Union struggling to score

ALL OF a sudden, the goals that were coming in bunches are no longer there. "The goals have dried up," Union interim manager Jim Curtin said. "You know, we're struggling."

Saturday's 1-0 road loss to first-place D.C. United marked the Union's second consecutive scoreless game. It also dropped the Chester-based club back to seventh place in the Eastern Conference with only four regular-season games to play.

Fortunately for the Union (9-10-11) and its playoff hopes, three of those four games come against teams ahead in the standings. After hosting ninth-place Chicago (5-7-16) on Thursday night, Philadelphia hosts fourth-place Columbus (11-9-10) and third-place Sporting Kansas City (13-11-6) and then caps the regular season with an Oct. 26 visit to Columbus.

With 38 points, the Union is two behind sixth-place Toronto FC (11-11-7) and entered yesterday three behind fifth-place New York. The Red Bulls (10-8-11) played the LA Galaxy later yesterday.

Five teams from the 10-team Eastern Conference qualify for the postseason, which starts Oct. 29.

Thursday's game, 8 p.m. at PPL Park and televised on ESPN2, has quickly become a must-win for the Union. The teams played to draws in each of their previous two meetings this season.

The Union might have to make do without leading scorer Sebastien Le Toux, who left Saturday's game with a right ankle sprain. Curtin said Le Toux's status would be "day-to-day" but the veteran forward told reporters in D.C. "it doesn't look so good."

"We are going to have to find a way to fight through it," Curtin said of the scoring drought, "and we need to now win three games in a row to give ourselves even a chance at the playoffs."

-Jake Kaplan