D.C. United officials announced today that PEPCO, a DC-based utility company, would sponsor all of United's evening games as part of a new marketing deal with the team. In exchange for advertising rights to the back of United's jersey, PEPCO will blackout all night games at RFK.

"Fans have been blacking out RFK for years by wearing all black during home playoff games, and now PEPCO adds an additional element to that great tradition," team officials announced today under the glow of flashlights and candles.

D.C. United 2 : 0 Rochester Rhinos
Six Word Novel Recap

Dewar! What's it good for? CONCACAF.

Media, Traditional and OtherwiseThe Washington Times, Harlan Goode: "It took a while for Marc Burch to get going Tuesday night, but once the D.C. United defender did, he was hard to stop. Burch scored goals on two late free kicks, lifting United to a 2-0 win over the USL first-division Rochester Rhinos in the third round of the U.

Since I didn't witness the match myself, the following player ratings are based on excerpts taken from comments written about the game on the Soccer Insider:
1. "For me, Marc Burch was by far the player of the match, and not just because of the 2 goals. Through much of the game, he was among the most active player on the field.

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.

I missed the match entirely. Wound up going shopping with Mrs. Shatz in advance of our Ocean City trip. First full-team match that I've missed all year.
But we did get some answers to the questions that I posed yesterday:
Does [Soehn] choose to start the highly paid Quavas Kirk in this match, or keep using him only in the safety of the Reserve division?

We're about an hour from kickoff and both teams are getting ready for tonight's match. With Santino Quaranta, Marcelo Gallardo, Dan Stratford and Domenic Mediate all nursing injuries or getting rest, Tom Soehn has made a few changes to tonight's lineup. The guys will run out in a 4-5-1 in the following set-up:

Zach Wells; Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch, Gonzalo Martinez; Pat Carroll, Clyde Simms, Rod Dyachenko, Fred, Ryan Cordeiro; Luciano Emilio.

Just got finished watching the match immediately following my three hour drive home from Virginia Beach. At least I should say I just got finished watching 81 minutes of the match. I missed the rest thanks to the lights at RFK delaying the match past 10:00 pm. What's with that anyway? That's just embarassing.

An hour from kick-off and United coach Tommy Soehn has announced his line-up. Playing for the second time in three days, the Black-and-Red will field some reserves tonight, but there are some big names in the line-up as well. United is clearly taking this competition seriously. Here are the guys charged with advancing the Black-and-Red to the quarterfinals of the U.

It is a first impressions post, but the match was a story of second impressions. This was a match of reexamination, reconsideration, and perhaps redemption.

The second impressions of Pat Carroll, stranding himself and Zach Wells and allowing Daniel Woodward to chip the ball into the net. After a strong game against Rochester, Carroll was having a perfectly acceptable, but not stellar match, until the paralysis of indecision created the dreaded Big Oops moment.

D.C. United 2 : 3 AtlanteSuperliga, Match Day 2
Six Word Novel Recap

Superliga is done. Play the reserves

Media, Traditional and Otherwise
The Washington Post, Steve Goff: "Luis Gabriel Rey scored twice in the first half and Christian Bermúdez added a second-half strike from beyond the penalty area for Atlante.

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.

This was the first non-Open-Cup game of the season that I didn't see either in person or on tv, and that's probably a good one. Because aside from maybe the match at RSL early in the year, this was easily DC's worst performance yet. I should have taken the Fullback approach and prepped for this game with some red wine, or better yet, I should have been taking in the game with my arch nemesis Jose.

With a host of injuries, Coach Tom Soehn has had to make a few adjustments to his usual starting lineup. The team will be sticking to the 4-4-2 it has recently been running out - here's how they'll start this evening:

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

Subs: James Thorpe, Pat Carroll, Mike Zaher, Ryan Cordeiro, Quavas Kirk, Dane Murphy, Francis Doe.

D.C. United 1 : 2 C.D. Guadalajara
Superliga, Match Day 1
Six Word Novel Recap

Lights go out with United's hopes.

Six Word Novel Literary Criticism of Six Word Novel Recap

That recap is over-dramatic, too sentimental.

Media, Traditional and Otherwise
The Washington Times, John Haydon: ".

Ouch, that was bad. And by that, I mean this, too. Soehn was pretty fired up, and not in a good way. Oh, and he was hoarse, too -- just like on Saturday. When you've given up five goals and been opened up at will over the course of two consecutive matches, and your coach barely has a voice from all the yelling he's been doing on the sidelines, something is amiss, no?