Your basket is currently empty!
Match Report: DC 2-1 LA Galaxy
Thoughts
Coming into this game, there was a slight sense of optimism, cautious as it was, but optimism nonetheless. We’ve had a busy transfer week, 3 incomings, 2 of which were available to play last night. Only one made his debut, that was Felipe Martins. Thrown in at the deep end, more so down to injuries and suspension than anything else, he looked good. Didn’t make any obvious mistakes, delivered some good set pieces, consistency needs improving with that, but it was his first game after all. Boateng was an unused substitution, like everyone was last night. Ben Olsen did not make any changes during the game. And looking back on it, I can understand why, no-one looked overly tired, we were winning and had a good flow and we didn’t need to disrupt it. There will be people who disagree with me on that, and I’m happy for you to.
Goals last night came from a route one pass from Hamid, over the top, nodded on by Amarikwa, Segura plays a lofted through ball to Arriola who finished it first time underneath the keeper.
It could have been two at half time but Rodriguez was clearly offside. LA Galaxy equalized within the first few minutes of the 2nd half, and it felt like it was going to go downhill, Alvarez with a very good finish into Hamid’s bottom right corner. Galaxy got the flow going and were attacking our box. Hamid producing some stunning saves throughout the game. One of which came from a Zlatan volley inside the box, and an instinctive save, Bill putting his left arm up and tipping it away, world-class. Hopefully we can keep him once his loan spell has finished.
But after those saves, DC set off on yet another counter attack. Arriola passing it across to Segura, who then has a long range effort, this gets saved by the keeper, falls to Arriola, keepers makes a double save, but then it falls to Rodriguez who side-foots it into the bottom right corner to score the winner.
After that, it was a case of clinging on to the lead. Galaxy were getting more desperate and frustrated as time went on. Amarikwa keeping the ball and drawing fouls, even having efforts on goal after. But it was all sweetly wrapped up and the pure elation was there to see, joyous celebrations, players falling to their knees. You know this was hard fought, you could see the team was so desperate to win this one. The form has been very poor recently, but we managed to find this win, not only against a very good Galaxy side, who have just signed wonderkid Cristian Pavon, but we did it with injuries, suspensions, and most of all, without Wayne Rooney.
Post Match Facts
- Paul Arriola and Lucas Rodríguez both scored their fifth goals of the season in the 28th and 73rd minutes, respectively.
- Quincy Amarikwa recorded his first assist in MLS for the Black-and-Red in the 28th minute.
- Ulises Segura recorded his second assist of 2019 on the 28th-minute goal.
- Felipe Martins made his Black-and-Red debut after being acquired on August 6 from the Vancouver Whitecaps.
- Quincy Amarikwa made his first start since the 0-0 draw against Toronto on May 15.
- Jalen Robinson made his 25th appearance for the Black-and-Red.
- D.C. United are now 15-20-11 in club history against Los Angeles.
- The Black-and-Red are 10-9-5 at home against the Galaxy.
- D.C. United recorded their first win at Audi Field since the 1-0 win against Orlando City on June 26.
- The Black-and-Red are 6-3-5 at Audi Field in 2019.
Lineups
D.C. United lineup: Bill Hamid; Joseph Mora, Steven Birnbaum, Frédéric Brillant, Jalen Robinson; Leonardo Jara, Felipe Martins; Lucas Rodríguez, Paul Arriola, Ulises Segura; Quincy Amarikwa
Unused Substitutes: Chris Seitz, Marquinhos Pedroso, Luciano Acosta, Emmanuel Boateng, Griffin Yow, Gordon Wild, Donovan Pines
LA Galaxy Lineup: David Bingham, Rolf Feltscher (Julian Araujo, 90), Giancarlo Gonzalez, Daniel Steres, Diego Polenta, Uriel Antuna (Chris Pontius, 84′), Uriel Antuna, Perry Kitchen (Sebastien Lletget, 78′), Favio Alvarez, Jonathan dos Santos, Cristian Pavón, Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Unused Substitutes: Servando Carrasco, Matt Lampson, Jørgen Skjelvik, Dave Romney
Man of the Match
For me it was Bill Hamid, coming up with some absolute vital saves and two world class ones, one in each half. He was fantastic when called upon. The official DC man of the match though goes to…
Up Next
We are on the road this week, and we take our monster trip to Vancouver. Kick off is a brutal 3am BST on Sunday 18th August. Will I be watching, who knows?