Two sides looking to keep their playoff hopes alive square off when D.C. United visit the New England Revolution on Saturday in Foxborough, Mass.
With two matches remaining, D.C. (9-13-10, 37 points) sits two spots below the Eastern Conference playoff line in 11th place, albeit tied with Toronto FC on points for the ninth and final spot. D.C. United have stayed in the mix thanks to a 5-2-2 run over their past nine matches, and a 3-2-1 stretch over their past six.
Most recently, the club is coming off a 4-3 victory against Nashville SC, one spurred by a pair of goals in second-half stoppage time by 22-year-old Gabriel Pirani to give D.C. its only lead of the match.
“We want to make playoffs,” defender Lucas Bartlett said. “We deserve it, and I think we’ve fought every moment. You saw the grit the team shows. It’s not the highest quality sometimes, but I promise you, we’re not giving up. I think a lot of teams have; we’re not one of those.”
Pirani’s brace against Nashville gave the Brazilian six goals on the season, second on the team behind Christian Benteke’s 22. Pirani has tallied four times in his past eight matches.
Benteke, meanwhile, can further solidify his hold on the lead in the Golden Boot race. He has a three-goal lead on Los Angeles FC’s Denis Bouanga, who sits second.
The Revolution (9-18-4, 31 points) are further back in the playoff race, sitting 14th in the Eastern Conference, six points shy of the line with three matches remaining.
A win is a must for New England; anything less and the club will be officially eliminated from postseason contention. To avoid that, the Revolution will need to break out of a 1-2-4 funk that dates back to Aug. 31. Their most recent setback came in a 2-1 home loss to the Houston Dynamo.
“Where we fell short is the details, and that’s the area of our team that we have to continue to work on — finishing our chances,” coach Caleb Porter said after the match. “We should have been up easily, 1-0 or 2-0, with the chances that we had and the way we played in that first half. We have to finish our chances there.”
Carles Gil scored the lone goal against Houston, his seventh of the season, placing him two back of team leader Giacomo Vrioni. Gil leads the team with 10 assists.
–Field Level Media
