will we ever win?

U-turn

As bad as they looked in their franchise-opening game in Seattle a few weeks previous, that's how good the Philadelphia Union were against DC United at The Linc Saturday.

Well, aside from two egregious mistakes that led directly to United's two goals, that is. The first being a poor pass from one wide defender to another that United's Santino Quaranta easily intercepted and deposited for a goal. Even worse was Union goalkeeper Chris Seitz simply dropping the ball at his feet while lining up a goal kick, allowing United's Jaime Moreno — who was just standing next to Seitz — to take the ball and score as easy a goal as you'll see.

But forgetting those mistakes, which would have been harder had the Union tied or lost, the city's newest team looked markedly improved over their 2-0 opening loss to the Sounders — which could have been a 6-0 loss, really.

Against United, Philly controlled the game pretty much from the opening whistle, and played aggressive, tough soccer while continually pushing for goals.

Three goals came their way off the foot of striker Sebastien Le Toux — the third, decisive goal on a free kick just outside the Seattle box to give Philly a 3-2 lead.

Midfielder Alejandro Moreno was the other standout for Philly. The Union also benefited from arrival of midfielder Fred — back from a red card suspension earned in the final game of last season (wha?). Eighteen-year-old Colombian midfielder Roger Torres — the standout for the team in the Seattle loss — continued his strong play. This kid looks like he's going to be good. Hopefully he's around for a while.

DC United looks to be among the worst teams in MLS this year, so we'll see how the Union does against some of the stronger teams. But the dominance displayed against United was hopeful, especially as this was a team holding open tryouts a couple weeks ago following the Seattle loss.

And, as Andy Reid could tell you, being good — or in the Eagles' case, "competitive" — means beating the bad teams.

NOTE: Fan presence was strong throughout, and should only get stronger after the teams moves into their new, smaller stadium in, ugh, Chester.