Nashville SC rescued a dramatic 2-2 draw against D.C. United on Saturday night at GEODIS Park, clawing back from a two-goal halftime deficit despite playing the final stretch with 10 men.
D.C. United looked firmly in control after a ruthless first half. Louis Munteanu opened the scoring in the 25th minute, rising to head home and silence the home crowd. Just four minutes later, Lucas Bartlett doubled the visitors’ advantage with another header in the 29th minute, punishing Nashville on a second aerial chance and sending D.C. into the interval with a commanding 2-0 lead.
Nashville had plenty of the ball throughout the match and finished with 73.8 percent possession, 16 total shots, seven shots on target, and eight corners, but the breakthrough did not come early in the second half. Frustration began to show as Hany Mukhtar went into the book in the 36th minute and Bryan Acosta followed with a yellow card in the 55th minute.
The match appeared to tilt even further toward D.C. United when Nashville defender Silvan Hefti, already booked in first-half stoppage time, was sent off in the 74th minute. Down a man and still trailing by two, Nashville looked to be staring at defeat.
Instead, Warren Madrigal changed the night. The substitute pulled one back in the 76th minute to ignite the stadium and give Nashville a route back into the fixture. From there, the home side kept pushing, pinning D.C. United deeper and deeper as the visitors tried to see out the result.
The equalizer arrived in the 89th minute, and it was Madrigal again. His second goal of the night completed the comeback and capped a stirring final act from Nashville, who turned a seemingly lost cause into a deserved share of the points.
For D.C. United, the result will feel like two points dropped after such an efficient first half. The visitors managed only 26.2 percent possession but were clinical early, recording 12 shots and six on target. Still, they could not withstand Nashville’s pressure once the momentum shifted late on.
In the end, this was a match of two halves in every sense: D.C. United owned the first, Nashville owned the second, and the 2-2 draw reflected both stories. Munteanu’s 25th-minute goal and Bartlett’s 29th-minute strike had D.C. dreaming of an away win, but Madrigal’s late double in the 76th and 89th minutes ensured Nashville left GEODIS Park with a hard-earned result.
