For the second time in a little over a month, D.C. United will play host to the Philadelphia Union at RFK this Saturday, May 13 for the second match of United's three-match home stand.
The Black-and-Red are looking to earn their second consecutive victory over the Union after defeating Jim Curtin's side 2-1 at home back on April 1. Both teams were searching for their first wins of the season, but United rode a strong first-half performance to grab all three points, finding the back of the net twice in the first 27 minutes to earn their first victory of 2017.
“It’s important to pick up points at home and overall it was a good performance,” head coach Ben Olsen said following the win. “Today was a gutsy performance, and we showed we have the character we thought we had.”
José Ortiz made his first start for United in ideal fashion, netting his first Major League Soccer goal in the 18th minute to give the Black-and-Red the early lead. Winger Lloyd Sam won possession on a miscue from Union defender Fabinho and played the ball back into the box to Ortiz, who scored his first goal after the resulting shot was deflected by a Union defender and looped over a diving Andre Blake.
Seven minutes after his first goal, the Costa Rican was at the heart of United’s second. Ortiz’s lofted pass, intended for Luciano Acosta, struck the arm of Union defender Richie Marquez, which resulted in the referee pointing to the spot. Acosta tucked the resulting penalty kick away to the keeper’s bottom right to score his first goal of the season and extend United's lead.
Philadelphia kept United’s backline busy in the second half as they attempted to draw level, but goalkeeper Bill Hamid came up huge and saved seven shots to keep the Union at bay. While Philadelphia striker C.J. Sapong brought one back for the Union late in the second half, United showed resilience to withstand a late Philadelphia rally and come away with a big win over their Eastern Conference rivals.
“They obviously had the ball most of the [second half] and were keeping us pretty pinned back, but we defended the box well," defender Steve Birnbaum said. "I thought we communicated well and stayed with a lot of the runners.”
The Black-and-Red have not lost to Philadelphia at RFK since the 2013 season and will look to extend that streak this Saturday, as well as regain some positive momentum after falling to Montreal last weekend. While United have picked up three important wins on the season, the Union are coming off of their first, a 3-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls at home.
Philadelphia will attempt to garner some momentum of their own in order to propel themselves out of the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings after a rough 1-4-4 start to the season. However, following the Union's shutout of the Red Bulls and Sapong’s hat trick last weekend, United know that they will still need to be at their best in order to stop a Philadelphia side hungry for wins.
“I think it’s a team that shouldn’t be overlooked by any means,” striker Patrick Mullins said. “I know they just got their first win, but I think that could have come a while back for them. They have very dangerous players, and I think Sapong is playing really well right now… but it is on us to respond and be on the offensive.”
