D.C. United entered this match with a chance to increase its yearly point total by 50%, and more importantly, to move out of the cellar of MLS's Eastern Conference. With a win at RFK Stadium tonight, United would have passed its opponent Toronto FC and would no longer be considered the worst team in the league.
It used to watch the Soviets - now TFC blogs D.C. UNITED VS. TORONTO RFK STADIUM FIRST HALF: KICK OFF - There's always espionage in the air when Toronto FC, the boys from Canada's capital city, head down to the American capital to meet D.
Whisper it, but D.C. United might just be turning this train to hell around. We won a game against a moderately competent Philadelphia Union side - playing arguably their best eleven, no less - in the US Open Cup. We scored three goals in doing so. Dwayne De Rosario, with the hat trick, may be about to get back on track on a consistent basis.
Don Anding shines, Keon Daniel doesn't, and a healthy D.C. midfield finally emerges for a bit. PSP has analysis and player ratings on Wednesday's U.S. Open Cup match.
Not much has gone right for D.C. United so far in 2013. United are currently in dead last in the MLS Eastern Conference and have only one win the entire season (1-10-3). Last night however former MLS MVP Dwayne De Rosario gave fans of the Black-and-Red reason to cheer. Dero netted a hat-trick and helped D.
If you're reading this blog, you almost certainly already know that D.C. United defeated the Philadelphia Union last night 3-1 thanks to a hat trick from Dwayne De Rosario. Maybe you were there; maybe you watched the stream; maybe you followed on Twitter; or maybe you only read about it later, but the point is you know.
A curious thing occurred to me when news of United's acquisition of Alain Rochat dropped, accompanied as it was by mentions of his being Swiss by upbringing, but Canadian by birth. Even if you discount Rochat's Canadian-ness, doesn't it seem strange that D.C. United has so many Canadians on the roster?
It wasn't exactly a work of art but the Fire have to be happy with a 2-0 win over DC United. Chicago lost the possession battle by a wide margin but kept DC from generating dangerous chances and limited the visitors to eight shot attempts, none of which were on frame. Dwayne De Rosario's 38th minute shot from about 25 yards out glanced off the crossbar and over the net but that was as close as DC would get.
Pontius: So far, nothing doing in 2013. (photo: goal.com)
OTF Editor Scott Fenwick takes a look back on the week that was in Fireland and, with a little help from his DC friend, looks ahead to Sunday's dance with the Dirty Birds...
How rare is it that a match against a last place team, the 12th of 34 in an MLS regular season, isconsidered a "must-win"?
The Fire have another golden opportunity to pick up three points at home with a struggling DC United in town this Sunday. At 1-9-2 (0-4-1 on the road with 1 goal scored) and a whopping -16 goal differential, DC United is sitting at the bottom of the MLS table. They've struggled to score and they're not very good defensively.
The way things are going, they're going to need a 13th man. A 14th? (photo: soccerbyives.net)
OTF's Stephen Mangat knows no fear as he takes a look into the pit of despair also known as DC United...
There's an old story that tells of two friends on a camping trip who wake up in the middle of the night to see a blood-thirsty bear ransacking their campground.
It most definitely wasn't pretty, and it can't even really be called effective. But D.C. United managed a 0(2)-0(4) "win" over their USL Pro affiliates, the Richmond Kickers, to advance to the fourth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup last night. Let's see what's being said about the match before we put this one to bed and turn our attention back to the league, shall we?
After an oh-so-brief flirtation with being merely one of MLS's below-average teams - both the 2-1 loss in Dallas and the 1-1 home draw against KC reminded one of your average 14th-15th place finisher - D.C. United regressed to "top three draft pick" form against the Portland Timbers. Unfortunately for Ben Olsen, the need to change players based on performance (that is, changes that are needed rather than wanted for freshness or a different look) will continue for tomorrow night's US Open Cup match against the Richmond Kickers.
WASHINGTON — As Chris Pontius wrapped up training at RFK Stadium on Tuesday, he got wind of the news that his D.C. United side will be gaining a new Eastern Conference rival come 2015.
Then he found out New York City FC will be owned by Manchester City and the New York Yankees.
The letting the kids play experiment worked as well as anything else has this year, and so I expect that Ben Olsen will stay with at least parts of that starting 11 when D.C. United takes on Sporting Kansas City this Sunday. But, for the second week in a row, the key question is about Chris Pontius' groin.
Happy Monday, ladies and gentlemen. We have the worst team in MLS and the playoffs are looking like a near impossibility if we don't make a couple of spectacular signings and make a couple of miracle trades. That's not happening, so sit back and just laugh when we concede for the rest of the season.
In front of an expectedly low Sunday evening crowd of 12,349, D.C. United dropped their fourth straight game (and fifth overall, all within the first seven games of the 2013 season) to the Philadelphia Union 3-2. It was a game that felt desperate even before the opening kick, but D.C. United made it even more desperate only 11 minutes into the match when they found themselves down by two goals.
We all know the numbers. They've been counted time and time again.
The nine-game undefeated streak that capsulated the final matches of D.C. United's 2012 season and the beginning of the playoffs has been mentioned in this place and others dozens of times. I don't know if we keep bringing it up as if to remind ourselves that it happened, or if we bring it up because we still don't fully believe that it happened.
