After playing the remaining 62-plus minutes a day after the first kick took place, the Black-and-Red fell to Real Salt Lake 1-0 at RFK Stadium. Forced to resume play on Sunday after inclement weather and field conditions stopped the game in the first half Saturday night, the two sides played a quick 15-plus minute first half and returned to the locker rooms scoreless at halftime.
New acquisition Paul Arriola began to settle in, connecting passes with his new teammates and at times skipping past Salt Lake defenders. During the first part of the match, played Saturday night, the California native combined well with Marcelo Sarvas and worked space in front of the 18-yard box for a shot, but dragged his effort. Despite having only two days of training with the Black-and-Red under his belt, Arriola's two shots and two chances created showed promising signs of what's to come as the midfielder continues to grow comfortable with his teammates.
In the restarted match, forward Patrick Mullins replaced Jamaican Deshorn Brown in the first half after Brown was forced off because of injury. Mullins, who only played 20 minutes before the match since the end of May, provided an outlet up front, holding the ball and inviting teammates into the attack. The forward ended the night with one shot, one chance created, and one foul won, and will look to continue to up his production in the coming weeks.
After Salt Lake went up in the 64th minute through Luis Silva, the Black-and-Red threw on more offensive players, including recent acquisition Bruno Miranda. The young Bolivian played on the left and looked lively in his first career MLS appearance, switching flanks and cutting inside. Miranda unleashed one shot and finished the night with 100% passing accuracy in his debut with United.
"[Real Salt Lake] had very few chances, but made the best out of the one good one that they had," Ben Olsen, United head coach, said. "[Luis] Silva can do that, he’s capable of making the big play. We saw it when he was here. He made the play that mattered tonight, and we didn’t."
United now travel to Colorado to take on the Rapids on Saturday, Aug. 19, before returning to the District for matches against Atlanta United and the New England Revolution.
