D.C. United 1, Paris Saint-Germain 1
Zlatan Ibrahimovic descended upon D.C. United like the storm that sprouted midway through Saturday’s first half over the team’s friendly at RFK Stadium against Paris Saint-Germain.
Fierce. Uniquely beautiful. Brief.
The hulking 6-foot-5 Swedish striker needed only 2 minutes, 11 seconds to score in his debut for the French side, pronouncing his $25 million transfer from AC Milan as the centerpiece of the Qatar-backed club’s grand European ambitions.
D.C. United had other ideas. Needing to restore its rhythm after dropping two straight in league play, United answered Ibrahimovic’s strike, emerged with a 1-1 draw and showed the form of a team that was in first place in MLS Eastern Conference just a few weeks ago.
“I think it was good for the guys, most importantly, for the tie and the way we played,” said United forward Dwayne De Rosario, who tied the game with a 33rd minute penalty kick. “It boosted confidence. If we can play with teams like PSG, I think we can play with any team.”
But Ibrahimovic’s opening statement before the crowd of 13,176 won’t soon be forgotten. Put through by Jeremy Menez, Ibrahimovic drove into the box, cut the ball inside and faced D.C. United defender Daniel Woolard. With one more sliding touch, he moved the ball deftly to his left foot and unleashed a heavy, dipping, curving shot that torpedoed around Woolard and past diving D.C. goalkeeper Bill Hamid into the lower left corner of the goal.
“Ibrahimovic, he’s kind of special,” Hamid said. “He has a cannon with both feet, and he placed it right, lower side netting, and it what it is. You can get mad. I was kind of upset. It was two minutes in, but Ibrahimovic is class. Thankfully we didn’t give up any goals the rest of the game.”
The magnificent strike culminated an opening stretch in which the cash-infused French side was mesmerizing in possession. But the sharpness and fitness of D.C. United gradually caught up to become a formidable foe.
After Branko Boskovic narrowly missed a 25-yard free kick, Chris Korb found Nick DeLeon with a nifty chip over the PSG defense. De Rosario’s lofted ball to Chris Pontius in the 20th minute was even prettier, and Pontius appeared to have leveled the score only to send his volley off the crossbar.
“I thought our possession was as good as it’s been all year,” United coach Ben Olsen said. “It was because of the fact that we just played simple. We didn’t complicate it. We just got it to the next guy and gave the next guy more time on the ball.”
Long Tan, in his first RFK Stadium appearance for D.C. United narrowly missed with a header in the 23rd minute. His attempt was immediately followed by thunder, lightning and a rain storm lit in orange by a setting sun. The stoppage of play lasted about 45 minutes.
United was rewarded ten minutes after things resumed, when PSG defender Milan Bisevac played Woolard’s cross with his hand. The referee whistled for a penalty kick, which De Rosario buried.
Ibrahimovic, in his first competitive match since the 2012 European championship, was replaced by Guillaume Hoarau in the 38th minute, and PSG coach Carlo Ancelotti made wholesale changes at halftime.
United also adjusted but never quite relinquished control of the match. Ezequiel Lavezzi and Javier Pastore showed hints of the intricate passing that will make Paris Saint-Germain a Champions League contender, if not favorite. But it was D.C. forward Maicon Santos who forced a diving one-handed save by goalkeeper Nicolas Douchez with a curling free kick in the 55th minute.
Joe Willis, who replaced Hamid, then did two better than Douchez. His three remarkable saves in second-half stoppage time preserved the result: a desperate lunging stop on Kevin Gameiro followed by a double save, first on a long-distance ground ball by Christophe Jallet and the ensuing rebound from Mamadou Sakho.
“D.C. united played a tough game,” Ancelotti said. “They’re very dynamic, showed good football because they played from the back, showed a good ability to play, good organization. I think it was a good game for us, for our preparation, to find a team strong, fit, in good condition with good ability. It was an interesting game for us, and I think this game helped us to improve.”
