With reigning MLS Golden Boot winner Christian Benteke sidelined, Joao Peglow emerged as an unlikely hero for D.C. United, scoring a brace in a 2-1 victory over the New York Pink Bulls on Saturday evening in Harrison, N.J.
It was a long-awaited win as D.C. (2-4-3, 9 factors) snapped a four-match dropping streak and ended an eight-game run and not using a win in opposition to New York, a skid which started in 2022.
Within the Atlantic Cup rivalry matchup, D.C. additionally handed New York (3-3-3, 12 factors) its first residence loss this season in 5 matches.
The objectives for Peglow, a 23-year-old Brazilian winger who was signed in December from Polish first division staff Radomiak Radom, had been his first two in MLS.
They got here 9 minutes aside, late within the first half, after Benteke departed within the twenty ninth minute with an obvious thigh harm. Benteke led MLS with 23 objectives final yr and has 5 this season.
Peglow’s first aim got here on a aim kick help from D.C. keeper Luis Barraza. Peglow headed a bouncing ball backward previous a defender, ran it down and fired a right-footed shot from the proper facet of the field to the underside proper nook.
Then within the forty fourth minute, Peglow fired a sensational sidewinding bicycle kick from the proper facet of the 6-yard field, tucking it within the prime left nook. Aaron Herrera assisted with a header for a 2-0 lead.
New York retaliated within the 57th minute. Off a nook kick, Emil Forberg despatched a header throughout the field to Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who settled the go together with his chest and drove a left-footed shot into the highest proper nook, chopping the deficit in half.
After that, the Pink Bulls’ finest likelihood got here within the 84th minute off a nook kick. In a scramble within the 6-yard field, Barraza lunged to the turf to make one in every of his two saves.
It was a satisfying victory for D.C. and coach Troy Lesesne who performed a job in constructing the Pink Bulls’ streak in opposition to its longtime MLS rival, serving as a New York assistant in 2022 and as its head coach for a lot of the next season.
It was the 91st regular-season MLS match within the sequence between two of the league’s founding members. No different pair of MLS groups have confronted one another as many instances.
–Discipline Stage Media