DC United welcomed the Philadelphia Union to a rain-soaked match at RFK Stadium on Saturday night. The rain poured down, and DC United and the Philadelphia Union traded blows in a 1-1 draw, thanks to a late goal from Jack McInerney. Despite DC United’s poor season, they are still playing with high stakes in the Eastern Conference playoff race. With the late equalizer, the Philadelphia Union have helped their cause, but the one point may not be enough with two matches remaining.
DC United looked ready to score some goals in this one from the beginning. DC United created several chances to score early on. The action started with a chipped through ball from Nick DeLeon to Luis Silva, Silva played the ball across the box, but to no avail. The Philadelphia Union were forced to substitute Sebastian Le Toux early in the match due to an injury, with Matt Kassel replacing him. DC United continued to create chances through Luis Silva and Chris Pontius, but they failed to put the ball into the net, but Nick DeLeon would come to the rescue for DC United.
Nick DeLeon would become the temporary hero. DeLeon placed a hard hit shot with his right foot into the top left corner of the net. After a “sophomore slump” season, I am sure the goal was a weight off his shoulders. Luis Silva should have added to the lead in the dying moments of the first half after a ball was played into the box and found Silva in open space. Silva put the shot high of goal though and the half ended 1-0 in favor of DC United.
The second half would open up with DC United continuing to attack the Union. DC had several early chances to score including a deflected shot from Conor Doyle that went wide. DC United continued to control the second half. Conor Doyle was played through past the Union defenders, and put the ball in the back of the net, but he was flagged offside. Kyle Porter would force another save from MacMath not long after.
Michael Farfan would pick up the first yellow card of the match after Sainey Nyassi seemed to have fouled Farfan, but the referee did not call it. Farfan then kicked out at Chris Korb to put his name in the book. Soon after, Farfan had a chance to equalize after he was played through, but he put his shot well wide of Hamid’s goal. DC United continued to fight through the final ten minutes of the match and attempt to hold onto their 1-0 lead.
DC United almost added to their lead after Conor Doyle took the ball around Union goalkeeper, MacMath, but the keeper would chase down Doyle and clear the ball back to Chris Pontius at the top of the box, but his shot was way over. The Union wasted no time in countering. After a few attempted slide tackles from DC United, the ball was played into the box to Jack McInerney, but Bill Hamid came up huge to block the shot and preserve their lead creeping toward the 90th minute. Jack McInerney would rescue the day for Philadelphia in the 90th minute of play. McInerney connected with a cross from the Brazilian, Kleberson, and headed the ball past Bill Hamid to make the match 1-1.
DC United looked ready to score at any moment in this match, which should give some encouragement to DC that a few off-season tweaks could put this team back to their standard. However, the defense continues to leak goals still, and after giving up the late goal, DC United move to 3-22-7 (16 points) on the season. They will travel to Sporting Kansas City for their next match on Friday.
