DC United beat Toronto to move three clear after victory

Jul 6, 2014 at 12am UK

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DC United are three points clear at the top of the Eastern Conference after beating 10-man Toronto.

Published: July 6 2014 | 02:03

Last updated: July 6 2014 | 11:52

DC United have maintained top spot in the MLS Eastern Conference after beating fourth-place Toronto.

The Canadian outfit had Michael Bradley back in the starting lineup only days after he played 120 minutes in the narrow defeat to Belgium at the World Cup on Tuesday.

However, the midfielder showed no sign of tiredness as he tried to open the scoring for the hosts, when he latched onto Jermain Defoe's pass only to sky his effort over Bill Hamid's goal.

Hamid had been called into the action earlier in the half to deny Defoe from close range as the Canadians tried to forge a first-half lead.

With the interval approaching, Defoe linked up with Bradley again, but saw his effort thwarted by the United shot-stopper.

After the break, the visitors had their best chance to score when Luis Silva saw his shot blocked. They took the lead when Nick DeLeon capitalised on poor defending from the home side, before weaving his way into the box and beating Joe Bendik.

However, they were pegged back on the hour mark when United failed to clear their lines and Luke Moore turned a loose ball home from close range.

DC re-established their advantage when Perry Kitchen tucked home Lewis Neal's cross on 69 minutes.

Toronto looked for a late response, with Nick Hagglund and Defoe again involved, but the Canadians were unable to hit the target. Their night was compounded when Hagglund was sent off for a bad challenge.

In the end, DC held on for victory to move three clear of Sporting Kansas City.

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Eastern Conference

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Inter Miami Inter Miami	34	22	8	4	79	49	30	74
2	Columbus Crew	34	19	9	6	72	40	32	66
3	FC Cincinnati Cincinnati	34	18	5	11	58	48	10	59
4	Orlando City	34	15	7	12	59	50	9	52
5	Charlotte FC Charlotte FC	34	14	9	11	46	37	9	51
6	New York City FC NY City	34	14	8	12	54	49	5	50
7	New York Red Bulls NY Red Bulls	34	11	14	9	55	50	5	47
8	CF Montreal Montreal	34	11	10	13	48	64	-16	43
9	Atlanta United Atlanta	34	10	10	14	46	49	-3	40
10	DC United	34	10	10	14	52	70	-18	40
11	Philadelphia Union Philadelphia	34	9	10	15	62	55	7	37
12	Toronto	34	11	4	19	40	61	-21	37
13	Nashville SC Nashville	34	9	9	16	38	54	-16	36
14	New England Revolution New England	34	9	4	21	37	74	-37	31
15	Chicago Fire	34	7	9	18	40	62	-22	30

Western Conference

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Los Angeles FC Los Angeles	34	19	7	8	63	43	20	64
2	Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy	34	19	7	8	69	50	19	64
3	Real Salt Lake Salt Lake	34	16	11	7	65	48	17	59
4	Seattle Sounders Seattle	34	16	9	9	51	35	16	57
5	Houston Dynamo Houston	34	15	9	10	47	39	8	54
6	Minnesota United Minnesota Utd	34	15	7	12	58	49	9	52
7	Colorado Rapids Colorado	34	15	5	14	61	60	1	50
8	Portland Timbers Portland	34	12	11	11	65	56	9	47
9	Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver	34	13	8	13	52	49	3	47
10	Austin FC Austin	34	11	9	14	39	48	-9	42
11	Dallas	34	11	8	15	54	56	-2	41
12	St Louis City	34	8	13	13	50	63	-13	37
13	Sporting Kansas City Kansas	34	8	7	19	51	66	-15	31
14	San Jose Earthquakes Earthquakes	34	6	3	25	41	78	-37	21