Bruno Damiani admits to being frustrated over his goal drought with the Union

While the Uruguayan striker has picked up the slack in other areas on the pitch, goals pay the bills, and strikers are paid to score. They know it, and Damiani has been the first to say it.

Union striker Bruno Damiani (right) was limited to just one shot against Atlanta United on Saturday.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published April 25, 2025, 7:00 a.m. ET

As shiny as the final score was in the Union’s 3-0 win over Atlanta United on Saturday, that doesn’t mean all is well.

In particular, striker Bruno Damiani is in a seven-game scoreless rut. The most expensive signing in Union history hasn’t found the net since March 1, his debut for the club, when he scored in the final minutes as a substitute.

The good news is he’s leading the team in shots per 90 minutes with 4.0. And his expected goals sum of 3.8 — measuring how much he should score based on the quality of shots — is second only to Tai Baribo, the team’s (and league’s) leading scorer with seven goals.

But the ball has not gone in lately for the Uruguayan, and he is well aware.

“I’m not going to lie: Yes, it’s been on my mind, and I’ve been working on it,” Damiani said when asked about it this week, speaking in his native Spanish. “I got lucky to score early, but I couldn’t keep doing it. There are other things that the coaching staff values — the effort, pressing, fighting for second balls — but as you said, I’m a striker, and I’m a bit angry that I can’t score.”

Manager Bradley Carnell said after the Atlanta game that he isn’t worried, and those aforementioned values are some of the reasons.

“No, not particularly,” he said. “I mean, he does so much work — in and around our buildup play, holding up the ball, fighting, creating our transitions for us. A lot of our transitions are forced by him putting centerbacks under pressure, with our two strikers putting them under pressure.”

‘A striker’s goals’

Damiani certainly did that last Saturday, pestering young Atlanta centerback Noah Cobb into a misplay that sent Mikael Uhre on a breakaway. He had five defensive recoveries in the game and engaged in 16 duels, which is a lot even if he only won six of them.

But it’s always easy to get drawn into this argument amid a drought. (Just ask U.S. men’s national team fans, who are forced to deal with this far too often.) Goals pay the bills, and strikers are paid to score. When they aren’t, they know it, and they’re often the first to say it.

Nor does it matter how the ball goes in. As nice as it would be to hit a 20-yard smash, Damiani could score a tap-in from six inches against D.C. United on Saturday (4:30 p.m., Apple TV), and that will be just fine.

“The goals that I like to score are a striker’s goals — get to a cross, anticipate it for a header,” Damiani said. “Maybe not as flamboyant as other players [who] are more technical. But I also like ones that I can score when it’s least expected.”

That sounded similar to Baribo’s style, full of running, harassing, and jumping on any scrap that comes along. Damiani likely would have loved to score the goal that Baribo did against Atlanta, sneaking around Luis Abram while the centerback watched Quinn Sullivan’s cross. Abram knew Baribo was nearby, but didn’t know exactly where until Baribo jumped in front of him for a header.

That finish capped off a victory that snapped a three-game winless streak. The Union could have gotten results out of at least two of them — maybe even all three — since Inter Miami nearly gave it away at the end. But as Damiani said, “we were more of a reactive team than a proactive one” in those contests.

Against Atlanta, the Union (5-3-1, 16 points) were what they strive to be: “that team that no one wants to play against, pressing, and putting them against the wall.”

Up next

So it’s on to this weekend, a rare afternoon contest against a D.C. team with a lowly 2-4-3 record (nine points). But the visitors will arrive fresh off an upset win at their oldest rivals, the New York Red Bulls, and now have another regional grudge match.

The Union’s centerbacks will face their usual scrutiny, whether or not United star striker Christian Benteke plays. He suffered a quadriceps injury in that game, forced out after just 29 minutes. D.C. manager Troy Lesesne said Thursday that Benteke has “responded well” and is “a possibility” for Saturday, but won’t be rushed.

Then the strikers’ turn will come, especially with Carnell planning to pick his starters on a game-by-game basis. Damiani, Baribo, and Uhre know they have to build chemistry with each other, even if they don’t know who they’ll be playing next to each week.

Damiani admitted that he thinks he’s worked better with Uhre so far, partially because of how they played together when Baribo was away with the Israeli national team last month. But he believes it’s coming along with Baribo, too, and there’s no substitute for time.

“It might be a bit weird that Tai was out [of the starting lineup vs. Atlanta] since he’s the league’s top scorer,” Damiani said, a move Carnell said he made for tactical reasons. “But competition is healthy, and is good for the three of us. Whoever plays, we get how to make it work with each other.”