D.C. United are set to face Atlanta United FC for their 21st match of the 2021 Major League Soccer (MLS) regular season on Saturday, August 21 with kickoff set for 8 p.m. ET. United will look to get back to winning ways when they return to Audi Field to face Atlanta United on Saturday night.
In their last match, D.C. United lost 3-2 to the New England Revolution. United started the match on the front foot but were unable to recover from three goals scored by the Revolution in the second half. Paul Arriola scored the opening goal of the match in the 10th minute when Edison Flores picked up the ball in the attacking third and drove down to the penalty box before playing in Arriola, who placed his shot into the bottom right corner of the net. Felipe nearly doubled their lead shortly after, but his curled effort from the top of the box was pushed away by the goalkeeper. Jon Kempin made his best save of the night in the 27th minute when he dove in front of a cross to deny a tap-in goal by a New England attacker. United played a strong defensive first half and went into the break leading 1-0.
The Revolution scored goals in the 49th and 53rd minutes to take the lead. The first goal was scored by Tommy McNamara on a curled effort from the top of the box and the second was scored off a volley at the back post by Tajon Buchanan. Frédéric Brillant made the defensive play of the match when he lunged to clear the ball off the line in the 69th minute and keep the score at 2-1. New England took advantage of United pushing forward for the equalizer and scored on the counterattack through Dejuan Jones in the 85th minute. Ramon Abila scored his first goal for D.C. United in the sixth minute of added time when he blasted a shot into the top left corner with his left foot. United did not have enough time to find the tying goal and went on to lose the match 3-2.
The match will be the 11th ever time these two teams face off. D.C. United have an all-time record of 6-4-0 against Atlanta United and boast a record of 4-1-0 against them at home. The Black-and-Red will look to continue their prior success against Atlanta and earn three points on Saturday night.
D.C. United against Atlanta United FC on Saturday, August 21 at 8 p.m. ET will be broadcast on NBC Sports Washington and TeleXitos and can be streamed on www.dcunited.com.
