Philly is Lights-Out

Yes, it was BAD.

DC United started well against the Philadelphia Union but fell apart and was routed, 6-0, last night (September 27) at Audi Field.

DC's starting lineup and substitutions:

Forward: Benteke (Murrell, 65th)

Midfield: Peglow Peltola Pirani Servania (Zouhir, 75th) Stroud (Clark, 58th )

Defense: Antley Rowles McNaughton (Enow, 65th) Herrera (Dodson,58th )

Goal: Farr

Coach Rene Weiler started Farr in goal instead of Barraza, to evaluate him. He also switched some other players, leaving Hopkins and Schnegg out of the lineup.

It was a wet night, and some of the end lighting was not working properly. DC started the game with good possession, and the drums and noise were back in the supporters section. However, it was Philadelphia that opened the scoring in the 17th minute. Philadelphia grabbed a Farr goal kick just their side of midfield, and Mikael Uhre raced down the left side. The two DC defenders who tracked back did not mark properly and Uhre slid a cross to Bruno Damiani for an easy finish from 6 yards out. 1-0 Philly.

DC recovered well and had several good scoring chances over the next 15 minutes. Stroud hit the woodwork in both the 26th and 30th minutes. Unfortunately, in the 34th minute Uhre hit a shot that caromed first off of McNaughton and then Antley, deflecting over Farr to make it 2-0. Two minutes later, Philly's Milan Iloski had an open shot that Farr saved, but it went straight to Indiana Vassilev for an easy finish. No DC defenders were anywhere on the left side again. It was 3-0 at halftime. The drums stopped, the "sell the team" chants began, and some fans left.

The second half was more of the same. Iloski got a slight deflection on a shot to beat Farr in the 49th minute, and just a minute later Uhre fed Vassilev for an easy shot to the far post to make it 5-0. Farr went out to midfield with the ball to talk to Benteke, looking for the captain to light a fire under his defenders. Things were marginally better the rest of the way, but Uhre scored again in the 62nd minute to make the final score 6-0. There was no stoppage time, which seemed like a minor mercy rule. The main scoreboard erased the final score a few seconds after the game; I had to take a photo of the small scoreboard to capture it.

On the brighter side, our warm relations with Union supporters groups continued, as 30 of them joined our Screaming Eagles tailgate. The TV had Toronto vs Miami, and the Union fans were very excited when Toronto tied Miami and gave them control of their own destiny in trying to win the Supporters Shield. DC United certainly caused them no problems on that end.

Meanwhile, back at the other end of the leage: with Montreal and the LA Galaxy both winning yesterday, DC is now back in real danger of getting the Wooden Spoon (for the worst team in the league) again. Two games left. The last home game is next Saturday vs Charlotte at 230pm at Audi Field (note the early start).