New York Red Bulls (regular season)
- Record: 18-10-6, 1st in the Eastern Conference
- Previous Match: 2-1 win vs. Chicago Fire, away
- Leading Goal Scorer: Bradley Wright-Phillips (17)
- Assist Leader: Sacha Kljestan (14)
- Saves Leader: Luis Robles (86)
- Last Playoff Appearance: Knocked out in Eastern Conference Finals by New England Revolution
D.C. United (regular season)
- Record: 15-13-6, 4th in the Eastern Conference
- Previous Match: 2-1 win vs. New England Revolution in knockout round, home
- Leading Goal Scorer: Chris Rolfe (10)
- Assist Leader: Fabian Espindola (7)
- Saves Leader: Bill Hamid (101)
- Last Playoff Appearance: Knocked out in Eastern Conference Semifinals by New York Red Bulls
Scouting D.C.
D.C. United finished the regular season with a -2 goal difference, which speaks both to offensive and defensive struggles. The 43 goals they scored made them the 7th-least prolific team in the league, though the 45 they conceded was around a league average. Though they netted 6 against Real Salt Lake in August and 3 against Chicago in June, their goals per game average ended up at only 1.26. But you can’t score goals if you don’t take shots, and D.C. United took only 373 shots this season. That’s tied for second-lowest in the league. For comparison, D.C.’s leading goalscorer (Chris Rolfe) and New York’s leading goalscorer (Bradley Wright-Phillips) took 64 and 113 shots, respectively. The second-leading on each team, Fabian Espindola and Sacha Kljestan, took a respective 45 and 58.
Keeping Calm
Both starting goalkeepers have been incredibly essential to their teams’ seasons. Bill Hamid finished D.C.’s regular season with 101 saves (5th most in the league), a 77.69 save percentage (6th highest in the league), and 8 clean sheets. He was also nominated for Save of the Week 5 times.
Hamid is largely the reason this Red Bulls-D.C. matchup is even possible. In D.C.’s most recent match, a knockout round victory over the New England Revolution, Hamid’s back-to-back saves in one-on-ones with the Revolution’s Kelyn Rowe kept it a one-goal game. Later in the game, his stop on Jermaine Jones saved D.C.’s lead – although it would’ve been nice for the Red Bulls had the game been pushed to extra time. However, all of D.C.’s recent losses have come against teams that press: their 5-0 loss to the Columbus Crew in the last match of the regular season, as well as a 2-0 loss to the Montreal Impact and a 2-1 loss to the Columbus Crew. This means that there’s still room for a team like the Red Bulls to give Hamid some trouble, just as their 7 goals across 7 meetings have already this year.
For the Red Bulls, Luis Robles has been a sturdy presence all season, logging 86 saves, a 66.67 save percentage, and 9 clean sheets. Their last clean sheet was the 2-0 win over the Portland Timbers on September 20, and they didn’t concede in 2 of their 3 regular season games against D.C. as well. He too is no stranger to double-saves, making what some already hailed Save of the Year against Portland to keep that September 20 clean sheet. All in all, he helped the Red Bulls get to a record-breaking 18 wins.