For the first time since last year, a match between D.C. United and the New York Red Bulls will not be directly affected by snow. That's about all we know for sure about tonight's Atlantic Cup clash at the friendly confines of RFK Stadium. Everything else, basically, is up in the air. Will we see the United side that stepped to Sporting Kansas City during the first half last Friday, or the team that couldn't string three passes together in New Jersey four weeks ago?
As I have to point out occasionally, we put out at least half of the D.C. United-related content on the internet. The only bit of United stuff out there yesterday was Steve Goff passing along the news that Dwayne De Rosario is likely to play this weekend, which we expected to be a thing. Because of that, today's edition Freedom Kicks is about other random things.
Despite the result, I think that the lineup template that Ben Olsen put out in the game against Sporting Kansas City is the right formation for D.C. United right now. Injuries to Marcelo Saragosa, Lewis Neal, and John Thorrington forced Olsen to play Raphael Augusto, and his performance in the first half left me wanting more.
For 88 minutes, D.C. United deserved a point in Kansas City. They were not the better team - not by any stretch - they weren't even really even, but they had played with Sporting Kansas City and completely denied them any clearcut scoring chances and were deservedly level at 0-0. Ben Olsen's plan to stymie the Sporks by forcing them to send in crosses and then defend D.
Early yesterday, the news came through: Dwayne De Rosario was a new addition to D.C. United's injury report. The club captain was on the report as questionable with an adductor strain.
Possibly helpful, possibly pedantic side note: The only abductor muscles in the body are related to the fingers and toes, whereas adductor can refer to several muscles in the inner thigh, so in soccer it's almost always going to be an adductor strain rather than an abductor strain.
After a weekend off, D.C. United is back in action this Friday, taking a trip to Sporting Park in Kansas City. United's lineup is currently unsettled, with poor performances putting players across the field on notice. However, with few good options to replace those players who are currently underperforming, the lineup for this Friday's game against Sporting Kansas City will look similar to the lineups from the first few games this season.
Earlier today, we got to talk about the good with D.C. United's Player of the Month for March, and now we get the flipside: the Goat of the Month. Let's skip the formalities and jump straight to the inaugural nominees:
Dwayne De Rosario: The captain left the team in a major hole with his head butt on Danny Cruz in the last preseason game.
Before we begin, let's take a brief moment to recognize what D.C. United has accomplished. It's been more than a full calendar since we saw United lose at RFK Stadium. Since March 2012, this team has gone through many transformations, some for the good, some for the bad, but one thing has remained constant - RFK is an effing fortress.
WASHINGTON — Something clearly has been amiss for D.C. United early this season. The goals that came with such abundance last year have gone missing. The defensive discipline that earned the club so many results down the stretch has largely escaped as well.
Dwayne De Rosario scored all three goals to help lead D.C. United past the Philadelphia Union 3-1 tonight in their 4th Round match up in the 100th edition of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Germantown. With the victory United now moves on to a match up with the New [...]
Last season's motto for D.C. United was "Take Back RFK". They certainly did that by compiling a 12-1-4 record at the old building and instilling a new confidence in the squad. Apparently the motto so far in this disastrous start to the 2013 season should be named "Give Back RFK" as United lost their third [.
There are a number of ways that Ben Olsen could go with his lineup for this Sunday's game against the Philadelphia Union. He could bring back Marcelo Saragosa, as some on this site have suggested. He could hold fast to the lineup that he has used the past two games and hope that starting Dwayne De Rosario for the first time in that lineup will help and hope that Chris Pontius cannot stay this bad for this long.
John Hackworth says Kleberson must earn start like everyone else. Califf looking forward to first return to PPL, expects creative heckling. City Islanders open season on Saturday. US advances at CONCACAF U-17s. Champions League semifinal draw. More.
The great Nick DeLeon as attacking midfielder experiment began against Sporting Kansas City and, while he showed flashes, it was not the epiphany that some of us hoped it could be. But one thing that we noticed is that there were a number of times that DeLeon and Dwayne De Rosario were occupying the same space, leading to breakdowns in passing lanes and turnovers.
The struggling United attack will get a lift this weekend as captain Dwayne De Rosariois primed to return to the lineup. The club's attack has been anemic so far in 2013 scoring just two goals in five games. With Nick DeLeon on the shelf as well, getting De Rosario back is the boost that will, hopefully for D.
We'll get a chance to see how D.C. United copes with some early-season adversity this year. After losing Dwayne De Rosario for this first two games of the season due to a suspension and watching John Thorrington suffer a long-term injury just as he was starting to round into form, United received some more bad news today.
Postgame quotes from John Hackworth, Amobi Okugo, and Don Anding after the Union's disappointing 3-1 loss to DC United in fourth round US Open Cup play.
While the effort was better for D.C. United the result was the same. Another loss, this time to 2-1 to FC Dallas at FC Dallas Stadium tonight in Frisco, Texas. The loss for United, their seventh straight, has now established a new team record in a season that is now quickly evaporating. Je-Vaughn Watsons chested [.
