Philadelphia Union reversed their recent poor form with a dominant 3-0 over D.C. United in front of 18,463 at Talen Energy Stadium Saturday night.

Philadelphia and D.C. play all level in first 20 minutes

The first 20 minutes was a back and forth affair between the two clubs as they exchanged spurts of offensive dominance.

Narrative changes as Chris Pontius draws penalty

In the 20th minute, the games narrative changed when D.C. center back tripped former D.C. and current Union winger Chris Pontius in the box. Opare was shown a yellow card the foul as Roland Alberg lined up to take the penalty.

Just as he was about to strike the ball, Alberg’s stutter-stepped caused Bill Hamid to jump to his right leaving Alberg the entire goal to calmly strike the ball home for the 1-0 Union lead.

Ilsinho has large role in Philadelphia Union offense

In the 35th minute, Pontius nearly backheel flicked an Ilsinho cross into the net, but Hamid did well to parry the ball out of bounds with a diving save. It would not be the last time Ilsinho created chances for the Union offense.

Less than a minute later, Philadelphia received their second penalty kick on the night as Marcelo Sarvas laid a hard shoulder into Ilsinho’s chest in the box, taking the Brazilian down. Ilsinho lined up the penalty kick and hit a low hard shot into the bottom right corner past Hamid for the 2-0 Union lead.

Referee Sorin Stoica would go on to blow the whistle for the first half ten minutes later with the Union firmly in the lead. Possession wise, Philadelphia dominated D.C. as the Blue and Gold had 58.1% of the ball in the first half. In the shot department, the Union had five shots, three off target compared to United’s two shots, one on target.

Invigorated by their excellent first half, Philadelphia would come out for the second half looking to put the game away with another goal. It would not be long into the second half for Philadelphia to strike.

Philadelphia Union strike early in second half

In the 47th minute, Philadelphia earned a free kick in the offensive half. Alberg delivered a curling ball to the back post, where CJ Sapong managed to head the ball back towards the center of the box. Ilsinho pounced on the free ball and drilled the ball past Hamid for his second goal on the night.

D.C. United's Kofi Opare has rough night

United would try to make a game of it after the goal, but that task was dealt a heavy blow in the 65th minute when Opare was dealt his second yellow card for another heavy challenge on Pontius and subsequent red card.

It was the payoff of what looked like a concerted effort from Jim Curtin’s side to attack Opare with Pontius as well as Sapong. With ten men, D.C. were unable to get much going the rest of the game as Philadelphia cruised to a well-deserved victory.

After the match, D.C. United Head Coach Ben Olsen chastised his team as “just late to show up to [the] match in every aspect.”

From here, Philadelphia have a peculiar week. On Wednesday, Crystal Palace FC of the British Premier League come to town for a friendly. Then, on Sunday night, rival New York Red Bulls come back to Talen Energy Stadium for a second time after their loss in the Lamar Hunt United States Open Cup Round of 16 to Philadelphia last month.

D.C. have one game next week when Ben Olsen’s side must travel to MAPFRE Stadium to take on Columbus Crew next Saturday.

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