Preview of Game 25 - DC United vs Real Salt Lake

DC United, 14-4-6 (W-D-L), remain at home and hope to avenge their loss to Real Salt Lake earlier this season. United lost that game 2-1 and played some uninspired soccer that night in Salt Lake City. Remember, that was the night Jay Nolly got the start in goal and Rod Dyachenko started at forward. Let's hope we don't have a repeat of that disaster. United also clinches a playoff spot with thier next point. DC United is on an eight match MLS unbeaten streak (7-1-0), outscoring their opponents 20-5 in that span. DC United improved its home record on Sunday to 8-2-1 with a +12 goal differential. United leads the league in points per game (1.92 PPG) and is in 1st place in the Eastern Conference, four points clear of New England (1.75 PPG). United is also in 1st place in the Supporter's Shield race, four points ahead of New England and FC Dallas (1.70 PPG). United has played the same number of games as New England, twenty-four, and one less than FC Dallas.

Real Salt Lake, 4-6-12 (W-D-L), are among the worst teams in the league. However, they seem to have United's number. The game in Utah might have been United's worst performance of the year. RSL is awful on the road this season with a 1-3-7 record and a -10 goal differential. They are in 5th place in the Western Conference (0.82 PPG), twenty-four points behind Houston with three games in hand; and in 12th place in the Supporter's Shield race, twenty-eight points behind DC United with two games in hand.

This match will decide the Ben Cup. If you don't know what that is, look it up here. United doesn't have anyone unavailable as of now, but has three players (Fred, Gomez, and Olsen) sitting on their last yellow card. I was actually thinking it might make sense to have Gomez get a yellow on Sunday to get it over with before a tougher opponent. But I decided that was a terrible idea. Go get the points against the bad teams. RSL is a bad team. It might be Vanney's turn to sit this one out on defense. I expect the starting eleven for United to be Emilio, Moreno, Gomez, Fred, Olsen, Simms, Namoff, Burch, McTavish, Boswell, and Perkins in a 4-4-2 formation. Carroll, Kpene, and Gros all could get in during the second half.

With six games remaining, United needs about eight points to have a good shot at retaining the Supporter's Shield. If DC wins this game, then they only need five points from the five remaining games, three of which are at home.

Prediction:

DC United 2:0 Real Salt Lake