On the other side of the field, Smith and Flores found themselves on the attacking front again in the 17th minute. Smith played a through ball to Flores, who ended up one-on-one against Kann, but his shot went wide. In the 22nd minute, Cincinnati answered with Luciano Acosta finding Brandon Vázquez on the break, and his shot beat Hamid, but after a VAR review, the goal was overturned for being offside.
Cincinnati continued going for goal and in the 30th minute, they tested Hamid once again. Forward Badji took a right footed shot that forced another big save from Hamid to keep Cincinnati off the scoreboard. The first half ended 0-0 with neither team finding the breakthrough.
The second half continued to be a battle with both teams creating multiple opportunities. By the 71st minute, the Black-and-Red and Cincinnati had both recorded two shots on goal but were unable to capitalize on any chances.
In the 80th minute, D.C. United went down a man after Moses Nyeman was shown a red card for a tackle against Acosta. With 10 minutes of regular time left to play and playing with 10-men, the Black-and-Red sustained more offensive pressure from Cincinnati. But, in the last minute of stoppage time, D.C. United were awarded a penalty kick after a handball from Cincinnati’s Geoff Cameron. Second-half substitute Ola Kamara stepped up and converted from the spot to give the Black-and-Red the 1-0 lead.
With little time left, Cincinnati went on one final attack and played a ball in the box that Geoff Cameron headed on goal, but Hamid came up with his biggest save of the night to preserve the 1-0 win.
D.C. United will return home to Audi Field to face off against Chicago Fire FC on Saturday, March 12, with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET. Tune into NBC Sports Washington, TeleXitos, and www.dcunited.com to watch the match.
