Striker Tai Baribo’s return to Philadelphia may be delayed beyond D.C. United’s scheduled visit to the Union on Saturday night.

The Israeli international led Philadelphia with 16 MLS goals in 2025. After joining D.C. (2-4-1, 7 points) from Philadelphia (1-6-0, 3 points) in a $4 million cash trade during the offseason, Baribo owns three of the four league goals scored by D.C. this season.

That includes the only tally in D.C.’s 1-0 home win against the Union to open the season.

But a thigh injury has kept Baribo out of the Black-and-Red’s last two matches — a 1-0 league loss last weekend at the New England Revolution and a defeat on penalties to One Knoxville following a 3-3 draw in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 on Wednesday night.

D.C. manager Rene Weiler said Baribo is questionable for Saturday.

“He trained for himself, so we have to check it tomorrow,” Weiler said Thursday. “I hope he will be with the team. And it would push the team, of course. I’m not sure if he (will be) ready for the game on Saturday, but we will check it out (Friday).”

With Baribo and a few other regulars who departed in the offseason, Philadelphia earned the 2025 Supporters’ Shield awarded to the best regular-season finisher.

Without him, the Union have endured a miserable start to 2026. They finally earned their first league win last Saturday with a 2-1 decision over a Montreal side that also only has one MLS victory on the year.

Philadelphia awaits its first multi-goal scorer of the season after Japhet Sery Larsen and Jesus Bueno each contributed their first goals to lead its second-half rally in Canada.

Meanwhile, manager Bradley Carnell admitted the uncertainty over arguably D.C.’s most important player have made preparations a bit more difficult.

“We always want to face the best opponents, and a D.C. United with Tai Baribo is certainly a force to be reckoned with,” Carnell said Thursday. “We are preparing and planning accordingly, but we cannot control what we cannot control. Whether he’s in the building, traveling or not, that’s a narrative we cannot drive and control, so we’re only focused on us and the team that we think will play.”

–Field Level Media

The Portland Timbers might be the more desperate team. The Minnesota United could be the more fatigued team.

The clubs meet Saturday night at Saint Paul, Minn.

Following Saturday’s match, Portland (2-4-1, 7 points) travels to San Diego and Salt Lake. The Timbers are 0-3-0 in road matches.

“It’s a group of fixtures we have to pick up points,” coach Phil Neville said. “We have to develop a different type of mentality. We’re going to have to dig in. We’re going to have to get victories. We’re going to have to get results.”

Portland became the first team this season to score on LAFC in last week’s 2-1 victory. That might be a spark that can lead to more consistent results.

“We’re gaining and building some leaders in the group,” Neville said. “Results help the confidence and belief, but also having the trust of your teammates.”

Portland gave up three goals in both of its last two outings away from home.

Minnesota (3-2-2, 11 points) has won its last two MLS games by 2-1 scores, including last Saturday at San Diego. But the Loons had a midweek detour from MLS play, edging host Sacramento Republic in 12 rounds of penalty kicks. That came with a revised lineup, though a few of the regulars were on the field.

The Loons plan to work new player combinations into the lineup in upcoming games.

“There’s going to be the opportunity for us to balance the minutes out across the squad,” Minnesota coach Cameron Knowles said. “Being able to stretch some guys that haven’t played a lot of minutes that we might be calling on in the next week or two.”

With four goals, Kelvin Yeboah is the only Minnesota player with more than one goal this year as he has half of the team’s eight goals. Kristoffer Velde has scored three goals to lead Portland.

The Timbers might have to wait to determine the availability of forward Alexander Aravena, who trained on the side this week.

“I think he’s going to be OK,” Neville said. “He felt something tight (in his thigh). But he felt a lot better (Thursday).”

Meanwhile, the Timbers are preparing for chilly conditions.

“It’s going to be cold,” Neville said. “You think about pitch conditions … It’s probably perfect for football, that’s the view of a lot of those players who are used to playing in those temperatures.”

–Field Level Media

Real Salt Lake have their sights set on continuing the second-best start in franchise history when they oppose San Diego FC on Saturday night at Sandy, Utah.

The only time Real Salt Lake (4-1-1, 13 points) have notched a better six-match start during their 22-season history came in 2011 when they were 5-1-0.

“Going into the season, nobody really gave us a chance this year,” RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni said of the fast start that includes a five-match unbeaten stretch (4-0-1).

Real Salt Lake’s tie came on the road against San Diego FC on March 22 when Victor Olatunji scored in the 85th minute to forge a 2-2 final.

Though RSL is 3-0-0 at home, Mastroeni expects a fierce challenge in the rematch.

“San Diego is a fantastic team,” Mastroeni said. “They are going through a bit of a (rough) patch at the moment, but they have quality players who can make a difference in any games. … I anticipate a hard-fought match.”

Salt Lake notched a 3-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City last weekend. Diego Luna, Sergi Solans and Zavier Gozo scored the goals.

San Diego FC (3-2-2, 11 points) is winless in their past four matches (0-2-2). They lost their last two games, falling 3-0 to the host San Jose Earthquakes and 2-1 to visiting Minnesota United.

“Last game was a step in the right direction even though the result didn’t go our way,” San Diego coach Mikey Varas said of the Minnesota match. “We feel like we’re getting back on track.”

During that setback, stellar defender Chris McVey drew a red card in the first minute of the second half to leave San Diego short-handed. McVey will miss the match against Salt Lake.

Luca Bombino scored the San Diego goal against Minnesota. He feels the club is close to regaining last season’s expansion form when the club finished first in the Western Conference.

“It’s definitely frustrating because we expect a lot of ourselves and we proved in the first year that we can do it,” Bambino said. “Things haven’t necessarily gone our way, but we know we have all the talent and hard work within the squad to achieve the things we want to do on the field.”

In last month’s matchup, Marcus Ingvartsen and Anders Dreyer scored the San Diego goals. Solans joined Olatunji in scoring for RSL.

–Field Level Media