With the reigning MLS Golden Boot winner Christian Benteke sideways, Joao Peglow emerged as an unlikely hero for DC United and made a stag in a 2-1 victory over New York Red Bulls on Saturday night in Harrison, NJ
It was a long-awaited victory when DC (2-4-3, 9 points) snapped a four-match losing line and finished an eight-game run without a victory against New York, a ski that began in 2022.
In the Atlantic Cup Rivalry Matchup, DC also handed over New York (3-3-3, 12 points) its first home loss this season in five matches.
The goals for Peglow, a 23-year-old Brazilian wing who was signed in December from the Polish first division team Radomiak Radom, were his first two in MLS.
They came nine minutes, late in the first half, after Benteke went on the 29th minute with an obvious thigh injury. Benteke led MLS with 23 goals last year and has five this season.
Peglow’s first goal came on a goalkeeping assistant from DC goalkeeper Luis Barraza. Peglow led a bouncing ball back past a defender, ran down and shot a right -footed shot from the right side of the box to the lower right corner.
Then, in the 44th minute, Peglow fired a sensational side-setting bicycle kick from the right side of the 6-yard box and dropped it in the upper left corner. Aaron Herrera helped with a heading for a 2-0 lead.
New York retained in the 57th minute. Outside a corner park, Emil Forberg sent a headline over the box to Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who put the pass with the chest and ran a left shot in the upper right corner and cut the deficit in half.
After that, Red Bull’s best chance came in the 84th minute by a corner park. In a crawl in the 6-yard box, Barraza lunged to the peat to make one of his two rescues.
It was a satisfactory victory for DC and coach Troy Lesne who played a role in building Red Bull’s streak against their long -standing MLS rival, which served as New York assistant in 2022 and as head coach during much of the following season.
It was the 91st MLS match in the regular season in the series between two of the league’s founding members. No other pair of MLS teams have met so many times.
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