D.C. United has been game planning for tomorrow's season opening match against the Columbus Crew for a few weeks now. But yesterday, head coach Ben Olsen, striker Charlie Davies and midfielder Dax McCarty were forced to hone their tactics for another furious opponent: the seemingly never-ending dinner rush at Ben's Chili Bowl. more ›

Ben's Chili Bowl stands on its own. It needs no promotion, it doesn't need to cater to anything other than its own interests, and it has more than earned the right to dictate who and what it supports, if anything. So when the half-smoke slinger does engage in a promotion with a local group, you know it's something to get excited about -- which is why we have no reservations about lending our full support to this evening's event at the venerable eatery, in which D.C. United head coach Ben Olsen and a group of his players will transform the space into "Ben Olsen's Chili Bowl" for an hour. (Okay, the free half-smokes might have made our decision to give our blessing to the promotion the decision a little bit easier.) more ›

While gorging on this weekend's opening round of the Barclays Premier League, a friend and I discussed how soccer is the sport of optimists. There's usually a silver lining, if you look hard enough. more ›

D.C. United announced this morning that they have dismissed Curt Onalfo and installed club legend Ben Olsen as interim coach in a major, but sorely needed, shakeup. more ›

Olsen's career had plenty of highlights, despite the fact that recurring ankle troubles -- the most serious of which occurred while Olsen was on loan at Nottingham Forest in 2000 -- cost him a considerably unfair portion of his prime, especially on the international stage. United fans certainly have plenty of memories to look back fondly on from his time in the Black-and-Red: his hat trick at RFK against New York in 2007, his man of the match performance in the 1999 MLS Cup final, or even his equalizer against New England early this year. Personally, my favorite memory of Ben Olsen was on a sweltering hot day in June 2008, when Olsen -- in but 15 minutes, his only action that season -- received an overwhelming reception from the nearly 36,000 fans who had come to the stadium that day to jeer David Beckham. more ›

D.C. United played out a relatively dull and featureless 0-0 draw with the Chicago Fire on Saturday night, but the real celebrations would come on Sunday night. The Colorado Rapids scored in the final minutes to pull out an upset over Chivas USA, 2-1, making D.C. United the first team to ever successfully defend the Supporters’ Shield. It probably wasn’t the stylish way United will have wanted to take the regular season crown, but with... more ›

Saturday night's meeting of D.C. United and Toronto FC looked like a mismatch on paper. An expansion team with the worst record in Major League Soccer lined up against the most decorated club in the league's history and current point leaders. Add D.C.'s distinctive home field advantage and you have a recipe for a blowout. Yet for one half, TFC hung with their hosts. Indeed, at many points in the first half Toronto was the... more ›

Despite having to fend off a persistent Chivas Guadalajara attack for most of the game and playing a man down for 50 minutes, United pulled out a 2-1 victory in the first leg of the Copa Nissan Sudamericana home-and-home series. From the get-go the Goats took advantage of quick, incisive passing to carve through the United midfield. Four times in the opening 16 minutes Chivas attackers had a clear line to the goal, yet... more ›

Move over, Jason Kreis. In the forty-eighth minute of the twentieth game in the twelfth season of Major League Soccer, D.C. United's Jaime Moreno became the league's all-time leading scorer with a deftly taken penalty kick. Moreno's 109th career goal put the cap on a solid 3-1 victory over Red Bull New York. On an uncharacteristically brisk August evening at RFK Stadium, United surprised the Red Bulls and never looked back. The 18,748 in... more ›

The 46,686 spectators that packed into RFK stadium got their money's worth last night. The United faithful saw a dominating performance that vaulted their team into second place in the Eastern Conference of MLS. Those hoping to see soccer star and global icon David Beckham also left pleased: LA's five million dollar man played the final 20 minutes, making his Major League Soccer debut. Though United's finishing was spotty, they enjoyed the great majority... more ›

Last night Club America stormed into RFK Stadium intent on claiming a SuperLiga result. Their boisterous contingent of supporters easily outnumbered United fans among the 18,604 in attendance. An early goal from Rod Dyachenko and a team-wide clinic of possession soccer stifled the C.A. attack as well as its supporters. Coach Tom Soehn knew that an early goal would be important in taking control of the game, and his team's focus on energy and... more ›

D.C. United manager Tom Soehn wants to forget about last Saturday’s debacle at previously winless Real Salt Lake. After an opening spell that might have given Soehn flashbacks, an under-strength United helped him do that with a strong final sixty minutes and a 4-1 win over the Colorado Rapids at RFK Stadium. There were plenty of important moments – newcomers Fred and Luciano Emilio's fluid passing movies with playmaker Christian Gomez, Jamaican forward Nicholas... more ›

D.C. United dispatched the New York Red Bulls yesterday, 4-2. In previous years, this would not be any more than standard procedure for the boys in black, who had compiled a 24-15-5 record against their Atlantic Cup rivals. This year, however, the result was something more than a routine win: it was a statement. The New York team that came into RFK yesterday was not the same Red Bull/MetroStar squad they had faced in... more ›

Under some circumstances, a draw is an acceptable result in soccer. Playing in a hostile stadium against a superior opponent would be one of these circumstances. If you head into the second leg of a Cup match with the lead on aggregate, you'd be happy to walk away with a draw. You'd contently take away one point from a match when you are desperate to end a season-long losing streak: baby steps, right? D.C. United... more ›

Mired in a 4-game winless slump and experiencing an offensive drought, DC United headed into last night's match against Red Bull New York with a degree of uncertainty. Would United's forwards be able to capitalize on the scoring chances that had slipped by them in past games? Could the team regain its competitive edge? Was it time for another early exit from U.S. Open Cup play? United provided an emphatic answer to these questions,... more ›

Congratulations are in order DC United, who are playoff-bound after their emphatic 4-1 win over the New York/New Jersey MetroStars. Now at 15-9-5, United sits in second place in the Eastern Conference, five points behind the conference leading New England Revolution with three games remaining in the regular season. DC are winners of four of their last five games, and Saturday’s four-goal output leave them tied with the Revolution as the MLS’ most prolific... more ›