D.C. United lost at Audi Field on Wednesday night, 5-2 to La Liga side Real Betis in an International Friendly match. The match saw Griffin Yow and Quincy Amarikwa score their first goals for the club.
Chris Seitz made a couple of impressive saves in the first fifteen minutes, but ultimately Real Betis got the best of him after a bad defensive play by D.C. United. Lorenzo Moron tapped it in to make the score 1-0 in the 16th minute.
The Black-and-Red took advantage of the opportunity to get some bench players more minutes during the friendly. In the 31st minute, Ulises Segura went off for 16-year-old Griffin Yow. In the 37th minute, Real Betis made it 2-0 when Sergio Leon launched a ball from inside the 18-yard box.
Second half substitutes included Shinya Kadono, Connor Presley, Orlando Sinclair, and Allexon Saravia. D.C. United opened up the second half with a goal from Griffin Yow, his first for the Black-and-Red. Yow won the ball in the attacking half and took a shot from just outside the 18-yard box. The ball took a favorable deflection off a Real Betis defender and soared over the goalkeeper, into the back of the net.
Betis added to their tally in the 54th minute, when Joaquin launched a rocket from outside the 18-yard box. Seitz dove in the right direction, but the ball had too much on it and rippled the net. The Black-and-Red got another one back in the 59th minute when Orlando Sinclair took a shot and it deflected off the Betis goalkeeper, off the bar, and eventually onto the head of Quincy Amarikwa. Amarikwa put the ball into the back of the net for his first D.C. United goal.
But Real Betis made it a two-goal lead again when they earned a PK in the box just a few minutes later. Marc Bartra slotted the ball into the top-right corner and Betis increased their lead to 4-2. They added another tally in the 76th minute when Roberto Gonzalez ran with the ball inside the box and slid it into the far corner past Chris Seitz.
The friendly ended in a 5-2 win for the visiting Spanish side. But D.C. United had plenty of positives to take out of the night, including first D.C. United goals for Griffin Yow and Quincy Amarikwa, and playing time for many of the younger prospects who play for D.C. United’s USL-affiliate Loudoun United FC.
D.C. United will return to MLS action on Saturday, May 25th when they travel to New England to face the Revolution.
