Philadelphia Draws Against D.C. United, 0-0

May 17, 2023

Chester, PA

In front of a full house, the Philadelphia Union held onto a scoreless draw against D.C. United Wednesday evening.  Despite the away venue and team injuries, D.C. United constructed crisp offensive plays and maintained a stiff defense.  For its side, Philadelphia was missing Jack McGlynn, Quinn Sullivan (UNMNT U20) and Jesús Bueno (red card against Colorado) and is started and substitutions selected in anticipation of the game against New England on short rest.

The closest  to a score occurred in the first half when Dániel Gazdag crossed to Joaquín Torres who swept the ball in, but the play was called offside.

With some notable exceptions, the team statistics mostly mimicked the score of the game.  Fouls, yellow cards, blocks, passing accuracy, shots on goal each were essentially even for both teams.  The few categories of team statistics that did diverge reveal something about the game’s story line.  While shots on goal were similar (Philadelphia 2, D.C. United 3), Philadelphia had a total of 16 shots to the visitor’s 11, evincing its greater number of off-target efforts.  Moreover, while passing percentage was essentially the same for both teams (Union’s 74.3% to D.C. United’s 77.4%), D.C. United had a total of 447 passes to the Union’s 370.

With the draw, Philadelphia dropped to 6th on the MLS East Table.  Next, on to the game against New England on Saturday evening in Chester.

Photographs of the match appear below:

Philadelphia’s Alejandro Bedoya looking for a pass recipient.

D.C.’s keeper, Tyler Miller, watching a Philadelphia shot glance right of the uprights.

The Union’s Kai Wagner stops D.C.’s Christopher Durbin with a clean slide.

Olivier Mbaizo subbed on midway through the second half and gave Philadelphia’s offense a shot of adrenaline.

Mikael Uhre sprinted to stop the through pass just short of the end line.

Jakob Glesnes rises above for the header.