D.C. United and Toronto FC face off tonight in a battle between two teams that could probably use a couple more days of rest and recuperation after mid-week wins. That’s not how MLS operates, though, and so both teams face their second game on short rest in the thick of a summer heat wave. As any experienced player or coach will tell you, it’s the time of year where the teams that can grind out wins tend to separate themselves from the pack.
Coming into this one, United eked out a 1-0 home win over Orlando City thanks to Wayne Rooney’s entry into this year’s MLS Goal of the Year balloting, while TFC needed both a stoppage time penalty kick conversion for themselves and a missed spot kick from Atlanta to down the defending champions 3-2.