Wednesday night’s matchup with D.C. United was a great opportunity to keep the positive results coming after the Loons hit the brakes on their 6-game losing streak in Houston last weekend. It certainly didn’t hurt their cause to have Copa Canadians, Dayne St. Clair and Tani Oluwaseyi, back in the starting XI either. While there were positive moments for MNUFC to take away from this evening, they were overshadowed by D.C. United’s Christian Benteke’s big night, with the attacker delivering a gut punch to MNUFC at the death, stealing the win with a 3-2 result.
Oluwaseyi’s return proved to be a boost to MNUFC’s attacking efforts, although it wasn’t apparent right away, as the boys struggled to consistently possess the ball for much of the first half. Benteke wasn’t about to wait for the Loons to find their rhythm. In the 14th minute, he intercepted a misplaced Caden Clark pass for a breakaway run, beating Hassani Dotson and Bongi Hlongwane on the counter-attack to put D.C. up 1-0.
The clock struck Tani Time in the 32nd minute, as a Sang Bin floater would be redirected by a Dotson header to find its way over DC defender Christopher McVey to Oluwaseyi on the run. He hit the jets to set up a one-on-one showdown with DC keeper Alex Bono, and his left-footed laser brought the squads level at 1-1.
The physicality ramped up after that, with the biggest battle being between Benteke and Michael Boxall, who keyed on the D.C. attacker for much of the evening. D.C. appeared to come apart a bit in the second half, as the Loons' attack found some footing it lacked in the first 45 minutes. Teemu Pukki proved this after subbing in for Devin Padelford in the 72nd minute. The Finn didn’t waste time, smashing a beauty to the side netting to put the Loons up 2-1 with just over 10 minutes left in the match.
However, if the boys were unaware that Benteke is one of Major League Soccer’s elite goal scorers, the final minutes of the match made it clear. Benteke delivered the first cruel twist in the 90th minute with a well-placed header off a D.C. corner kick, finding defender Aaron Herrera waiting to finish it. 2-2.
Two minutes into stoppage time, the collapse culminated on another D.C. set piece, with Benteke front and center in the Loons’ box. He hammered it home, and the Loons walked off the field without a point, gutted by a game they had in their control.
As best he could in the face of such a stinging defeat, Coach Eric Ramsay would sum up the sick feelings in his postgame presser. “We have lacked that desire and killer instinct to close the game out, and there’s no one in there that’s going to disagree with me in that sense.”
For better or worse, the Loons have little time to dwell on this killer, as they’ll do what they can to salvage some positivity when they face San Jose at Allianz Field this Saturday night.
