I encourage you to read the entire announcement on The Far Post, but here are some highlights:

"Given our play on the road, it seems logical that we continue to get some extra income from our losses," United's General Manager explained. "I've spoken with Coach Soehn and we both agree it is best to keep playing our bench guys and using formations we haven't practiced when on the road so we can continue to lose but retain these important sponsorships.

We totally missed this, but lucky for us the Royal Review did not.
It appears that the Ben Cup will be contested earlier than later. DC can start the year off right with claiming its first ever Ben Cup. Come on ya Black and Red!
Unfamiliar with the Ben Cup? Catch up here and here.

The 2008 MLS Schedule has arrived and as we suspected the 2008 edition of The Ben Cup will be decided early this year. DC will visit Rice-Eccles Stadium, for what will hopefully be the last time, on April 12, 2008. Two weeks later Real Salt Lake will visit RFK to complete the 2-leg aggregate series.

RSL Ben has predicted a 2-1 win over DC United this weekend. Please go over to his blog and hassle him... in a friendly Ben Cup kind of way.

As the creator of the Ben Cup 2008 logo and a fellow Ben, we here at the Edgell Supporters, jumped at the chance to get some quality one on one time with the 3rd Party Ben. The results in their unedited state are below:
3rd Party Ben in Mississippi (obviously)
DCU Ben: Another Ben?

RSL 4 DCU 0
Soehn did not take this game seriously. Aside from the fact that he did not take the first leg of the Ben Cup seriously, he put a reserve/attacking formation out on the field for an away game that historically has not been easy for us. Obviously a huge mistake. I believe we put out a similar squad last year in Salt Lake when we used Nolly for the one and only time.

In the aftermath of the first leg of The Ben Cup, The Royal Review asked me for an interview. You'll want to go over and read it. My favorite part of my interview:

RR: What will be the outcome of Leg 2?
DCB: DC 5 RSL 0 fueled by anger and a DP that got plenty of rest.

Hopes and Dreams for The Ben Cup Leg 2
1. 5-0 DC United. We have to win by this scoreline to claim the Ben Cup.
2. At least one goal from Luciano Emilio.
3. I'll be honest, I'd be really happy with a draw.
4. Little to no rain.
Vamos United!

Well that was certainly more like it, though I was beginning to get worried that we weren't going to finish anything from the run of play. Can we all just wipe the sweat from our collective brows and allow the shakes to subside just a bit? It's all going to be okay, right? Ummm, right? Hey, wait a minute!

Congratulations to Real Salt Lake on winning the 2008 Ben Cup. I hope to make it out to Salt Lake this summer to at least get a glimpse of the trophy that might never make its way east of the Mississippi. With the way this year is going, this might be the closest DC United gets to hardware. Maybe a visit this weekend to LA Chivas, who have some how found a way to have less points than DCU, will get things back on track.

3rd match in 8 days. It will not matter because DC United always gets up for the Ben Cup. After losing the inaugural Ben Cup in 2006, DC fought courageously to draw the cup in the 2007 series. All we ask for here at the Edgell Supporters is progress. And so in the name of progress, DC must win the Ben Cup in 2008.