Defense was apparently at too high a premium in the first half of tonight's match between D.C. United and the Philadelphia Union. The Eastern Conference rivals split four goals in the first half hour of a thrilling match and have gone to the half tied 2-2.
The homestanding Union had the better of the early pressure and broke through after just four minutes when a long ball from near the halfway line deflected off the back of Ethan White and bounced into the path of Sebastien Le Toux, who took the ball on the run and finished past Bill Hamid. Eleven minutes later, Le Toux doubled the Union's lead when he redirected a beautiful curling cross from Michael Farfan past Hamid and into the net.
At this point, a reprise of either United's 4-0 away defeat at Houston back in April or the 3-0 loss to Seattle on September 17 seemed to be a real possibility. But the visitors redoubled their attacking efforts and won two consecutive corners, the last of which was headed into the net in the 22nd minute by Dwayne De Rosario for his 14th goal of the season and his 11th in a D.C. United uniform.
Eight minutes later, United equalized through Andy Najar, after the Honduran international was allowed to take a rollout from Bill Hamid and run the length of the pitch unmolested before slamming a right-footed shot past Zac MacMath from the edge of the penalty area.
Philadelphia had a chance to retake the lead, but Carlos Valdes couldn't redirect Sheanon Williams' cushion header into the net from a free kick in the 40th minute. A couple of minutes later, Josh Wolff did well to knock the ball back to White at the top of the box, but the defender's shot rolled just wide.