Weiler insists D.C. United better than last season despite mounting playoff pressure
D.C. United head coach Rene Weiler insists his team is better than last season and remains focused on the long-term rebuild, even as a desperate late push for the MLS playoffs takes centre stage this weekend against the Western Conference-leading Vancouver Whitecaps.
United sit 11th in the East, four points adrift of ninth-placed FC Cincinnati in the race for the final playoff berth, but have won just one of their last eight games (D4 L3), and pressure is mounting after a 2-1 defeat to Charlotte FC last time out.
Rather than fixating on the standings, Weiler framed the current campaign as step two of a longer project in the nation's capital.
"We are in the process of building something more sustainable, more consistent. We did the first step together.
We cleaned up, and now we have to try to stabilise the team and then make a third step to winning more games.
To overtake one or two teams [in the playoff race] is a big step, but I see a team much better than last season."
Stubborn road record offers hope
If there is reason for optimism, it lies in United's road form. They have drawn five of their last seven away matches and six of their 11 games on the road this season — the most such draws they have recorded in a single campaign since 2018, and double the four they managed in 2025.
Defender Lucas Bartlett, with three goals this season, has been a surprising attacking threat — the first D.C. defender to score at least three times in a single regular season since Donovan Pines in 2023.
A daunting assignment in Vancouver
The task, however, is sizable. The Whitecaps are unbeaten in strong form at the top of the West, backed by the shot-stopping of Yohei Takaoka, whose 11 clean sheets this season make him just the second goalkeeper in club history — after David Ousted — to record 10 or more shutouts in consecutive seasons.
Vancouver's most recent outing, a 3-0 win over Real Salt Lake, marked their ninth shutout win by multiple goals this season, one shy of the MLS single-season record of 10.
Opta's win probability reflects the scale of the challenge for D.C.: Vancouver Whitecaps 73.4%, draw 16%, D.C. United just 10.6%.
The only previous meeting between the sides was a 2-2 draw in Canada in September 2023 — the sole game in the history of the fixture in which both teams scored more than once.