While it wasn’t the most exciting night that the MLS has seen recently, it was a good match for DC United, as they drew 0-0 with the Los Angeles Galaxy at the Home Depot Center. United played better than last week in Portland, and the young defense (with three rookies starting) has continued to hold up well. The average age of DC United’s starting line-up was 24 years old.
The first half started out well. DC did a good job not giving up an early goal, something that probably would have happened last year. There was not a lot of offensive chances, but the defense held strong. Because of the Gold Cup, Los Angeles was without Landon Donovan and Donovan Ricketts, and then a late injury resulted in Juan Pablo Angel being scratched from the lineup which greatly weakened the Galaxy’s offense.
In the second half, more offensive chances were made by DC to try to take the lead. Andy Najar collected a pass from the air and placed a great ball off a volley into the box that Josh Wolff narrowly missed putting in the goal. Najar also had a great shot that Galaxy backup keeper Josh Saunders saved. Then, with around ten minutes left in the match, Charlie Davies got around LA’s Omar Gonzales and kicked an off balance shot that went right of the goal. It was safe to say that DC had the better chances throughout the match, but unfortunately just couldn’t finish them. The defense kept Bill Hamid’s night easy as the keeper got his third shut out of the year.
Friday night’s draw temporarily puts DC solely in third place in the Eastern Conference with a 4-4-4 record (16 points). Los Angeles still remains at the top of the Western Conference standings with an 8-2-6 record (30 points). While it looks like LA’s lead over everyone else is enormous, they have played the most amount of MLS matches this year (16).
**Last night was the first match that DC United played in all red. I thought the red kits looked great, and I hope they use them more in the future. One of the team’s nicknames is “The Black and Red.” Therefore, I think using the red kit is quite appropriate.
(image courtesy of Victor Decolongon/Getty Images)
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