of money for him. So you have to see some qualities and he and other [players], they did a lot of problems for our defensive game. And at the end, I’m lucky that we won this point.”

Still, the team was able to keep a clean sheet on some tired legs, having played 2 games in 4 days and having the travel out to Cincinnati for a match that was postponed. Sean Johnson credited the fight of the team to not allow a goal despite the pressure Atlanta put on them.

“You know, these past couple games haven’t been easy. Defensively, we’ve been solid. We’ve cut out opportunities. Guys have stepped up in different moments,” Johnson said of the Black-and-Red’s defensive effort. “And I think we’re hungry to win games and we were rewarded last game and unfortunately not this game, but not for lack of effort. I think the guys are in a good place to keep pushing for the end of the season, so we’ll take it one game at a time.”

Captain Lucas Bartlett went further, saying that the defensive effort was good but they want to do better with helping the offense push forward.

“Yeah, we’re under pressure a lot there at the end. We need to do a better job retaining the ball in the second half. I think it happened in two games now. Yeah. We gotta find ways to help our attackers. It’s not just their fault, it’s our fault, too. So as a back line, as a midfield, we got to find ways to possess the ball to try to finish games and create more chances for ourselves. So we’ll work on it this week and hopefully be better next [weekend].”

DC United ultimately had a 4 point week and now have a few days to recover and train before they welcome Charlotte FC to town next Saturday night.