Christian Benteke scored his fourth goal of the season and helped set up another, and D.C. United held on for a 2-2 draw at St. Louis City on Saturday night.
Ted Ku-DiPietro also scored for D.C. (1-1-3, 6 points), which has drawn in all three of its away matches under first-year coach Troy Lesesne.
Alex Bono made six stops for D.C., including a crucial denial of Nokkvi Thorisson from close range in second-half stoppage time.
Defender Josh Yaro scored his first career MLS goal in his 42nd appearance across portions of five seasons on a header from an early St. Louis corner kick in the 19th minute. And Joao Klauss converted his first goal of the campaign from the penalty spot to pull the hosts level after halftime.
But St. Louis (1-0-4, 7 points) failed to come close to a winner aside from Thorisson’s chance, and drew for a third straight time in which each team scored at least twice.
The connection between Jared Stroud on the right flank and Benteke at center forward was at the heart of both D.C. goals as the Black-and-Red turned an early deficit into a halftime lead.
On the first, it was a quick ball wide to Stroud and then just as quickly a high, driven cross onto Benteke’s head. Roman Burki reacted well to push the initial header onto the crossbar, but Ku-DiPietro was first to the rebound to tap it into an open goal from close range.
On the second, Stroud had more time to size up his cross after Mateusz Klich sprang him free with a clever first-touch pass. And Benteke this time got to put home off the low cross himself with an easy right-footed effort from close range.
But Klauss salvaged a point for the home side on a penalty that was awarded following a video review that showed D.C.’s Conner Antley had missed a clearance attempt and clattered into Celio Pompeu just inside the corner of the penalty area.
The spot kick marked Klauss’ first time scoring since his ninth and 10th goals of the 2023 campaign on Sept. 30 in a 4-1 win over Sporting Kansas City.
–Field Level Media
