D.C. United

Toronto meets D.C. United in matchup of top, bottom clubs (Aug 05, 2017)

Published Aug. 4, 2017 9:28 p.m. ET

Toronto FC will look to improve on Major League Soccer's best win-loss record on Saturday when it visits a D.C. United team that owns the league's worst.

If Sebastian Giovinco produces another performance like his last, that will likely happen.

The diminutive Italian had a masterful game in a 4-0 thumping of New York City FC last Sunday as Toronto moved five points clear in the race for the Eastern Conference title and the Supporters' Shield.

He scored the 49th and 50th goals of his MLS career before finishing his third season in the league, helped draw another penalty kick and then assisted on teammate Raheem Edwards' first MLS goal.

"When it's all said and done, he's going to be one of the guys that has a lot of goals and a lot of assists because he's a great player," TFC coach Greg Vanney said after the match on mlssoccer.com. "Maybe the best that has ever played in this league, I would say."

One complication for the Reds (12-3-7, 43 points) will be Giovinco, Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore returning from the MLS All-Star Game played against Real Madrid on Wednesday. All three started and played between 31 minutes and 45 minutes in the exhibition.

Struggling D.C. (5-14-3, 18 points) didn't have anyone selected for that match, hardly surprising during a season that has gone from bad to worse during the summer months.

After spending most of the year struggling to score, the Black and Red have now conceded 15 goals in their last four matches, part of a six-game losing streak that is one short of the longest in club history.

That leaves United 14 points off the pace in the push for a fourth consecutive playoff bid, though coach Ben Olsen isn't quite ready to shift the focus to 2018.

"Of course it's possible," Olsen said on mlssoccer.com of a potential late playoff push. "To me, it's not about putting a number (of points) on the board right now, or making a big speech about, 'Here's the goals.' It's about this weekend and trying to put the best team out there and claw and scrape and find a way to win the game."

United insist they are searching for roster improvements and on Friday announced the signing of 19-year-old Bolivian forward Bruno Miranda. But Miranda won't be available Saturday, and other than June signing Deshorn Brown, Olsen will have mostly the same roster as seven weeks ago, when D.C. fell 2-0 in Toronto on June 17.

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