Charlotte FC triumphed, 2-1, after Louis Munteanu’s late effort was controversially ruled out.
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D.C. United’s road to the playoffs seemed doable enough entering Saturday night’s meeting with Charlotte FC at Audi Field — no small miracle for a team that had won two MLS matches since early May. But upon further scrutiny, the path is more perilous than it appears.
Six of United’s final nine games are on the road. The next two opponents — the Vancouver Whitecaps and Inter Miami — are among the league’s elite. For a D.C. team concluding a three-game home stand, there was no time like the present to close that three-point gap on the ninth and final Eastern Conference playoff slot.
Instead, United came up empty.
Allan Saint-Maximin netted the 71st-minute winner for Charlotte as D.C. fell, 2-1, on a day it surrendered 55 percent of the possession but outshot the visitor 34-10.
“We need more,” United captain Lucas Bartlett said. “We’ve got to win games.”
Bartlett headed home an equalizer early in the second half for the host, negating a highlight-reel strike from Charlotte captain Ashley Westwood.
United (6-8-11), mired in a 1-3-4 rut, travels to face Western Conference leader Vancouver next Saturday. Coming off a last-place finish a year ago, D.C. is on track to miss the playoffs for the seventh straight season.
“I never spoke about the playoffs, and I don’t start to speak about the playoffs,” United Coach René Weiler said. “We did a huge step forward. We don’t have to speak about the targets. We have to build a new team, a new culture, and we did it. And maybe we will be ready next season.”
The opener came in the 22nd minute, when Westwood homed in on a half-clearance by United winger João Peglow and curled in a 25-yard one-timer.
But Bartlett drew D.C. level two minutes into the second half. Kimito Nono drew a foul on former United defender David Schnegg in a dangerous spot, and Keisuke Kurokawa whipped the set piece into the goalmouth. Bodying Charlotte defender Tim Ream — the U.S. captain at the World Cup this past summer — Bartlett rose to nod home his third goal of the season.
Saint-Maximin notched the decisive goal with 19 minutes remaining. Beating United defender Kye Rowles to the end line, the winger fired a left-footed shot that defied the tight angle and sneaked past goalkeeper Sean Johnson.
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D.C. nearly netted an immediate response. Louis Munteanu lashed a shot from the top of the box that hit the crossbar, ricocheted straight down and caromed away as United appealed for referee Armando Villarreal to award a goal.
Replays showed the ball either crossed the line or missed doing so by millimeters. But the angle wasn’t clear enough for the video assistant referee to intervene, and MLS doesn’t deploy goal line technology — leaving Villarreal to uphold the no-goal ruling on the field.
“We deserve more,” Weiler said. “We scored two goals, and only one counted.”
“It’s pretty crazy, actually, that we don’t have goal line technology,” Bartlett added. “We’ve got a billion-dollar franchise right now. So I don’t know if it was in. Regardless, it shouldn’t be in the hands of somebody to see a clip like that. So maybe it was the right call.”
Charlotte could have gone into halftime up more. Johnson made a trio of strong saves on Liel Abada, including a spectacular reaction stop in the 36th minute. Before scoring, Westwood hooked one golden opportunity wide.
The home side also had its fair share of first-half chances. Charlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina did well to snare Andre Dozzell’s long-range bid, Rowles’s snap header and Jackson Hopkins’s deflected shot. But it was Munteanu who repeatedly threatened, forcing Kahlina into a 25th-minute kick save before sending a point-blank volley over the bar and bending a long-range shot just wide.
United piled on the second-half pressure after Bartlett’s tally galvanized the announced crowd of 15,073. Munteanu glanced a header inches wide. Tai Baribo struck woodwork on a left-footed screamer. Peglow’s curler was off the mark. Brandon Servania rifled wide from long range.
After Saint-Maximin interrupted the onslaught to put Charlotte ahead and Munteanu’s would-be equalizer was ruled out, United didn’t come close again.
“Everybody saw it except [the] ref,” Baribo said. “This is unbelievable. You’re fighting 90 minutes, you’re fighting the whole season, and then they don’t see simple goal. But it is what it is. We lost the game. We’re still fighting for the playoffs, and we hope to make it.”
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