Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. Unfortunately the Union couldn't celebrate the holiday with a win, so we hope they all got their Mom's something special to show their gratitude.
DC United came to PPL winless when playing away from home, and in true Philadelphia fashion, as our friend Stormin' Dan Gorman likes to point out on the DoopCast, the Union helped break yet another streak for their opponents.
Chris Rolfe fired a left footed shot past Zac MacMath in the 6th minute and United held on to the lead to make the Union winless in 9 matches. The last time the Union won a match was March 15th versus the New England Revolution.
Reviewing Union matches has been an exercise in creative journalism at best this year and this one is no different. John Hackworth started with Conor Casey and Andrew Wenger up top, and bizarrely Maurice Edu out wide on the left. The first half produced a few moments of relative note but DC easily held on to their tenuous lead fairly easily against what was again a toothless Union. DC United had a very questionable, and in my opinion incorrect, off side decision that disallowed an Eddie Johnson chip that would have widened their lead.
Hackworth replaced Brian Carroll with Danny Cruz at the half, which was an unprecedented move by the Union's head coach who is widely known for his predictable substitution policy. Cruz did what he does best and hustled his way into blind alleys and produced little more than the ever present sweat on his brow. He may also be the first Union player to ever shoot with his entire body instead of just a single appendage. In the 63rd minute Andrew Wenger turned sublimely and fired into an on rushing Bill Hamid who made a highlight reel worthy save. The rebounds allowed three more Union players a bite at the apple with Conor Casey's effort impressively knocked away by a prostrate Hamid. The sequence ended with Danny Cruz hurling his entire body at the ball with only a trip to the sidelines for yet another concussion evaluation. Those series of efforts exactly summed up the Union's season thus far. No matter what this team throws at the ball, it will just not go in the net.
The rest of the match can be summed up by stating that it was never going to happen, and for that matter may never happen again. 400 odd words into a match review and it's hard to define what happened in the match except that it didn't happen...again. This Union look baffled as to how to make it happen and the coach keeps swearing that it's going to happen. Perhaps the better question is what exactly is this "IT" that isn't happening although some people, Hackworth included, insist is on the verge of happening very soon. I decided that since it's simply not worth talking about another loss, perhaps we can just list what "IT" potentially could be.
IT could be this team finding their groove, which is possible, if unlikely. To the nay-sayers, I will remind you that it certainly not too late to go on a tear and make the playoffs. If previous seasons have taught us nothing else, it is that the MLS postseason favors those who save it for late.
IT could also be either Vincent Nogueira or Maurice Edu, or even both deciding that they no longer want to suffer this failing project and simply decide to move on during the summer transfer window.
IT could be that the Union's front office has finally lost patience with John Hackworth and decide a coaching change is in order.
Whatever "IT" is, something tells me that it will happen soon, and if past performance is any indicator, none of "IT" bodes well for the 2014 season's hopes of a post season appearance.