D.C. United midfielder Chris Pontius at a recent team practice. Photo by Pablo Maurer.

With the regular season opener only days away, D.C. United wrapped up its preseason this past week by participating in the ninth annual Carolina Challenge Cup in Charleston, S.C.

D.C. United played its first game of the tournament against the Chicago Fire, earning a 1-0 victory despite spending much of the first half on their heels and under steady pressure from their eastern conference rivals. Backup goalkeeper Joe Willis provided a spark for the black and red with a penalty kick save in the fifth minute against World Cup veteran and former Mexican international Pavel Pardo. The team’s break came in the 66th minute, as newly acquired designated player Hamdi Salihi was able to slip in behind the Chicago defense and hammer home the eventual game winner past the outstretched hands of Fire keeper Jay Nolly.

“It’s amazing,” said midfielder Chris Pontius in a post-game interview. “Not a lot of people think to even shoot that ball and he puts it in the back of the net.”

D.C. United’s second test would come against the USL’s Charleston Battery, in the latest installment of what’s been dubbed the “Coffee Pot Cup.” After a shocking defeat against the Battery in the third round of the 1999 U.S. Open Cup, several D.C. United players took their frustrations out on the facilities at Blackbaud Stadium. A number of shower heads were destroyed, along with, most notably, several coffee pots. In more modern times, the incident has become an excuse to drink—when DCU and Charleston face off, the winning team’s supporters are rewarded with a coffee pot full of beer, purchased by the losing teams fans.

This installment saw D.C. United’s fans doing the drinking. The team dominated play throughout the match, with first-half goals from Brazilian Maicon Santos and trialist Ryan Richter. The goals were far from the only positive news for DCU, though. Branko Boskovic put in a solid 45 minutes in midfield, orchestrating the attack and assisting on the first score. Hamdi Salihi found the back of the net again in the second half, giving United the 3-1 victory. The game wasn’t entirely without incident—a red-card challenge by Battery defender Mark Wiltse resulted in the injury of newly acquired midfielder Danny Cruz, who is day-to-day with an ankle injury and could possibly return for the opener.

The team had been scheduled to take on the Columbus Crew on Saturday afternoon, but heavy rains and lightning forced the cancellation of Saturday’s tournament matches. It robbed D.C. United of a key opportunity to field its full first team—starting goalkeeper Bill Hamid and defensive midfielder Perry Kitchen had been away with the U-23 national team during the rest of the tournament. About and hour before what would have been kickoff, D.C. United tweeted their starting lineup for the match. Odds are that this is fairly close to the starting 11 we’ll see on the field against Kansas City this coming Saturday. With six points from two games, DCU was crowned the champion of the tournament for the third time.

The team returned to the D.C. area on Saturday evening and will practice at RFK stadium this week in preparation for their match this weekend.