D.C. United withstood a strong challenge from the Charleston Battery on Wednesday night at RFK Stadium to claim the U.S. Open Cup by a score of 2-1, the second time in history that the club from the nation's capital has lifted the Dewar Trophy, having also won in 1996.

It didn't take long for the home side to pull ahead, with last year's MLS MVP Luciano Emilio striking just four minutes into the match. Click to continue reading...

D.C. United won the MLS-USL showdown over Charleston in the U.S. Open Cup last night on a goal of true professional quality -- Clyde Simms slipped a long pass through a dummy to Fred, who finished into the sliver of space that Dusty Hudock allowed. (Check the highlights in MLSNET's recap.

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Here is your first moving picture taste of the post-game festivities following United's win over the Battery. Comments from Tom Soehn, Bryan Namoff, Clyde Simms, Louis Crayton and Santino Quaranta on the win and some unbelievable footage from the field celebration. We'll hit you with a full-on Access United tomorrow, but we didn't want you to wake up Thursday morning without something to enjoy.

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Tom Soehn has named his starting lineup for tonight's championship battle against the Battery. The same players who started Saturday's game against New York will take the field, with the only change being Santino Quaranta moving to the middle of thte park and Joe Vide pushing out wide (where they played the second half).

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By definition, the Richie Award goes to the hardest working, most underrated player on the United roster. The award's namesake Richie Williams is probably most famous for his diminutive stature, but he is second most famous for his work rate. The dude just went nonstop, constantly interrupting plays for the opposing team. Click to continue reading...

Kickoff is about an hour away. Tommy's main changes come in the back line tonight, as he shuffles a few guys around, while Santino Quaranta moves from the attacking midfield spot to the right flank. Here's what they'll look like at the first whistle:

Louis Crayton; Gonzalo Martinez, Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch; Santino Quaranta, Clyde Simms, Joe Vide, Ivan Guerrero; Jaime Moreno, Luciano Emilio

And here's what the 4-4-2 formation will look like:

------------Moreno-----------Emilio------------------------------------------------------------------------Guerrero--------------------------------Quaranta---------------Vide----------Simms----------------Burch-------------------------------------Martinez------------McTavish--------Burch-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Crayton------------------------ Click to continue reading...

United and the Red Bulls meet at RFK Stadium tonight for the third and final time this regular season. Somewhat amazingly, both teams have earned a 4-1 win at home earlier in the year (United on June 15 and New York on August 10), which means tonight's game will determine the Atlantic Cup winner - given to the team that wins the season series between the two rivals.

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With his one-time shoe-string shot to give the team a 1-0 lead, I could have sworn I was watching Benny Olsen. Or maybe Benny Feilhaber. But definitely somebody named Benny. Nope, it was Joe Vide. That goal really made me wish I was listening to Dave Johnson and Thomas Rongen do the broadcast. I could just hear Rongen saying his usual "Shoelaces. Click to continue reading...

The big news out of the locker room this evening is that Ben Olsen has been named to the 18-man roster for tonight's game. Benny has been training for the last week and a half and is attempting to salvage the season after numerous ankle surgeries over the last nine months. His lone appearance of the season came on June 29, when United beat LA 4-1 and Ben came on as a 75th minute substitute.

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After playing three of the last four games on the road, United returns to RFK Stadium tonight for the first of three straight home games (including September 3rd's U.S. Open Cup final) as the Colorado Rapids visit the District. United has played its best soccer at home, putting together a record of 7-3 at RFK, outscoring opponents 25-13.

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Despite knocking on wood as often as possible, I hate to admit that I called this. DC United was consistently crappy early in the year, and was consistently victorious just before the start of Superliga, but at all other times of the season, we've been horribly inconsistent. The team once again failed tonight to string together victories. Click to continue reading...

Head Coach Tom Soehn continues to have to deal with player injuries and absences heading into tonight's match with the Revolution. Ivan Guerrero is with the Honduran National Team for their World Cup qualifier in Mexico this evening, while Gonzalo Martinez is serving a one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation.

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I remember writing before the season started that we would probably have to win a lot of games 1-0 this year. Well it took five months and a goalkeeper change to finally do it.

I got back from a great week at Ocean City today and opted to purchase the discounted $9.95 MLSlive package, which will probably be used only to watch tonight's match and next Saturday's. Click to continue reading...

