The MLS season kicked off for both DC United and Sporting Kansas City with a damp squib of a scoreless draw. United, looking for a winning start to their last season at RFK, were clearly missing the inventiveness of the injured Luciano Acosta, who they signed on a permanent deal in the off-season. One other change was Sean Franklin moving to the middle of defense, with Bobby Boswell sitting on the bench. This meant that Nick DeLeon occupied the right back slot, but he wasn’t able to provide the break outs from the back that were a trademark of Franklin when he played in that role.
Nothing much happened in the first 14 minutes...
..until a KC shot to the top left of the goal was tipped by a leaping Bill Hamid in the United goal. The ball then went down the other end, where the KC keeper, Tim Melia, dove down at the feet of Julian Buescher taking him out, and resulting in a penalty.
Which he then made amends for, by diving to his right to knock away Marcelo Sarvas’ spot kick, then leaping forward to block Patrick Mullins’ follow up shot. The game then went back to fizzling out...
...with the occasional moment of minor excitement.
The second half didn’t particularly change things, with both teams probing, but not doing a great deal with their possession.
Until the 66th minute, when a United corner...
...resulted in 2 headed goal line clearances by KC defenders...
...with the ball finally breaking to Marcelo, whose lob over the top...
...met the head of Jared Jeffrey, but it was too close to Melia who made the save down low. Three minutes later, Mullins was taken off and replaced by debutant José Guillermo Ortiz, who managed to make a few penetrating runs that came to nothing.
Not much of note then happened for the rest of game...
With both teams earning a point, which will probably be of more interest for KC.
