D.C. United goalkeeper David Ochoa made seven saves to frustrate his former team in a 0-0 draw at Real Salt Lake on Saturday night.
Ochoa kept his second clean sheet in only his fifth start for D.C. (7-17-6, 27 points) since arriving from Salt Lake (11-9-10, 43 points) in a summer trade.
The 21-year-old had made 42 MLS starts for RSL prior to joining D.C. but had fallen out of favor with Salt Lake manager Pablo Mastroeni prior to his move.
United remain last in the Eastern conference, but they are unbeaten in their last three including back-to-back scoreless draws. They have also earned at least a point in half of their 10 matches since former England and Manchester United star Wayne Rooney took over as manager.
Zac MacMath made three stops for Salt Lake, which missed an excellent opportunity to move closer to securing a postseason place.
Sergio Cordova and Anderson Julio came closest to scoring for the home team, which has been shut out in back-to-back games and remains only three points clear of the LA Galaxy for the seventh and final Western Conference playoff spot.
D.C.’s best chance of the first half came relatively early, when Ola Kamara was able to turn his body and fire a snap shot from inside the penalty area that MacMath denied.
Salt Lake eventually assumed control of the game and applied most of the pressure for its middle portion.
That included a flurry at the end of the first half. Pablo Ruiz and Marcelo Silva forced Ochoa into saves. Shortly after, he dove low to his left for arguably his best stop of the night to deny Cordova’s header in first-half stoppage time.
Kamara had another chance denied by MacMath on a well-worked counter attack in the 72nd minute, running onto Ravel Morrison’s throughball but lacking placement to beat the goalkeeper. MacMath also comfortably held Sofiane Djefal’s effort in the 76th.
Julio had a very promising header from close range in the 80th minute, but Ochoa was at his best there, sprawling to his left to push the effort over the bar.
–Field Level Media
