Congrats to DC United - 2008 US Open Cup Champions!


US Open Cup

Final
Match & Score:
-Wed Sep 3
DC United 2-1 Charleston Battery - DCU goals by Luciano Emilio & Fred. CG goal by Ian Fuller.
Attendance: 8,212
Venue: RFK Stadium, Washington DC
Match report from the Washington Post. Click to continue reading...

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...

DC United won their 12th club trophy last night in the 2008 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup with their 2-1 defeat of the USL-1 Charleston Battery at RFK Stadium. DC was lead by their two Brazilians Luciano Emilio and Fred in this one as Emilio got the Black-and-Red up early and after Charleston leveled things [. Click to continue reading...

Plenty more to come, but here are your post-game quotes...

D.C. UNITED HEAD COACH TOM SOEHNOn the win We didn't play up to our standards in the first half. It gets me frustrated again that we didn't go a better job of recognizing how to possess better and get our shape a little bit better. Click to continue reading...

United wins its twelfth major trophy and second-ever U.S. Open Cup. Goals from the Brazilian duo, Luciano Emilio and Fred. Pleny more to come shortly... ¡Campeones!

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RFK was indeed a fortress tonight. One not capable of keeping a goal out in a 2-1 win for United but one which was formidable enough to give the Capital Club its first win in the 94 year old national cup competition since their inaugural season in 1996. It is also United's first cup win since the 2004 MLS cup victory. Click to continue reading...

I barely get into the house and it's 1-1 in the Open Cup final. Luciano Emilio scores for DC, and gets hurt. Charleston responds in the 10th minute with a nice finish after some sloppy defending. We have ourselves a match, ladies and gentlemen.

I bet Charleston would've done better in the CONCACAF Champions League than New England did. Click to continue reading...

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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BehindTheBadge kindly corrected us, Luciano Emilio's site is no longer the one we mentioned but www.LuciGOL.com

Galaxy fans barraged us with emails, "What about Landon's site?!" - Well we forgot about that... Landon Donovan's site is www.landondonovan.com

Also former MLSer and current Glasgow Ranger, Maurice Edu has his own digs over at www. Click to continue reading...

I just finished the new DVD from Major League Soccer and A&E Home Video titled, Game Breakers: The Stars of Major League Soccer and I've got to tell ya, I was quite impressed.

The DVD was just released on August 26th and so – like Kramer in Seinfeld – that practically makes me the premier! Click to continue reading...

Though most Americans have today off to celebrate the last year's worth of labor, United's players were at RFK for a couple hours with their sights set on Wednesday night's Open Cup final. Everyone who is healthy played signifcant minutes against New York over the weekend - either in the first team's 0-0 draw on Saturday or in the reserve's 2-1 win on Sunday - so the team gathered for a couple of runs, a long stretch and training room treatment today.

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Every road point counts as the march to the playoffs continue. Satudays Primetime game featured lots of back and forth play, with 0 goals to show for it. The evening ended in a 0-0 draw But its a draw that feels like a win - a road point during an important playoff race, given to us by a choking Jaime Moreno!

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The Red Bulls will finally be injury free when New York takes the field vs. DC United on Saturday night at RFK (7:30p, FSC). The Red Bulls have lifted themselves into the playoff mix by picking up nine points at home over the last three Sundays, but if New York is to solidify its hold on a playoff spot, RBNY must figure out how to get the maximum points on the road. Click to continue reading...

Following two goals in United's 3-1 win over the New England Revolution in the U.S. Open Cup semis, Luciano Emilio was named as the USOpenCup.com Player of the Round. The Brazilian speaks below about the semifinal win, other championships he's been a part of, playing against the Charleston Battery next Wednesday and his sweet jean jacket (not really, but I kind of wish he did).

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I had a chance to watch Game Breakers: The Stars of Major League Soccer this evening. The A&E DVD about several of the stars of Major League Soccer was just released today.

The description of the DVD lists 12 players that they profile but you will see so much more than just 12 player profiles.

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I have got to get out of this habit of only posting post game reports... I was there last night, and I was fairly pleased. I say fairly because there were some stupid passes in the midfield, and some questionable play by certain players (I'm looking your way Emilio), and because we SHOULD get three [. Click to continue reading...

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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For the record, here are my player ratings from the two matches I missed while on vacation, based only on descriptions of the games given by Fullback, BDR, and Goff.

8/10/08: 4-1 loss at NYRB
Top shelf: Jaime Moreno
Call: Fred
Rail: Zach Wells, Pat Carroll, Marc Burch, Devon McTavish

8/12/08: 3-1 win in USOC Semi-finals vs NE:
Top shelf: Jaime Moreno, Luciano Emilio, Santino Quaranta
Call: Brian Namoff, Zach Wells, Ivan Guerrero
Rail: None

The other big thing that I missed while I was out was the formal acquisition of new starting goalkeeper Louis Crayton, and the other transactions surrounding that move. Click to continue reading...

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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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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UPDATE: This list has been updated to include Darren Huckerby's salary, Emilio's big pay raise and Claudio Reyna's retirement.

Also the list of celebrity MLS fans has been updated here.



While MLS is not the English Premier League, that hasn't stopped a few players from making a tidy bit of coin and greenbacks. Click to continue reading...

The last time United visited Chicago, the team got a thrilling, last-minute win courtesy of a Luciano Emilio goal. I'd take a similar result this evening - you know, a win - but would prefer a little less drama. The team watched some film last night in preparation and will need to be ready for U.

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D.C. United will be representing Major League Soccer in this year's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final, earning the honor after dispatching a less-than-full-strength New England Revolution squad on Tuesday night by a score of 3-1. A pair of goals from reigning MVP Luciano Emilio sandwiched Santino Quaranta's game-winner, while Joe Germanese tallied the lone goal for New England. Click to continue reading...