Also, for the first time in their history, they played in the Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic, a preseason tournament to be held in February, after participating in the Carolina Challenge Cup for the past five seasons.

The extremely poor season came as universal shock to fans and media, who thought United would be one of the top contenders in the Eastern Conference, and a potential candidate for the MLS Cup title.

One of the largest offseason news was the departure of longtime CEO of the club, Kevin Payne, who had been the chief executive officer and president of the D.C. United franchise since its inception in 1994.

[5] Payne left on November 27, 2012, reportedly on good terms with the club, to take over as the president of fellow Major League Soccer outfit, Toronto FC.

[6] Prior to the 2012 MLS Re-Entry Draft, United declined options on four players; Mike Chabala, Emiliano Dudar, Maicon Santos and Stephen King.

At the tail end of the winter transfer window, D.C. United announced they had sold midfielder Andy Najar to Belgian outfit Anderlecht.

After that though the club form dipped, as United went on a thirteen-match winless streak including 10 losses, seeing the team plummet to the bottom of the MLS table.

The streak broke on June 22 when D.C. defeated San Jose Earthquakes 1–0 thanks to a penalty kick taken by Chris Pontius at the RFK Memorial, giving DC their second win after three months since their last.

Despite struggling to a win over Richmond Kickers in a penalty kick shootout, the team won its next two Open Cup matches, with a pair of convincing 3–1 victories over MLS opposition that included the Philadelphia Union and the New England Revolution.

On October 1, D.C. United won the 2013 U.S. Open Cup by defeating Real Salt Lake in the final, on a goal by midfielder Lewis Neal.

The win was a massive surprise to most observers, given that DC was in the midst of a 12-game winless streak Archived April 26, 2014, at the Wayback Machine and had won only three regular-season games all year.