Atlanta United at DC United 7/5/25

Two struggling teams try to find some answers

Game Context

DC United and Atlanta United came into this match with the same “United” branding, nearly the same number of points, both on three-game losing streaks, and both running out of time to turn things around and try to make a run at the play-in game.

The difference is that Atlanta United spent an eye-watering $43 million in transfer fees alone over the past two windows, more than any other MLS team by a considerable margin, whereas DC spent just over $6 million, a middle-of-the-pack amount. That’s no consolation for DC fans, though.

According to the MLS power rankings, this featured #26 (Atlanta United) vs. #27 (DC United).

Formation

Lesesne stuck with his usual 5-2-3. Luis Barraza continued to start in goal behind Kye Rowles, Lucas Bartlett, and, for this match, Matti Peltola. With Aaron Herrera resting after the Gold Cup, Conner Antley started at right wingback across from David Schnegg on the left. Boris Enow and Brandon Servania started in central midfield. Jared Stroud got another start at winger, but the big news was that Christian Benteke started at forward for the first time since May 14th and Peglow started on the wing for the first time since May 31st. DC finally had its top two G+A players back on the field.

The subs were all like-for-like: Hosei Kijima came on for Stroud, Dominque Badji and Derek Dodson came on for Benteke and Antley, and then Randall Leal and Jackson Hopkins came in for Peglow and Enow.

Throughout the game, the 5-2-3 was played about as cautiously as possible. DC stayed in a low block and rarely offered any pressure in Atlanta’s own half. The whole game Barraza played the ball back in extremely slowly, like DC had a 1-0 lead in the 88th minute. Often this season, Lesesne has shifted to four at the back to press for a goal, but there was no increase in intensity when the subs came on. Atlanta was the one who pressed forward looking to take all three points.

Maybe Lesesne was right to play conservatively. Because they pressed so far forward, Atlanta almost gave up a goal on the counter even though DC doesn’t have the players to counterattack effectively. But Lesesne’s calculation seemed to have been to sit back, hope Benteke could get a garbage goal for a 1-0 win, and otherwise accept the point. It’s a long way from Ben Olsen waving David Outsted forward in 2018 with the game tied 2-2. Rooney said afterward he thought that was crazy (unaware, I think, that Olsen and not Ousted made the decision) but that was a coach who believed his team could push and make the playoffs.

The most charitable interpretation here is that Lesesne wanted the team to save its legs for the Open Cup quarterfinal on Wednesday.

Expected Goals

DC earned 0.8 xG compared to Atlanta’s 0.6 and outshot Atlanta 8-6. DC’s shots were split evenly across the halves, while Atlanta had just one shot in the first half for 0.02 xG. In the second half, Atlanta’s pressure yielded about half a goal of xG.

Atlanta had the highest xG chance: Emmanuel Latte Lath’s 51st minute shot that was from a dangerous position in the box worth 0.23 xG but was comically off target. Peglow got DC’s highest xG shot in the 64th minute, 0.19 xG, on his blocked shot from Matti Peltola’s awkward counterattack.

Player Ratings

Starters

Luis Barraza - 5 - He only needed to make one save, an extremely easy one, but he made it and came out quickly for a couple catches. I’m assuming he was following the coaches’ instructions in his languid speed of play. In the 88th minute, with time running out, he took ages to take a goal kick and then booted it out of bounds. Really summed up the game in one action.

Kye Rowles - 6 - He had two very nice line-breaking passes in a game that otherwise had very little sharp passing and was the only centerback I didn’t see make an obvious mistake.

Lucas Bartlett - 5 - Got the clean sheet and mostly played fine, but in the first half he mishit what seemed like a routine header deep in DC’s box, something that could have been catastrophic, but he was bailed out by a handball.

Matti Peltola - 6 - I still find him unconvincing as a centerback and think he should be playing defensive midfielder. He lost track of Latte Lath on Atlanta’s best chance of the game, but with the ball I guess he’s a lot better than Tubbs. Late in the game he started aggressively carrying the ball and caused Atlanta a lot of problems, which was nice to see.

David Schnegg - 5 - Until Kijima came on, I think Schnegg was part of every dangerous attack DC had, but with Benteke back on the field it was painful seeing him fail to find him with most of his crosses.

Conner Antley - 4 - Hit the crossbar on an early shot, so that was nice, but otherwise wasn’t much more than a defender on his side.

Brandon Servania - 4 - Pretty anonymous game, which is disappointing given Atlanta’s midfield seems like it ought to be vulnerable.

Boris Enow - 4 - Had some good moments early in the game, but then he and Servania started losing the midfield battle and lost it entirely in the second half.

Peglow - 6 - DC’s best player by a good margin and, probably not coincidentally, also the one who looked like he wanted it the most.

Jared Stroud - 4 - Last season I thought DC needed to bring in someone who was better than Stroud, and he’s a lot worse this season. He is not even remotely as good as Peglow, and unfortunately it’s not like Peglow is transcendent player or even a DP.

Christian Benteke - 5 - Typical Benteke game: sometimes good in the buildup and sometimes not, dangerous in the box, and probably would have scored with a few more chances.

Substitutes

Hosei Kijima - 6 - Looked great, though the play before he came on from the team in general and Stroud in particular set a very low bar. I’m not sure why Stroud started over him. Saving his legs for the Open Cup? Would be very disappointing to see Stroud start over him against Nashville (though maybe Gabriel Pirani will start over both of them).

Dominique Badji - 4 - Four touches in 20 minutes. Not really his fault, but not great.

Derek Dodson - 4 - Eight touches in 20 minutes. Maybe that’s for the best given his limitations.

Randall Leal - 5 - Seven touches in ten minutes. He had one really nice pass to Kijima, so that’s something. Offensively at least, much better than Stroud, but I think his low defensive workrate means Lesesne didn’t want to start him.

Jackson Hopkins - 5 - Didn’t have much of an opportunity but looked okay in the time he had. Could have won the game in the final seconds; instead shot weakly and missed the goal. Oh well.

Standings

DC maintains its one point lead in the standings over Atlanta and its position at 12th in the Eastern Conference (though Atlanta has one game in hand so they are tied in points per game), nine points below the playoff line. DC is 25th in the Supporter’s Shield standings.

With Christian Benteke’s missed time leaving him well out of the Golden Boot race, there’s not much to look at in leaguewide statistics. Philadelphia has passed DC in yellow cards and Houston has more finals, but DC is second in both categories. DC does a lot of defending so Rowles leads the league in interceptions, Bartlett in clearances, and Schnegg in dribblers tackled. Schnegg also leads the league in throw-ins, for whatever that’s worth.

Naturally, Benteke still leads the league in aerials won, but Bartlett has slipped to third behind Nashville’s Sam Surridge.

Coming Up

On Wednesday, DC goes to Nashville SC to play them a third time this season in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals. DC drew the first match in Nashville 0-0, then lost 0-1 at home a week before this Atlanta game. Nashville. There’s no real shame in that: Nashville just beat Philadelphia 1-0, are second in the league with 41 points, and haven’t lost since April. MLS put them #1 in the most recent power rankings. With Nashville thinking about the Supporter’s Shield race and MLS Cup, maybe they’ll look past this game?

After that, DC goes on a three game road trip, playing LA Galaxy, then Charlotte FC midweek, and wrapping things up against the Columbus Crew. Likely won’t be getting many results there, so an Open Cup win sure would be nice if it can be managed somehow.