We're about an hour from kickoff now, and Head Coach Tom Soehn has named his lineup. The big change is that newcomer Louis Crayton - who was officially signed yesterday - will get the start in goal ahead of Zach Wells.

Here's the full squad: Louis Crayton; Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch, Gonzalo Martinez; Fred, Clyde Simms, Santino Quaranta, Ivan Guerrero; Jaime Moreno, Luciano Emilio.

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With a trip to the U.S. Open Cup final on the line, here is the team Head Coach Tom Soehn has decided to go with this evening:

Zach Wells; Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Gonzalo Peralta, Gonzalo Martinez; Fred, Clyde Simms, Santino Quaranta, Ivan Guerrero; Jaime Moreno, Luciano Emilio.

And this is how they'll lineup:

--------Moreno---------Emilio----------

----------------Quaranta-----------------

Guerrero---------------------------Fred

-----------------Simms-------------------

Martinez------------------------Namoff

----------McTavish--Peralta----------

------------------Wells-------------------

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"Unleash the power within." That's the symposium being given in the conference center of the team hotel in New Jersey by master motivational speaker Anthony Robbins. Though I remember him better for his stellar role in Shallow Hal, let's hope the general theme of his speaking engagement makes its way into the team thought process for tonight's match.

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You'll see a bit of a different look from United tonight, with two former San Jose Earthquakes players making their debut in D.C.'s black kits. Here's the lineup Coach Soehn has decided upon...

Zach Wells; Bryan Namoff, Pat Carroll, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch; Fred, Joe Vide, Clyde Simms, Ivan Guerrero; Luciano Emilio, Jaime Moreno.

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The organization's disciplinary panel banned Blanco after he punched United midfielder Clyde Simms in the stomach and poked him in the eye July 8 during an Open Cup quarterfinal game against D.C. United. Click to continue reading...

Chicago Fire midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco has been suspended from U.S. Open Cup play for at least 2 years by the U.S. Soccer Federation. This comes after Blanco punched D.C. United player Clyde Simms in the stomach.  Blanco also supposedly head butted an employee that was trying to lead him off the field. Click to continue reading...

Chicago Fire midfielder and Mexican legend Cuauhtemoc Blanco has been banned from U.S. Open Cup play for a minimum of two years and fined $7,500. The punishment was handed down on Wednesday by a United States Soccer Federation panel in response to Blanco's actions in an Open Cup quarterfinal match against D. Click to continue reading...

Well, it might very well rain on us this evening, but this is attempt number three at trying to play this soccer game so I'm told we're going to do everything we can to get it in before the daylight of Thursdady arrives. Let's hope the rain holds off and we get it in when we're supposed to.

With injuries aplenty, Tom Soehn has made a few changes to tonight's lineup:

Zach Wells; Pat Carroll, Bryan Namoff, Marc Burch, Gonzalo Martinez; Devon McTavish, Clyde Simms, Fred, Craig Thompson; Luciano Emilio, Jaime Moreno.

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Kickoff is just around the corner and Tom Soehn has named his starting lineup. With a few tired players after a bunch of games during the last month, the coaching staff has decided to rest a few key players. Here's the eleven that will take the field to start against Houston:

Zach Wells; Bryan Namoff, Pat Carroll, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch; Craig Thompson, Clyde Simms, Fred, Ryan Cordeiro; Luciano Emilio, Francis Doe.

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The big addition to today's 18-man roster is the inclusion of Santino Quaranta to the substitute's bench. Tino hasn't played since the team's 4-1 win over the Galaxy on June 29, when he left the game after just 27 minutes with a hamstring strain.

Here's tonight's starting lineup:

Zach Wells; Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch, Gonzalo Martinez; Craig Thompson, Clyde Simms, Jaime Moreno, Fred; Luciano Emilio, Francis Doe.

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I'm sitting in my office, after everyone has left. I just changed into my Quaranta jersey, and realized I have neglected my fair blog. So, in case you planned on checking this 3 hours before game time, here's a little post action. DC came off an unlucky 2-1 defeat at the hands of Chivas [...] Click to continue reading...

Within the last week, the roar around the Chicago Fire's Cuauhtemoc Blanco and D.C. United's Clyde Simms incident has swelled and is finally subsiding. For those who have yet to catch wind of the fracas, reports indicate it took place during the U.S. Open Cup match between the Chicago Fire and D.C. United, beginning with Blanco [. Click to continue reading...