Federico Higuain played the role of supersub for a second straight match, scoring four minutes after his entry by capitalizing on Antonio Delamea's poor giveaway to lift D.C. United to a 1-1 draw against the New England Revolution on Friday night in both teams' second game in Group C of the MLS is Back Tournament.
Higuain's 72nd-minute effort helped D.C. take a point from a second consecutive group contest, after he scored the first goal in a furious late rally for a 2-2 draw against Toronto on Monday in his D.C. debut. The former Columbus Crew SC man has now hit the net twice in 31 minutes for his first-ever MLS goals as a sub, after hitting 55 in part of eight seasons as a starter in Ohio.
Adam Buksa put New England ahead in the 51st minute with a powerful snap header after reaching Cristian Penilla's deflected cross. But the Revolution could not see out a victory that would've secured their place in the round of 16, hurting themselves when Higuain intercepted Delamea's poorly weighted pass back to 'keeper Matt Turner.
The Revs couldn't find a winner despite outshooting D.C. 18-6, and also added potential injury to insult when playmaker Carles Gil appeared to limp off the field when he was substituted in the 62nd minute.
Goals
Man of the Match presented by Heineken
Adam Buksa. Not only did he score his second MLS goal, but he nearly set up two more with his hold up play, one when Penilla forced a fully stretched save from Bill Hamid in the 61st minute, and another 20 minutes later when Gustavo Bou skied an effort from about 12 yards well over the bar.
Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: This was the 11th all-time managerial meeting between Revs manager Bruce Arena and D.C. boss Ben Olsen, his former player at Virginia, D.C. United and the US men's national team. Six of those have now ended in draws, including all three since Arena took the Revs job in the spring of 2019. Arena has four victories, while Olsen has one.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: New England seemed to lose momentum after going ahead, but they probably still would've found themselves in the knockout phase if not for a moment that may keep Delamea awake through the night.
- YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED: It may be the 25th season of MLS, but for D.C. it's 35 that is the magic number — and the age of their only goalscorers at this tournament so far (Federico Higuain 2, Frederic Brillant 1).
Up Next
- DC: Tuesday, July 21 vs. Montreal Impact (10:30 pm ET | TUDN, Twitter in US; TSN, TVA Sports in Canada)
- NE: Tuesday, July 21 vs. Toronto FC (9 am ET | ESPN, ESPN Deportes in US; TSN, TVA Sports in Canada)
