Bittersweet; United clinches, but loses Astorga in 1-1 draw

Bittersweet; United clinches, but loses Astorga in 1-1 draw

All New Mexico United needed coming into the night was a point. Wether that be from Sacramento dropping points or United getting a result against FC Tulsa. Both of those things would happen, but it came at a cost for United. They will be leaving Tulsa as the Western Conference regular season champions, with home-field advantage, after the 1-1 draw. But in the process, they likely lost Arturo Astorga for the season, if not longer.

The last time these two clubs met, the match ended as a 3-3 thriller. The match on Saturday night started out slow, with United trying to keep the “Quill-ball” method at the forefront of their design. It took the yellow-clad United until the 18th minute to get a quality chance on goal. That first chance came when a thru ball split the back three of Tulsa, where Avionne Flanagan was free. Flanagan took a shot, but it was easily saved by the Tulsa keeper, Johan Penaranda.

Two minutes later, Daniel Bruce appeared to have shaken the net to give United the lead in the 20th. Nicky Hernandez chipped the ball to the Englishman, who did a superb job to hit it on the first time. The problem was that the flag had gone up for offside, keeping United off the board.

The scoreline would remain deadlocked at 0-0 until the 55th minute of the match. Directly off of a goal kick, which was caused by a Sergio Rivas miss, United regained possession near midfield and immediately pushed forward. Both Rivas and Bruce were able to head the ball forward. The latter’s header put the ball right at the feet of Jacobo Reyes. A quick turn and Reyes was able to shoot with his right and put the ball into the bottom right corner for the lead, 1-0.

Once again, after the goal, United seemed to switch off. They were conceding space at the back and allowing Tulsa to drive into the attacking third. With how they were backing off, it allowed Tulsa to take advantage of the open space at the top of the area and find an equalizer. In the 69th minute, Harvey St Clair made a great play on the ball near the endline to keep it in play, and crossed to Aaron Bibout in the center of the area. On the volley, Bibout lashed the ball into the top right corner of the net to draw level, 1-1.

As the match neared its conclusion, a major injury derailed the end of the match. In the 93rd minute, Arturo Astorga tried to challege for a ball off of a corner. As he came down, his left leg buckled and bent, prompting the referee to immediately stop play. Due to the nature of the injury, the clock was actually stopped as Astorga was being attended to. Astorga would need to be removed from the match and was carried off on a stretcher. Fortunately for United, they had not yet used all of their subs, and Derek Lozano subbed on to see out the match, making his debut.

Play finally resumed after an extended stoppage and the match came down to a last gasp attempt by Tulsa. In the final run of play, they sent everyone forward, including the keeper for a chance to score on a corner. The ball ultimately fell to Penaranda, who shot, but put it well over the bar, causing the referee to signal for full time.

Player of the Match

Jacobo Reyes – Reyes looked dangerous throughout the night before finally grabbing his fifth goal of the season. He found his way into space and put the ball past the keeper to give United a lead in the second half.

Up Next

With the draw, United clinched the No. 1 seed in the West. This will give the club home-field advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs. Before they get there, they still have two matches left to play. the first of those is their final road trip of the season. In it, they travel to face Orange County SC on Saturday, October 19. Coverage of that match will begin at 7 p.m. (MT) with the pregame show starring Adam Diehl and Andy Hageman. Kickoff will follow at 8 p.m. (MT). Catch every minute of every play all season long on ESPN Radio 101.7 FM The TEAM, The TEAM apps, and The TEAM website.