D.C. United (2-0-1) travel to the sunshine state this weekend to Orlando City SC (1-1-2). When the Black-and-Red were last in action they cruised through Real Salt Lake, 5-0 to capture their second win of the season and Bill Hamid’s third consecutive shutout of 2019. Wayne Rooney scored three straight goals against Salt Lake. He became the third Englishmen (Bradley Wright-Philips and Frank Lampard) in MLS history to score a hat trick.
D.C. United midfielder, Lucas RodrÃguez scored his first goal for the club in spectacular fashion on that night as well. D.C. United were awarded a corner kick in the second half, and Rooney played the ball across to a wide-open RodrÃguez on the outside of the box and the Argentine smashed the ball in midair and into the back of the net. His efforts earned him a nomination for MLS’ Goal of The Week.
During the two-week international break four D.C. United players (Paul Arriola, Donovan Pines, Chris Durkin and Júnior Moreno) received minutes with their respective countries. Durkin played in both U-20 matches this weekend in Spain against Japan (2-1 W) and France (2-2 D). The United midfielder, earned a start and played 64 minutes against France and was subbed on in the 46th minute against Japan. Pines also made two appearances for the U-23 team over the break. The central defender, started against Egypt (0-2 L) and was subbed out after the first half and was also subbed on in the 77th minute against Holland (0-0 D).
Arriola was called up to the senior team during this international break and made back-to-back starts for the USMNT against the likes of Ecuador (1-0 W) and Chile (1-1 D). Arriola played 77 minutes vs Ecuador and looked dangerous throughout his performance nearly scoring in the first half on a one-on-one opportunity. He again played a hefty amount of minutes against Chile and was subbed off after the 65th. Moreno had an outstanding international break. He earned a high profile start and win (3-1 W) against Lionel Messi and the Argentinians. However, his Venezuela side ultimately fell to Catalonia by a score of 2-1.
Orlando City SC hopes to ride the momentum after coming off a strong 1-0 victory against the New York Red Bulls last Saturday thanks to Sacha Kljestan, where he burned his former club with his first goal of the season. Carlos Ascues also did his part to ensure the Lions took all three points on the road by recording his first clean sheet of the season. This week, four Lions, including both Kljestan and Ascues, as well as Ruan and Brian Rowe, were named to the Audi MLS Team of the Week.
Sunday’s match at Orlando City Stadium will pit former Manchester United teammates Luis Nani and Wayne Rooney against each other for the first time in MLS. Nani made his debut as Orlando’s newest Designated Player in the 70th minute of the Lions’ home-opener against NYCFC. Santiago Patino, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft, also made his MLS debut for Orlando City earlier this month and scored the only goal in the Lion’s loss to Montreal Impact.
D.C. United will look to keep the momentum rolling this weekend in Orlando, FL by snatching three points from The Lions on foreign soil. The game will be broadcast Nationally on FS1 starting at 6:30 PM ET.
