Bill Hamid made a spectacular save from Cristian Casseres Jr., Frederic Brillant headed Tom Barlow's goal-bound effort off the line and D.C. United maintained their one-point lead over the New York Red Bulls in the race to host a home postseason match following a 0-0 draw on Sunday evening at Red Bull Arena.
Despite failing to register a shot on target, D.C. ran their unbeaten run and shutout streak to four matches, the latter marking a season high after Hamid kept three consecutive clean sheets to begin the 2019 season.
The result, combined with Toronto's 2-2 draw in Chicago, means D.C. maintains the fourth spot in East standings entering Decision Day Presented By AT&T next weekend, and need only to defeat last-place Cincinnati to guarantee a home game in the Audi 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs.
The Red Bulls ran their own clean sheet stretch to a season-high three matches, and visit now-eliminated Montreal to close the season. They could still secure a home match with a good result there, should D.C. drop points against Cincy.
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Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: If D.C. are going to wrap up a home playoff game, they'll have to do so without Wayne Rooney, whose yellow card will see him a card-accumulation suspension for the final match of the regular season. Quincy Amarikwa would appear to be the primary candidate to start at forward, since Ola Kamara has missed the last few weeks with a hamstring strain.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: The 19-year-old Casseres must've thought he'd poached his fourth goal of the season when he ran unmarked to the near-post to meet Marc Rzatkowski's corner kick. Instead, Hamid made a fabulous reaction stop despite fighting a partial screen on the play.
- MAN OF THE MATCH: Frederic Brillant. The veteran French center back has come up big a couple times in key moments for D.C. this season, including this Sunday. His game-saving clearance was just one testament to that. The fact that the Red Bulls had only three shots on target despite their dominance of possession was another.
Up Next
- RBNY: Sunday, October 6, 4 pm ET at Montreal Impact (TVAS, MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in the US)
- DC: Sunday, October 6, 4 pm ET vs. FC Cincinnati (MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in the US and on DAZN in Canada)
