The secret is out: Bill Hamid is a pretty good goalkeeper. After a rare mistake D.C. United’s star goalkeeper put the club on his back on Sunday afternoon at Red Bull Arena. Despite going down two goals early to the New York Red Bulls Hamid and United would claw their way back and earn a 2-2 draw and the Atlantic Cup.
The Red Bulls took the lead thanks to goals by midfielder Gonzalo Veron and forward Bradley Wright-Phillips. United would secure the draw thanks to late goals by defender Steve Birnbaum and midfielder Lamar Neagle. The draw puts United (7-9-12, 33 points) level on points with the New England Revolution (8-12-9, 33 points) and narrows the gap with Orlando City SC (7-7-13, 34 points) for the sixth and final playoff spot.
For the first 89 minutes or so it looked United’s playoff chances were slim to none. Although Red Bulls coach Jessie Marsch came out with a 4-5-1 midfielders Daniel Royer and Sasha Kjlestan were pressing the United defense almost as forwards. Royer and Kjlestan worked seamlessly with Wright-Phillips to keep United on their heels for large portions of the match. Whether it was through disrupting passes or by directly engaging Sean Franklin and Taylor Kemp and keeping them from building a counter-attack, the Red Bulls had a stranglehold on their rivals.
In the 35th minute the Red Bulls were finally able to break through. Red Bulls midfielder Felipe laced in a pass for Kjlestan, whose cross would deflect off of Hamid and go directly towards Veron. Veron would head home his chance and give the Red Bulls the early advantage. The goal was Veron’s third of the season.
New York very nearly went up by before halftime when Kjlestan would a thunder bolt right at the United goal. The USMNT midfielder picked up a pass from Royer and gave himself space by using a slight stutter step to get United center-back Bobby Boswell to fall down. Although Kjlestan’s shot was certainly looking like it would go in United’s goalpost had different ideas denying him his sixth of the 2016 campaign. He would actually be denied in the second half as well by the goalpost on the opposite end as well, at least creating some form of karma.
In the second half it appeared that the Red Bulls would coast to their thirteenth win of the season. With Royer, Kjlestan, and Wright-Phillips bearing down on the United defense the Red Bulls dominated not just possession but also the tempo of the match. Any United opportunity would be met in kind with a far more dangerous Red Bulls chance. The Red Bulls appeared to pull away for good in the 53rd minute when Wright-Phillips would go high to beat Hamid and give New York the 2-0 lead. Hamid appeared to make a mistake in guessing that Wright-Phillips would go low and thus gave the former Charlton striker all the room that he needed to capitalize.
That miscue seemed to galvanize Hamid, who responded by repeatedly stopping any and all Red Bulls chances for the remainder of the match. In the 56th minute Wright-Phillips would hit low curling shot from the top left corner of the eighteen yard box that appeared to be destined for the back of the net. However, Hamid would guess correctly this time and use his finger tips to push the chance wide.
In the 73rd minute Kjlestan would have another chance to score thanks to a diagonal pass from Royer in between United defenders. Kjlestan’s shot looked promising but once again would be there to make the stop. Hamid would have five saves on the day and played a major role in
With Hamid giving them a second life, United’s field players made sure that his efforts were not in vain. In the 89th minute Steve Birnbaum would knock him D.C.’s first goal of the match, collecting his own rebound off of a save from goalkeeper Luis Robles. Birnbaum, who was playing in his first since playing with the USMNT, would coolly deposit his third goal of the season into the back of the net.
United were not done yet. In the third minute of stoppage of time Neagle would head home the equalizer off of a corner kick taken by Julian Buscher. It appeared that United were a bit lucky on the proceeding call as video replay showed Boswell hitting the ball out of bounds as opposed to Robles. The goal was Neagle’s fifth of the season.
D.C. United will look to enhance their playoff chances on Friday when they travel to Bridgeview to take on the Chicago Fire (8pm EST UNiMas). The Red Bulls meanwhile will host Alianza on Wednesday in the CONCACAF Champions League (8pm EST UDN, Facebook).
D.C. United-Bill Hamid, Taylor Kemp, Bobby Boswell, Steve Birnbaum, Sean Franklin (Luke Mishu 64′) , Marcelo, Patrick Nyarko, Rob Vincent (Julian Buscher 53′), Nick De Leon, Lloyd Sam (Lamar Neagle 59′), and Patrick Mullins
Goals- Birnbaum (89′) and Neagle (90′ +5′)
Yellow Cards- Vincent (24′), Sam (34′), and Buescher (68′)
New York Red Bulls-Luis Robles, Kemar Lawrence, Aurelien Collin, Ronald Zubar (Damien Perrinelle 5′), Chris Duvall, Sean Davis, Felipe, Gonzalo Veron (Sal Zizzo 65′), Sacha Kjlestan, Daniel Royer (Derrick Etienne Jr. 86′), and Bradley Wright-Phillips.
Goals- Veron (35′), Wright-Phillips (53′)
Yellow Cards-
Red Cards-
