Sometimes The Beautiful Game Is Brutal. (RECAP)

Heading into the match, Union were riding a wave of high expectations for their play against DC United. Their opponent was the team that the Union beat for their first MLS win ever. United was sitting in the cellar of the MLS with a measly 12 points from all matches. The Union, on the other hand, was only two points away from moving into a tie with Chivas for third lowest points in the MLS and just four points away from moving into a tie for sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

Instead of accomplishing any movement towards a playoff push, the Union put in a horrid show, falling 2 to nil to United. Failing to gather any points leaves the Union stranded in second to last place in the MLS and continues their recent five game winless streak. If one is to include friendlies and the United game, the Union are winless in their last eight and have managed to only take four points from those eight games (only three of those coming in MLS play).

The beginning of the game looked promising for the Union as their offensive play struck hard at United but could not find the back of the net. Then disaster struck when a cross into the box was not cleared by Danny Califf, who slipped and fell, was slotted home by United’s Danny Allsopp. From then on, the Union provided little magic and fans watching the game must be shaking their heads. “Today is another reminder that this is an expansion year,” said Kyle Shank, managing editor of sbnation.com’s Union blog, The Brotherly Game.

Rain poured on the heads of the players prior to the end of the first half, just causing more mistakes by the Union and little success outside of their own back third. Thankfully, United was not able to push its lead even further as the Union defense withheld assaults prior to half time. To sum up another half of Jekyll and Hyde play by the Union, Ben Feldman, also of The Brotherly Game, said, " And the enigma that is the Philadelphia Union continues."

Second half play did not improve for the Union. It’s possible that Moreno’s early substitution (injury) in the first half changed the outlook of the game but that does not excuse what was soon out on the field. Allsopp found goal for a second time and DC United was atop a comfortable lead, 2 to nil.

Once again the central midfield provided almost nothing for the strikers and Le Toux was forced to move everything looking to create. Mwanga was basically a no show because there was no steady stream of passes for him to do anything with. Coudet can be filed under “unable to perform” because he has shown absolutely nothing since the Celtic friendly and Fred may have been hampered by a slight injury. Miglioranzi still has not displayed the creativity or skill that made him into a Portsmouth player. The introduction of Nakazawa did little to quell the poor play of the midfield and basically signaled the end of any chance the Union had to return fire.

This team is missing a couple of pieces and it won’t be able to fully right the ship probably until after the season. However, it is most certain that the return of Shea Salinas is vital to the form of the team for the remainder of the season. His versatility and pace are game changers for the Union. It allows them to strengthen their fullback position opposite Harvey or to provide much needed width to their play in the midfield. At the very least it will force Nowak to take such names as Coudet or Miglioranzi off the field occasionally.

A collective “Ugh” should be uttered by Union supporters after today’s game. It is well deserved.

Zimmerman In For Fred In 69th Minute

Possibly the early injury affecting Fred too much to continue.

Allsopp Scores Second In 63rd Minute, DC United Up 2-0 On The Union

Allsopp shots from the left side of the 18 and slots it in the right side of the net to give United a two goal cushion.

Union Send In Nakazawa For Coudet In 60th Minute

Fred remains on the field, apparently healthy enough to continue playing.

DC United Up 1-0 On Allsopp's Goal In The 22nd Minute

Califf slips and falls in the box and ball weakly falls to Allsopp, who slots it home to give United the lead.

Mapp Comes In For Moreno In 16th For Union; Injury

Moreno comes off with a possible hamstring injury early into the game.

Union, Winless In Last Five, Face DC United

2 pm on the LiveWell Network or the 6abc "D3" channel.

The Philadelphia Union have come quite a long way since they last met DC Union.

What is currently considered a young expansion team was then but a game old.  There was some guy taken in the expansion draft who hadn't done much statistically for his former team, the Seattle Sounders.  A back four that had yet to become belittled by supporters because of not only poor defense but poor late game defense.  Some kid had not put a number 11 on his back until the game.  Kansas City had not yet found itself inclined to trade for an overpriced defender who could not even find his way into the Union defense.  This team had yet to win, mostly because it had only played a single game so far into its existence.

Then Union met United and we say the beginnings of many things that have brought the Union to where they are today.

A young expansion team won its first game, 3-2, over a team that currently is in the basement of the MLS.  Sebastian Le Toux scored his, and the Union's, first MLS career hat trick and led Union to their first win ever, as well.  Even though Le Toux put on an offensive show of force, the back four managed to nearly through away two points.  Shea Salinas entered the game in the 68th minute and showed his versatility and promise.  In June, Shavar Thomas was exchanged for two second round picks after leaving almost no noticeable trace of ability to play defense for the Union; Kansas City decided to take the overpaid defender onto its roster and mortgaged some of its future in the process - they were rewarded almost immediately with a defensive misstep by Thomas that cost them. This team had just won, only two games into its existence.

Unfortunately, there would be no winning streak or even a points streak for that matter.  The win turned into five straight loses which could easily have been expected of an expansion team.  After this streak, we knew a couple of things but one of them was not that the Union could pull off wins on a consistent basis.  Now the Union know that they have a possible MLS MVP in Le Toux, a possible rookie of the year in Danny Mwanga, a developing and talented youth within its ranks and a promising future under Piotr Nowak.

It has been seven games since the Union were able to take full points and over four months since they took full points from DC United.  The Union look to end that skid and take the season series versus United.

According to Ben Feldman of The Brotherly Game, the following are the projected line-ups for the United-Union game:

Projected lineups:

Philadelphia (4-4-2): Seitz; Harvey, Gonzalez, Califf, Orozco Fiscal; Mapp, Miglioranzi, Fred, Torres; Mwanga, Le Toux

D.C. United (4-4-2): Hamid; Burch, Talley, James, McTavish; Quaranta, Boskovic, King, Najar; Hernandez, Allsopp

Please follow the game over at The Brotherly Game, which will have a game thread where you can discuss the Union-United game with other Union fans; if you don't have time to watch the game you can read the important happens here in update form.