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Red Bulls, D.C. United tangle at RFK

Apr 12, 2013 - 6:15 PM Washington, DC (Sports Network) - A pair of struggling Eastern Conference foes clash on Saturday as D.C. United hosts Red Bull New York at RFK Stadium.

D.C. United enters the pivotal Atlantic Cup showdown in poor form, having gone winless in its past three league matches.

Last time out, D.C. United played well at Sporting Park against an in-form Sporting Kansas City side, but were ultimately sunk by an 89th minute winner from Designated Player Claudio Bieler to give the home side a 1-0 victory.

"I thought it was a great effort from us tonight," United head coach Ben Olsen said of his team's performance. "I was very proud of the way they went about it. We had a long two weeks of getting back to our fundamentals and getting back to the right mentality to win games in this league. The way we went about it was very good."

United must put the loss to Sporting KC behind them and focus on New York as the clubs meet for the second time in less than a month.

The sides battled for the first time back on March 16. New York dominated the match, putting 24 shots in the direction of goal and seven on target, but United goalkeeper Bill Hamid put in a Player of the Week performance to make sure United claimed a point in a 0-0 draw.

As for New York, rookie head coach Mike Petke's team is coming off a subpar 3-1 loss to the Chicago Fire last Sunday at Toyota Park,

Defender Jamison Olave got the Red Bulls off to a great start against Chicago with a spectacular overhead volley to make it 1-0.

But the hosts shook off a penalty kick miss by Chris Rolfe to equalize late in the first half and Maicon Santos scored twice in the second half to secure his team's first win of the season.

Petke expressed his frustration with his team's lack of results following the match:

"I'm very disappointed," he said. "If I'm with a team in a rebuilding stage, with players who are rookies in the league, how mad could I be? But I'm with guys who are capable of so much more."

New York and D.C. United have faced each other 60 times in regular-season competition, with United holding a 31-20-9 edge as well as a 18-9-4 record at home.