On a beautiful Monday afternoon at D.C. United’s training facility, the Black-and-Red reserve squad defeated the New York Red Bulls reserve squad by a comfortable 3-1 scoreline. The match featured goals by United’s first team striker Josh Wolff and midfielder Danny Cruz and Academy standout Suliman Dainkeh.
The first goal came early in the match, when Dainkeh made the best of a rebound in the box after the Red Bulls defense failed to clear a United corner in the sixth minute. The Academy youngster calmly ripped the ball into the net from eight yards out, putting the locals ahead 1-0.
United doubled its lead in the eleventh minute when Josh Wolff volleyed home a shot from the edge of the box after a poor clearance from New York’s defender Matt Miazga.
Just one minute later, United had a clear chance to increase its lead to three goals. Dainkeh found himself in front of the goal after a perfectly weighted through ball by Stephen King, but his shot was denied by New York keeper Jeremy Vuolo’s great diving effort.
After what so far had been a fairly one sided game in favor of United, New York pushed back and saw their offensive efforts rewarded in the 32nd minute, when Johnny Arteaga scored off a corner when he deflected a ball in.
It was an exciting finish to the first half, as a revitalized New York team upped the pace of the game and pressured the Black-and-Red. The last chance of the half came when a free kick taken by Lewis Neal hit the crossbar and prevented the locals from increasing their lead.
United sealed their victory five minutes into the second half with a beautiful long distance shot by midfielder Danny Cruz. Cruz, who showed an impressive work rate throughout the match, received a pass from teammate Ian Harkes outside the box and used his right foot to curl the ball into the top right corner.
With a two goal lead, United then focused on keeping possession and shutting the opposition’s advances through its tight defensive backline. With the victory, the Black-and-Red maintain their good form in the reserves league with a 2-0-1 record and the Red Bulls drop to 1-4-2 on the year.
Scoring Summary
DC – Suliman Dainkeh (Lewis Neal) 6
DC – Josh Wolff (unassisted) 11
NY – Jhonny Arteaga (unassisted) 32
DC – Danny Cruz (Ian Harkes) 50
Misconduct Sumary
None
Lineups
D.C. United: Joe Willis; Chrystian Najar* (Mike Chabala 66), Ethan White, Suliman Dainkeh, Lewis Neal; Stephen King, Kurt Morsink (Denis Najar 70), Marcelo Saragosa, Danny Cruz; Nigel Robinson, Josh Wolff © (Ian Harkes 45)
NYRB: Jeremy Vuolo; Jonathan Borrajo, Stephen Keel ©, Tyler Ruthven, Matt Miazga; Lloyd Sam, Adam Najem (Arun Basvljevic), Victor Palsson, Johann Smith; Jose Angulo, Jhonny Arteaga (Corey Hertzog 45)
Academy
** Trialist
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