Metro comes back from two down to tie Scum
April 11, 2015
67 minutes in, it all looked lost. DC just doubled their lead, and Metro seemed dead for the last half hour. Two goals down, on the road? It seemed impossible.
Tonight, impossible proved to be just improbable as Metro scored two late goals, including one by Lloyd Sam int he dying minutes, to tie the Scum 2:2. No, it wasn't a win, but all things considering, it sure felt like one.
Jesse Marsch made changes from the team that beat Columbus two weeks ago, both along the left side. Kemar Lawrence returned from international duty to take over for Anthony Wallace, and Mike Grella stepped in for Sal Zizzo.
Metro owned the first 20 minutes of the game, looking like world-beaters... if only they could finish. Instead, Bradley Wright-Phillips and Sacha Kljestan opted for passes inside the box, where a shot might have been a better idea. A clear hand ball on the Scum in the penalty area was also not called.
And then, in the 26th minute, completely against the run of play, the Scum swung a corner kick in, Perry Kitchen was left completely unmarked, and DC went top 1:0.
Something happened at that point; this supposed up-temp, high-pressure team retreated into its shell like a frightened turtle. Whatever happened early in the game was forgotten. The attack became flaccid. This carried into the second half, and that 67th minute, when a Kitchen shot from outside the box somehow pierced the entire Metro defense and found home in the bottom left corner of the net.
And then, the game turned again. Immediately on the other end, Felipe swung a corner kick that Damien Perrinelle headed in for his first Metro goal. The removal of useless-again Grella and the later insertion of Dane Richards seemed to energize the squad. In the last minute of regulation, Kljestan won a free kick outside the box. He placed the shot directly at Bill Hamid, but the Scum goalkeeper failed to hold the ball. It dropped to an unmarked Sam, who tied the match.
If only this team could play at its best for the entire 90 minutes...
Lineup: Robles, Lawrence, Perrinelle, Miazga, Duvall, McCarty, Martins, Kljestan, Grella, Sam, Wright-Phillips. Subs: Zizzo, Richards.
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