D.C. United will play their second of three midseason friendlies tonight at Audi Field when they host French giants Olympique de Marseille. Marseille were one of four French sides to participate in last week's inaugural EA Ligue 1 tournament at Audi Field, beating Girondins de Bordeaux in the semifinals and AS Saint-Etienne 2-1 in the final.

The game will start at 8 PM ET at Buzzard Point and is the first-ever meeting between the two clubs. 

Marseille are led from the sideline by Portuguese manager Andre Villas-Boas, who became manager of the club at the end of May. On the field, Les Phocéens are paced by French midfielder Dmitri Payet, who returned to the club after a stint at West Ham United in January 2017. 

Meanwhile, after games on Thursday and Sunday last week and another trip on the road this weekend, United head coach Ben Olsen said on Tuesday that he would not be fielding his first-team players in the friendly. It's a similar situation to United's first friendly of the year when they lost 5-2 at home to Spanish side Real Betis. 

In that game, Olsen used a mixture of reserve players for D.C. and some players from the club's USL side, Loudoun United, which will be the case again on Wednesday night.

"[It's] an opportunity for a lot of guys who haven't got a lot of minutes this year. That's great," Olsen told media on Tuesday, after United's practice. "It comes at a good time, and we'll be using more of a 'second team' with the help of some Loudoun guys, because the schedule has been a bit crazy, coming off a Thursday, Sunday [stretch]. It would be silly for me to push some of these guys' minutes."

One of the players who benefitted the most from the first friendly of the year was youngster Griffin Yow, who came off the bench in the first half and scored United's first goal, his first tally for the Black-and-Red. Since then, the 16-year-old has spent much of his time with D.C. after playing with Loudoun before that. 

In July, Yow made his first MLS start when Olsen called upon him for the away trip against FC Dallas. Yow had a quiet night in 58 minutes in Texas before being replaced by Luciano Acosta, who had been feeling ill leading up to the game. Yow has been on the bench for the past three games without getting onto the field and is in line to get a start tonight, playing on the wing.

After starting the season off well, United head into the friendly against Marseille needing to improve their league form. A 4-1 win over FC Cincinnati last Thursday helped ease some nerves, but a late 2-0 loss to Atlanta United on Sunday meant that the Five Stripes leaped over United in the Eastern Conference standings.

D.C. still occupy third place in the conference, but the seven teams currently occupying the playoff spots are separated by just nine points. United is ahead of the first team out of the playoff spot, eighth-place Toronto FC, by just six points, while trailing conference leaders, the Philadelphia Union, by four points.

The Black-and-Red have won just two of their past 11 league games, a stretch that began all the way back in the middle of May. There are just 11 games left in the regular season for D.C., starting with Saturday's trip to SeatGeek Stadium to take on Eastern Conference foes, the Chicago Fire.