Discipline Costs D.C. United in 1-0 Charlotte Defeat
It wasn’t the home finale that D.C. United fans wanted to achieve, but it was the one they got. D.C. fell to a third consecutive defeat on Saturday afternoon, losing 1-0 to a Charlotte FC team that, unlike them, will be playing in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
The hosts nearly opened the scoring within 90 seconds thanks to a well-worked free kick, only for Kyle Rowles’ shot to ricochet off the post and into the grateful arms of Kristijan Kahlina. However, just when it seemed that D.C. were starting off as the stronger side, they shot themselves in the foot in the 19th minute. Rather than allow Lucas Bartlett to defend a long ball in behind the defense, D.C. goalkeeper Luis Barraza made the mistake of picking the ball up outside of his penalty box.
A brief VAR check was all that was required for Barraza to be sent off, with Jordan Farr coming on for his MLS debut. D.C. were reduced to 9 men at the half-hour after Aaron Herrera got into a scuffle with Wilfried Zaha, with Zaha opening the scoring immediately after with a quick one-two and superb finish into the top-right corner.
“[They] punished everyone from our team, even the fans in the stadium,” stated D.C. United manager René Weiler to R.Org. “The discipline is something that’s very important that we have to analyze and we have to find the right decisions for the future.”
Despite playing 11 vs 9 for over an hour, despite competing in hot mid-summer weather that somehow crept into autumn, D.C. didn’t let its guard down and continued to fight. Just before the interval, reigning MLS Golden Boot winner Christian Benteke made an incisive run in behind the defense and forced a strong save from Kahlina. Charlotte, for their part, would test Farr with a few decent chances, but they never came close to adding a second goal. In fact, by the time the referee blew the final whistle, D.C. had registered more Expected Goals (0.67) than Charlotte (0.52), yet another example of the team’s growth under Weiler.
“It’s easy to talk highly about René,” stated Farr. “He’s come in and his biggest things are very simple but very tangible: his mentality and energy. What kind of energy do we want to put out into the world and to our team, and what kind of mentality do we need? Today was the mentality performance. Obviously, talent takes you a long way, but mentality is gonna take you a lot further, and I think he’s really honing in on how he can create that and build momentum. At the end of the day, we know where we’re at in terms of this season. It’s really about finding ourselves some good footing as we step into the offseason, but René has been brilliant.”
The Swiss coach took charge of a D.C. side that had lost each of their last six official matches and immediately reversed their form, helping them secure 1-1 draws vs. Montréal and Inter Miami. And despite being eliminated from the playoffs following their stalemate vs. Miami, D.C. would pull off two shock upsets vs. playoff-bound teams, winning 2-1 at New York City FC before prevailing with a 1-1 draw vs. Orlando despite playing down a man for 40 minutes. They came undone on September 20 as a Lionel Messi brace saw Miami prevail 3-2, before being humiliated 6-0 at home against Philadelphia Union, who just secured the Supporters’ Shield on Saturday. They were once again held scoreless on Saturday; with 29 goals scored, D.C. are the only team in MLS that has not cracked the 30-goal mark so far.
“It’s difficult to reply today because we started well, and afterwards, how can you create chances 9 against 11 with this temperature, against such a good opponent?” said Weiler. “It’s not the moment to speak about these topics, but of course, we have to be more creative, more dangerous, score more goals, and at the same time, concede fewer goals. With a -36 goal differential, it’s unbelievable…we have to change.”
Whilst D.C. were unable to come away with a victory, they nevertheless exited Saturday’s match with plenty of room for optimism going into the season finale in Atlanta on October 18. Unlike their last six opponents, who will be taking part in the postseason, Atlanta United have one of the worst records in MLS, and as such, the Black and Red will be vying to end their nightmare season with a victory in Georgia. It might be too little too late, but for a team that has now missed out on the playoffs for six years in a row, this improved mentality and work rate might be enough to energize a beleaguered fanbase that has grown far too accustomed to mediocrity and malaise.
“From the 8 games under [René], there was an outlier in there, but you can see that there’s a change,” stated Bartlett. “Tonight, without two red cards, maybe even without just one red card, I think we win that game. Everybody believes that there’s a new regime, and I think this new leadership believes in what we want to do and wants to fight for it. We have to bring in talent, fans, and a fighting mentality to start next year.”