DC United’s woes continued on Saturday night, losing 6-0 to the Philadelphia Union in the penultimate home match of the season at Audi Field. The Black-and-Red thought they found their footing in the first 15 minutes, but the night imploded as the Union rattled off 3 goals before halftime and another 3 in the first 17 minutes of the second half.

Wearing the Archive kits on a rainy night, the bad omens started before kickoff when Jackson Hopkins picked up an undisclosed knock in warmups and was replaced in the lineup by Jared Stroud. “I don’t hope that he will be out for a long term, but he found something during the warm up, some pain, and we don’t like to take any risk,” head coach René Weiler said after the match.

The team came out swinging, with several chances hitting the post or crossbar in the first 15 minutes. And it felt like the team was going to hang with the Union, who are atop the Eastern Conference. However, in the 17th minute, Philly struck first. Off a goal kick, Philly was able to corral it and go the other way. Substitute Mikael Uhre dribbled down the left and sent the ball in to Bruno Damiani, who hammered it home in front of goal.

17 minutes later, Philly struck again to make it 2-0. Another shot from Uhre from the middle of the box deflected off 2 DCU defenders and floats into the net. It was ruled an own goal on DC United defender Connor Antley due to the double deflection.

Two minutes later, it once again fell apart for United. Milan Iloski took a shot that was saved by Jordan Farr, but Indiana Vassilev was all alone on the rebound and slotted it home to make it 3-0.

DC United needed to regroup at halftime, but came out flat and Philly took advantage. In the 49th minute, DC United couldn’t clear the ball, and it eventually ended up on the feet of Iloski, who took a shot from outside the box. It deflected off a couple of people once again and into the net to make it 4-0 to the Union. Two minutes later, a DC United turnover led to Indiana Vassilev getting a second goal to make it 5-0. 10 minutes later, another breakaway off a turnover led to Iloski feeding Mikael Uhre to make it 6-0.

That was it for the Black-and-Red, whose implosion was complete. They had a couple more chances down the stretch to get a goal, but they weren’t able to capitalize.

“It’s tough, but that’s soccer too, and we have to accept it,” Weiler said after the match, visibly frustrated. The team was hoping for a better showing for the home fans, but it turned into their third time this season allowing 5 or more goals. Weiler said he “wasn’t surprised” by the lopsided result, and when pressed further about it, he was reserved in his comments. “I don’t like to analyze it deeper, but I saw the team before and I saw the team now during the six weeks [after] I arrived, and they made some steps forward and even today I saw a lot of good actions. But at the end you have to be efficient, you have to [make] the right decisions.”

DC United has not won at home in league play since May 3rd. That streak will complete 5 months by the time the team takes the field next Saturday against Charlotte FC in the final home match of the season.