Although D.C. United and the San Jose Earthquakes both have mediocre records, their recent play has been outstanding.
Each club will put a five-game unbeaten streak on the line Saturday night at RFK Stadium.
San Jose and D.C. are both 4-4-4 overall, but that's because of poor starts to their seasons. The Earthquakes are 3-0-2 in their last five and United 2-0-3 in their run.
"They're a good team," D.C. captain Dax McCarty said. "They've had a little bit of an unbeaten run here kind of like us the past couple of games."
San Jose has scored 10 goals during its streak, with nine coming in the 50th minute or later. Steven Lenhart scored in the 69th and substitute Simon Dawkins in the 90th in last Saturday's 2-0 win over Houston.
"I've not changed too much at halftime," coach Frank Yallop told the Earthquakes' official website. "(The players) have gone out and made the difference in the second half."
McCarty is set to return after missing the last two matches with a groin injury. He played 45 minutes in a reserve match this week to prepare for Saturday.
"Obviously I've missed a week and a half, two weeks with a little bit of a groin injury," McCarty said. "I think I'm fully over it. I just needed a little bit of rest to let it heal."
The Earthquakes will play their second straight match without top scorer Chris Wondolowski, who has six goals but is with the United States national team.
"They have a lot of good players," McCarty said. "Certainly they're going to miss Chris Wondolowski. ... I think they have proven over the past four or five games that they can cover for him in certain areas."
Charlie Davies is expected to start for D.C. after he played the final 23 minutes in last Friday's scoreless draw at Los Angeles. Davies, who has a team-high six goals, missed United's previous game with a hamstring injury.
"I'm feeling good," Davies said. "I'm ready to go for Saturday versus San Jose. I'm really looking forward to it, to take a step in the right direction."
San Jose won 2-0 on the road and drew 1-1 at home against D.C. last season. Wondolowski scored both goals in the victory and Ike Opara scored in the tie.
Opara, however, is doubtful Saturday with a foot injury.
One familiar face to D.C. fans will be San Jose midfielder Bobby Convey, who broke into MLS at age 16 with United in 2000.
Convey will try to help create an attack to trouble an improving D.C. defense, which has conceded four goals during the club's unbeaten run after allowing 16 over its first seven games.
"I think we're still a young team and I think we're finally coming into our own," Davies said. "There's a lot of games we could have done better but we're still getting results."
