United took a record of six straight road losses, by a 14-3 margin, to PPL Park in Chester, PA, and came away with a 1-0 victory over the Philadelphia Union. It was the first road victory in three months.
The win moved D.C. United into fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings, jumping from #6 over the Houston Dynamo. Only five teams from the Eastern Conference will qualify for the playoffs. Most teams in the running for the final playoff spots have five remaining regular season games.
United has done very well at home, posting a 14-10-5 overall record. Ten of those wins have been at RFK Stadium. Of D.C. United’s final five games, only two are at home.
Philadelphia had most of the possession, but it was D.C. United that got the goal. Ironically, it came from Lionard Pajoy, who had been traded to United on Aug. 16. It was his seventh goal of the season, and five of those had been scored when he played for the Union.
He finished his chance, and then blew kisses to the Philadelphia crowd.
The scoring sequence began at midfield where substitute Maicon Santos found Chris Pontius with a long ball down the right side of the field. Pontius carried it into the box, drawing out Union goalkeeper Zac MacMath, and played it into the middle where Pajoy took it off his chest and hit a side volley past three scrambling defenders from 12 yards out.
Pontius, who leads United with 11 goals, picked up his fourth assist of the season.
“It wasn’t the greatest performance, but we hung in there,” said D.C. United manager Ben Olsen after the game. “That’s what you’ve got to do nowadays.”
For Philadelphia, the loss was the eighth straight winless performance. Four of the eight have been losses. The Union, ninth in the standings, still have a mathematical chance at a playoff spot, but would need a massive amount of help to pull that off. They could win their last seven games and not get into the playoffs.
“We are on the young side, for sure, and we haven’t learned to put the ball in the back of the net,” said Union manager John Hackworth, of his young team.
Adding to the frustration was the fact that the player who scored the game-winner was one that they had let go during the season. Also, Danny Mwanga, traded earlier this year, had just scored two goals a day earlier for Portland in a win against San Jose.
“This is a tough one,” said Hackworth. “Our team is struggling. We’re doing everything possible to be in a position to score and get attempts on goal. Even though we had some really good looks and got behind the defense too many times to not get something out of it. It’s tough.
“We’re going to keep trying some stuff, but at the end of the day, we’re going to have to start finishing some of thee chances. Otherwise, we’re going to have the same conversation again and again and again.”
Philadelphia actually had 68.5 percent of the possession in the second half, but went home without a goal.
Hackworth started the game by pairing two young strikers, Georgia native Jack McInerney and former Princeton standout Antoine Hoppenot up front. Neither could get good looks at goal. McInerney’s last goal came on July 29 in a 2-1 win over the New England Revolution.
Chandler Hoffman, the Alabama native who was a consistent goalscorer at UCLA, came in as a second-half substitute, but could not connect. The appearance was only the seventh this season for Hoffman
Eventually, Hackworth brought Freddy Adu off the bench, but he only got one shot at goal, and that was far over the top of the crossbar.
The Rest Of Major League Soccer
The San Jose Earthquakes, leaders in the Western Conference with a 17-6-6 record, are the only one of the 19 MLS teams to have wrapped up a playoff berth. They hold a nine-point advantage over the second-place Seattle Sounders.
The Los Angeles Galaxy, with a second-half surge, have moved into a tie with Real Salt Lake for fourth in the Western standings.
Sporting Kansas City continues to lead the Eastern Conference with a 16-7-6 record. The Chicago Fire (15-8-5) is second in the division, only four points behind KC.
The Eastern Conference, has been a tight race all season long. With the win over Philadelphia, D.C. United trails the third-place New York Red Bulls by only two points and is actually only seven behind Kansas City.
Red Bulls’ Henry Suspended
Thierry Henry, one of the marquee players in Major League Soccer, has been fined and suspended for one game for an apparent head butt of Kansas City’s Kei Kamara. That altercation will require Henry to miss the Red Bulls next game against New England, a game he had not planned on playing because the Revs play of turf.
The league did not announce the amount of the fine assessed against the French striker.