https:\/\/www.dcunited.com\/tickets\/<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\nHead Coach Ren\u00e9 Weiler enters his first full season in charge after being appointed in July 2025. Weiler and Managing Director of Soccer Operations Dr.\u00a0Erkut\u00a0Sogut\u00a0have been busy this offseason, overhauling the roster with the goal of bringing playoff soccer back to Audi Field for the first time since 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n
D.C. United made a splash up top by\u00a0acquiring\u00a0forward Tai\u00a0Baribo\u00a0from Saturday’s opponents, the Philadelphia Union, in a deal worth up to $4.6 million, signing the Israeli international and former MLS All-Star as a Designated Player. Romanian international Louis Munteanu joins on a club-record transfer from CFR Cluj after winning the Romanian\u00a0SuperLiga\u00a0Golden Boot with 23 goals last campaign. On the defensive end, the club brought in center back Sean Nealis from the New York Red Bulls, Swiss defender Silvan Hefti from Hamburger SV, and Japanese left back Keisuke Kurokawa from\u00a0Gamba\u00a0Osaka to shore up a backline that conceded 66 goals in 2025.\u00a0\u00a0In addition to strengthening the backline, D.C. United brought in MLS veteran and U.S. International goalkeeper Sean Johnson who\u00a0signed as a free agent. \u00a0Johnson\u00a0has\u00a0431 MLS\u00a0starts\u00a0and 109 clean sheets\u00a0in 16 seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Black-and-Red\u00a0fans can also look forward to the return of familiar faces.\u00a0Gabriel Pirani\u00a0recorded\u00a0eight\u00a0goals and\u00a0four\u00a0assists\u00a0across all competitions\u00a0last season\u00a0and should be a key part of the attack again in\u00a02026. Homegrown midfielder Jackson Hopkins set a career-high with three goals in 2025 and has grown into a regular in the starting XI.\u00a0Veterans\u00a0Aaron Herrera,\u00a0Lucas Bartlett, and Brandon\u00a0Servania\u00a0all return.\u00a0<\/p>\n
D.C. United traveled to Los Angeles and Palm Springs for preseason camp and went undefeated across three matches at the Coachella Valley Invitational: a 0-0 draw with the Portland Timbers\u00a0and\u00a0a 0-0 draw with Minnesota United FC. The Black-and-Red\u00a0will look to take this defensive momentum into the home opener against\u00a0Philadelphia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Union\u00a0won the 2025 Supporters’ Shield under Bradley Carnell but enters 2026 looking like a different team. Their leading scorer from last year,\u00a0Baribo, now\u00a0suits up for\u00a0D.C. United. MLS Best XI defenders Jakob Glesnes and Kai Wagner have both departed, and forward Mikael Uhre’s contract expired.\u00a0Philadelphia is\u00a0working in\u00a0new players\u00a0while also managing a CONCACAF Champions Cup schedule,\u00a0where\u00a0they played their opening round match in Trinidad and Tobago earlier this week before making the trip to D.C.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With\u00a0Baribo\u00a0set to face his former club, Munteanu making his competitive debut, and an Audi Field crowd ready for a fresh start, Saturday night has all the makings of\u00a0a special home\u00a0opener for the Black-and-Red.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n By the Numbers<\/p>\n
D.C. United will look for its 10th\u00a0all-time regular\u00a0season with\u00a0against the Philadelphia Union.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before joining the Black-and-Red, Tai\u00a0Baribo\u00a0was Philadelphia\u2019s attacking catalyst, leading\u00a0the\u00a0Philadelphia Union with 19 goals across all competitions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Louis Munteanu scored 23 goals to win the Romanian\u00a0SuperLiga\u00a0Golden Boot before joining D.C. United in a club-record deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Philadelphia lost their leading scorer (Baribo), all-time assists leader (Kai Wagner), and two-time MLS Best XI center back Jakob Glesnes this offseason.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Goalkeeper Andre Blake has registered 9 clean sheets in 21 games played for Philadelphia Union\u00a0last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
D.C. United added four defenders this\u00a0winter: Sean Nealis, Silvan Hefti, Keisuke Kurokawa, and Nikola Markovi\u0107.<\/p>\n
\n Last Match Against\u00a0the Philadelphia Union |\u00a0September 27, 2025 @\u00a0Audi Field\u00a0<\/p>\n
In their last\u00a0meeting\u00a0on September 27, 2025, D.C. United fell 6-0 to Philadelphia Union at Audi Field.\u00a0Gabriel Pirani was a bright spot for the Black-and-Red, creating a game-high five chances, as well as\u00a0Jared Stroud getting\u00a0close,\u00a0striking the\u00a0uprights twice in the first half. With a\u00a0completely\u00a0revamped roster and\u00a0new system in place,\u00a0D.C. United\u00a0look\u00a0to rewrite the script against\u00a0their\u00a0rivals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n How to Watch\u00a0<\/p>\n
D.C. United fans can catch all the action of their favorite team on Apple TV. With this, you can watch every D.C. United\u00a0match\u00a0live, whether\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0home or away, along with exclusive pre- and post-match coverage. Simply open the Apple TV app, navigate to MLS Season Pass, and enjoy the entire 2026\u00a0season. Whether\u00a0you’re\u00a0at home or on the go,\u00a0you’ll\u00a0have access to every match, ensuring you never miss a moment of D.C. United’s season. Enjoy seamless streaming on your Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, and more!\u00a0<\/p>\n
Radio broadcasts will be available live on 1190 iHeart Sports DC, 101.1 HD2, and the iHeartRadio App. Legendary broadcaster Dave Johnson, who has called\u00a0matches\u00a0for D.C. United since the club\u2019s inception in 1996 will return to the booth alongside Bruce Murray, former United States National Team player (1985-1993, 85 caps and 21 goals) and Class of 2011 National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee. The pair have partnered on radio calls since 2023 to deliver high-quality and passionate radio calls for fans. Supporters watching D.C. United MLS Regular Season\u00a0matches\u00a0on MLS Season Pass can opt to listen to Dave Johnson and Bruce Murray calling the\u00a0match\u00a0on the MLS Local Radio Broadcast channel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Match Preview – D.C. United\u00a0vs.\u00a0the Philadelphia Union on Saturday, February 21 D.C. United kicks off the 2026 MLS…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[564,55328,139,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-119269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-featured","tag-match-preview","tag-news","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}