A back flip in Washington
Allan Saint-Maximin had waited a while for this one. The Frenchman arrived in Charlotte as a Designated Player over the summer, delivered five assists, and kept not scoring. In the 71st minute he finally did, and he celebrated with a back flip.
The finish was the hard kind. Ashley Westwood fed him deep on the left side of the penalty box, at an angle where most wingers look for a cutback. Saint-Maximin went for the far post with his left foot instead and found it. Charlotte 2, D.C. United 1.
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Eight games unbeaten, and the timing is no coincidence
Charlotte are 5-0-3 over their last eight, a run that began shortly after the 29-year-old signed. They sit on 43 points from 26 matches. Westwood, who scored the opener, had missed the previous two games through a combination of yellow card accumulation and a red.
His goal in the 22nd minute came from a Washington mistake. D.C. failed to clear a Saint-Maximin ball into the box, Westwood met it just beyond the penalty arc and struck it into the top right corner for his third of the season.
D.C. levelled in the 47th after David Schnegg was booked for a foul just outside the area. Keisuke Kurokawa delivered the free kick, Lucas Bartlett ran from the middle of the box and headed into the upper part of the net for his third goal of the year.
Kahlina keeps the streak alive
The number that explains this match is 34. That is how many shots D.C. United took. Kristijan Kahlina made ten saves, including a sliding block on Louis Munteanu in the first half, and Charlotte have now beaten D.C. twice inside a month.
For the hosts it was another evening of territory without reward. Sean Johnson made five saves at the other end. D.C. have won two of their last fourteen, going 2-4-8 in that stretch, and stay on 29 points. Their playoff drought sits at six years, the longest active run in MLS, and the arithmetic is getting unfriendly.
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