Yes, you read that headline correctly. D.C. United traveled to Pennsylvania last night, and the team won. I done seen it with my own eyes. They won on the road—their first victory away from RFK Stadium in six games.
Despite being thoroughly out-possessed and out-shot throughout the full 90 minutes, United was able to disappear into the dank, putrid Chester night with a 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Union. After having dropped back out of playoff contention earlier in the week, the three points puts United in fourth place in the East, good enough (for the time being) to qualify for postseason play.
“It wasn’t the greatest performance, but we hung in there,” United head coach Ben Olsen said. “That’s what you’ve got to do nowadays.”
The game followed a similar storyline to other road performances we’ve seen this year, with United struggling to find its rhythm offensively while looking equally as impotent on the other side of the ball. No worries, though: the team was playing the Union, a squad in the dregs of a seven-game winless streak during which it had scored only four times.
United’s lone goal came in the 67th minute, courtesy of former Philadelphia forward Lionard Pajoy. Chris Pontius dribbled into the box, drawing Union goalkeeper Zach MacMath off his line. Pontius drew contact on the play, and could’ve easily gone down for a potential penalty kick, but instead saw the play out and found a wide-open Pajoy in the center of the area. After settling the ball, the oft-maligned United forward found the back of the net with relative ease. The tally was United’s first road goal in over 300 minutes.
The play began with a 30-yard pinpoint service from second-half substitute Maicon Santos. Though replays show that Santos may have actually been shooting—MacMath was well off his line and the “pass” took a pretty wicked deflection—the Brazilian confidently told us after the match that it was in no way a shot.
The player who gave way to Santos in the 57th minute was Branko Bošković, who for the second time in as many games found himself subbed out early in the second half despite having grumbled earlier in the week about his playing time and questionable fitness level. It’ll be interesting to see whether Olsen starts him on Sunday or chooses to bring him in later in the match— Bošković has arguably had his best moments this year as a substitute, and he looked relatively ineffective on Thursday evening. Then again, so did everybody.
True to form, United did its best to give the game away in its dying moments, but the Union were just, well, too bad to win this one. I hate to put it that way—and I’m obviously incredibly relieved that United was able to pull this one out—but this was by no means United’s best performance of the year. Far from it. Sure, the black and red had plenty of excuses last night: Dwayne De Rosario out for the season, three crucial games in seven days, a preoccupation with the risk of getting stabbed in the industrial wasteland that is Chester, Pa., whatever. The team will need to find its shape before it takes on Chivas USA at home on Sunday.
Or not—Chivas is terrible, too.
