Goals from Álvaro Saborío and Patrick Nyarko were the difference as D.C. United blanked the New York Red Bulls 2-0 on Friday night at RFK Stadium in the first Atlantic Cup matchup of 2016.
Coming into the match, the Black-and-Red were looking to get back to winning ways after having had to deal with a depleted squad due to injuries and illness in recent weeks. Against the Red Bulls, they were boosted by the return of in-form winger Patrick Nyarko, who had subbed out early in United’s last match against New York City FC with flu-like symptoms.
The dynamic Ghanaian was back to his best on Friday. After nearly getting on the board in the 2nd minute—his side-footed attempt off a Luciano Acosta service was saved—Nyarko was the provider for United’s opening goal in the 20th minute. The former Chicago Fire man’s through ball split the defense and found a streaking Marcelo, who squared the ball perfectly for Álvaro Saborío—now D.C.’s sole leading goalscorer with four on the season—to finish past Red Bulls ‘keeper Luis Robles from inside six yards.
Then, two minutes before halftime, Nyarko added a goal to double to score. Lamar Neagle’s cross from the right wing found United’s number 12 at the far post, who, in almost an inverse of his first attempt, connected with the outside of his foot to volley the ball past Robles.
But perhaps the biggest player for United was Travis Worra. In a back-and-forth first forty-five that saw a number of threatening opportunities for both sides, the Black-and-Red goalkeeper made four saves. After stopping Bradley Wright-Phillips’ bicycle kick attempt in the 8th minute, the Pennsylvania native came up huge again in the 31st, making a point-blank save on a close-range Dax McCarty header. Less than two minutes later, Worra pulled out more heroics, sliding to make a kick save off of Gonzalo Veron before palming away a rebound attempt from Felipe seconds later to keep the Red Bulls off the scoreboard.
In the opening seconds after the break, Worra came up big with yet another diving save off a Wright-Phillips chance. But United soon found their feet and hit back with some more dangerous opportunities of their own. In the 57th minute, Acosta forced Robles into a kick save as he attempted to bundle a bouncing ball into the net. Six minutes later, defender Steve Birnbaum ran onto a long switch from the right wing, but his volleyed cross in front the goal from was cleared by the Red Bulls defense before a teammate could latch onto it.
The Red Bulls continued to penetrate and search for an opportunity to pull one back, and came close with two dangerous long-range attempts from Connor Lade and Sal Zizzo in the final 25 minutes, but were ultimately unable to recover from the first-half deficit.
United got some encouraging signs from their bench late on as they worked to close out the match. Julian Büscher was active as a substitute, combining well with teammates through midfield and getting off a dangerous shot from the edge of the box in the 80th minute that Robles had to tip over the bar for a corner. Then, in the 88th minute, Argentine striker Fabián Espíndola made a welcome return to the field after having missed the past two matches with a hamstring injury—a fitting way to conclude the party.
With the win, United move to 3-4-4 on the season, and have now recorded three multi-goal shutouts at home. They’ll face the Philadelphia Union on Friday, May 20, at Talen Energy Stadium.
