2023 Leagues Cup Round of 32: Philadelphia Union 0-0 (5-4 pen.) D.C. United: Union survive in shootout thriller

The Philadelphia Union overcame a deficit in their penalty shootout to defeat D.C. United after the two teams had finished 90 minutes of normal time goalless in their Round of 32 tie in the 2023 Leagues Cup.

After seeing their first spot kick saved, Philadelphia watched as D.C. United handed them a lifeline to get back into it with a miss with the shootout -- and match -- settled by Olivier Mbaizo, who won it for the Union in the sixth round.

Victory sends Philadelphia into the Round of 16 where they will face their rivals New York Red Bulls on Tuesday night.

Story of the match

As the rain poured down on the Subaru Park pitch, Philadelphia had the first good chance after just four minutes were played.

Jack Elliott headed a pass forward to Jose Martinez and after a nice touch to keep possession, the Venezuelan sent a pass over the top to Mikael Uhre, but his shot was saved by Alex Bono.

With the rain stopping, Christian Benteke was the first to test the Union goal as he was set up by passes from side to side then watched as Jackson Hopkins fired one that was pushed away by Andre Blake.

Julian Carranza and Donovan Pines mixed things up in the box then created a half-chance when Martinez denied a counterattack aimed for Benteke.

That allowed Daniel Gazdag to push forward and chip a delightful ball that Kai Wagner raced onto. His curling effort forced the Black and Red to make a complicated clearance.

D.C. United was happy in conceding possession and playing a compact defense with five in the back and three in the midfield protecting them and denying Philadelphia many chances on the counter.

Carranza's long-range shot brought Bono off his line and a second opportunity from Gazdag, after getting on the end of a Uhre cross, was also kept out.

Chris Durkin and Pedro Santos both tried their luck with no success but in the final minute before halftime, Yamil Asad played a delightful through ball for Benteke and Blake came off his line to make a fine reaction save.

A 51st minute corner by the Black and Red was dealt with easily and at the other end, they made the midfield unplayable with their compactness to force Gazdag to drift further back.

Benteke saw another chance taken from him by a perfectly timed slide tackle by Elliott and the Union thought they had opened the scoring on 65 minutes.

Elliott was again the architect, sending a long pass over the top to Carranza, who chipped Bono as he raced off his line and battled once again with Pines with the ball trickling over the goal line.

The goal was waved away after it was determined that Carranza tried to keep Pines from clearing.

Gazdag then won a free kick which was played out wide to Olivier Mbaizo that went wide after ricocheting off to Carranza.

With quarter of an hour to play, Philadelphia manager Jim Curtin brought on Chris Donovan for Uhre.

The Union reverted back to their familiar 4-4-2 diamond formation with ten minutes to go, Jack McGlynn replacing Damion Lowe.

DC tightened the defensive pressure and were content to rely on their counterattack which ended with Mbaizo blocking from Benteke.

With the 90 minutes winding down, the hosts nearly won it. A corner kick by Jesus Bueno was sent into the middle of the box that saw two player knock it down for Donovan, who quickly turned and shot but it went well over.

The penalty shootout, the Black and Red grabbed the early advantage as Benteke scored and Bono saved from Gazdag, but Durkin blasted over with D.C. ahead 3-2 and Jack McGlynn evened it up.

With each team converting on their next kicks, Santos crashed his effort off the post to give Mbaizo a chance to win it, which he did.