The Union delivered a statement win, but they aren’t getting too high about it

WASHINGTON — When the Union emerged from the visitors’ locker room at Audi Field for pregame warmups Saturday, they found a gift from the soccer gods outside the door.

It was a golden opportunity, sent express from Inter Miami’s surprising 1-1 tie at Toronto FC. That result meant Lionel Messi and company had lost their games-in-hand advantage over the Union in the Supporters’ Shield race. Now the Union were in position to take the trophy by winning their three remaining games.

They went on to deliver not just a victory but a statement 6-0 rout of woeful D.C. United. Though not always as pretty as the score indicates, it was still was the kind of result that the league’s top team should hand to one of its worst.

Bruno Damiani, Indiana Vassilev (two), Milan Iloski, and Mikael Uhre scored the goals, and Andre Blake made four saves to keep things settled at the other end — especially in the first half-hour, when D.C. was often the better team.

But from pregame through the final whistle, Iloski and the rest of the team made it clear they weren’t overplaying the moment.

“We were paying attention before, but as soon as we got into our locker room, our focus was on ourselves and on our match,” he said. “We can’t really pay attention to what they’re doing, because if we don’t take care of business ourselves, then it doesn’t really matter what they do.”

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And just as they believed the 7-0 blowout loss in Vancouver two weeks ago was only one game, they believed this blowout win meant the same.

“I know what it felt like a couple of weeks ago, and we’re not going to overinflate and over-evaluate this,” manager Bradley Carnell said, adding that Miami’s tie “had no results or impact about what we were going to do. For sure the game [was known] on the way to the stadium … but yeah, that was not the focus of my pregame.”

Carnell was more concerned with the team’s injury list. Quinn Sullivan hurt himself in a challenge in the fifth minute, and had to go off in the 13th. Vassilev walked out of the locker room after the game with a light brace on his right knee. Nathan Harriel had a big bag of ice on his right shoulder, and Jeremy Rafanello suffered what he called a hyperextension — subbed out 20 minutes after being subbed in during the second half.

None of them had been officially diagnosed when Carnell spoke, so take all the above as anecdotal evidence instead of a doctor’s conclusion. But it was still a lot.

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It also bears pointing out that the Union arguably had a better team on the field after Sullivan left than before. With Tai Baribo suspended, Carnell chose to start Iloski at forward and leave Uhre on the bench, despite the latter’s talents (and history of scoring against D.C.).

The Union’s attack has usually been more fluid when Iloski is in midfield instead of up top, even though a Sullivan-Iloski attacking tandem leaves Vassilev’s big engine out. When Sullivan exited, Uhre came in, Iloski shifted back to midfield, and the first goal came four minutes later: Iloski sprung Uhre down the left, and he hit a terrific curling pass for Damiani to stick home.

After the game, Carnell took an extra moment to praise Uhre, and admit the awkwardness of not starting a Designated Player. Since returning from a hip injury in mid-July, Uhre has started just three of the Union’s 10 games. On Saturday, he had a goal, two assists, and a shot that he could have been credited for but was given as an own goal.

“We know his quality in attacking transition,” Carnell said. “We know his quality as a striker is getting in behind. We know that he’s got such lethal technical ability in terms of shooting within the box, right? We challenge him, the staff, about the defensive side of the game. And it’s a little bit of give, a little bit of a take, and right now he understands exactly his role.”

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Even with all that, Carnell rotates his lineup enough that Uhre should have started more by now. But Uhre is classy enough to not complain publicly.

“That’s what’s so special about working with ‘Mika’: he’s a DP, but he doesn’t have the DP attitude,” Carnell said. “He’s just a real teammate, and whatever the team needs — sometimes I’d like a little bit more urgency, but that’s Mika. Mika’s a gem of a human being and seeing him play like tonight makes me a very proud coach.”

Carnell started to say “We’ve got guys in the second line right now who ...” then stopped himself.

“Do we have a second line? Not really,” he said. “It’s guys who are just ready and waiting to come in and make an impact, and I think we’ve seen that tonight.”

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They all did. It was 3-0 at halftime, and 5-0 five minutes into the second half. The newly married couple of Union fans who arrived to the visitors’ section in full regalia (though with ponchos needed on a rainy night) had quite a wedding party.

Will there be more parties to come this year? At least one if the Union win out, but doing so won’t be easy.

New York City will arrive at Subaru Park on Saturday having won six of its last eight games, including a 3-2 triumph over the Red Bulls on Saturday in the Hudson River Derby — a result that leaves the latter on the cusp of ending their record 15-year playoff qualification streak.

Then after a break for the October FIFA window comes the regular-season finale at Charlotte. As you’ve read often by now, the Union have never won there, and you’ll keep reading it until that changes.

One thing is known for now. The last time the Union won by 6-0 in D.C. was 2022, and they went on to their only MLS Cup final appearance. What will this year lead to?

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“It’s about proving that we deserve to be where we are, and the only way you can do that is by beating, also, the good teams,” Uhre said. “So yeah, it’s about, again, taking one game at a time. I’m being really boring with my answers, but one game at a time, and having focus on that.”

His words didn’t make a splashy headline, but they didn’t have to. His feet had already done the talking.