D.C. United vs. New York Red Bulls Player Ratings

D.C. United needed to get back on track after their loss to New York City FC, and in beating the New York Red Bulls by a 2-0 margin, it may not completely wash away the existing sins of the Black-and-Red, but anytime you beat a rival, it sure does feel nice, doesn't it?

Come and rate some players!

Travis Worra - 6.5

In the wake of this week's news that Bill Hamid resumed full training and that he could see time back in the net by the end of the month, Worra turns in a five save effort (including a Save of the Week candidate), and his third shutout in 34 days, and with four on the year, puts him in a tie for first with Clint Irwin and Zac MacMath. Nicely done kid.

Taylor Kemp - 5

On a night where Lloyd Sam would have been Kemp's marker, Sam sat on the bench and Kemp kind of had a marking of right sided attacking players by committee, had a couple of interceptions, six clearances and five recoveries. Offensively, had a key pass, but only connected on 16 of 32 passes on the night. Tied for the worst among D.C. field players, with...

Bobby Boswell - 5.5

11 of 22 passes connected, a won aerial, a tackle, an interception and a team-high nine clearances on the night defensively. Thought he and Kemp seemed to miss a couple of chances that Worra had to clean up, still a little concerned.

Steve Birnbaum - 6.5

Drew Bradley Wright-Phillips and kept him contained generally, had two tackles, six interceptions and five clearances.Had a key pass(!) and a 68.2 PS%, and won three aerials. Continues a decent run of form, hopefully Jurgen doesn't break him next month.

Sean Franklin - 7

Could have had an assist on the first goal, still wound up being the second most accurate passer on the night (85.7%), had a key pass and won three aerials offensively, and had three interceptions and four clearances defensively. Like Birdbomb, continues some consistently good efforts of late.

Lamar Neagle - 7

An assist on the second goal to go with a shot, had two key passes and three aerials won, connected on 20 of 30 passing on the night (including 12 of 15 in the attacking third), and had a pair of interceptions and clearances in the back to go with seven recoveries. Gets to play the guy he replaced next week, so there's that.

Nick DeLeon - 6

Connected on 23 of 24 passes on the night (and was perfect in the second half) for a 95.8 PS%, which led Black-and-Red folks. Had a key pass to go with it while adding two tackles, three clearances and four recoveries. Here's the map, which should hopefully reinforce that Nick's an eight:

Marcelo Sarvas - 6.5

Two shots, two key passes (including an assist on goal 1), an aerial won despite a down night passing wise (34 of 51), for him at least. Defensively, two tackles, six interceptions and 11 recoveries tied for the lead amongst DCU players on the night. Got the yellow card out of the way early, and I've already trademarked the pool for future Sarvas yellows.

Patrick Nyarko - 8

A damn pretty pass to Sarvas on the first goal, and put himself on the scoresheet for the second. With Neagle, helped run Kemar Lawrence out of the game, hopefully to get a Taxi. Four interceptions, two clearances and 11 recoveries defensively. Pretty much answered whatever question you'd ask about his appearance last week.

Luciano Acosta - 7

Three shots, one on target, a key pass and 82.6 PS% (19 of 23, 9 of 12 in the attacking third) which was third most-accurate on the night. Had a tackle, a clearance, three interceptions and five recoveries, mostly in his half of the field.

Did this too, which I named Luchoporn.gif:

Alvaro Saborio - 7.5

From my ratings post last week:

Two shots, one of which was point blank and skied over the bar, another where he could have just chipped it...I think we're done with this experiment, aren't we?

Jeez, don't listen to that idiot. Scored the first goal, and stepped up on the second to feed Neagle and got credited with the secondary assist on goal two. Led the team with four shots and two on goal. Also led with three key passes and five aerials won. Had two interceptions and three recoveries to boot. What got into this guy?

Jared Jeffrey (Sub) - 6.5

Came on for Neagle in the 63rd, had two tackles, three interceptions and a blocked shot defensively, had a shot and completed 3 of 4 passes offensively.

Julian Buescher (Sub) - 5.5

Came on for Acosta in the 74th, had a shot (on target), a tackle, a interception and three recoveries. Not a bad night.

Fabian Espindola (Sub) - Inc.

Came on for Saborio in the 89th, had two touches. Eh.

Man of the Match

Gave Nyarko the highest score, but an engaged Saborio (or something similar, cough cough) makes this team far deadlier, especially in contrast to his disappointing performance last week.