History of D.C. United
It was also announced that United would begin play at RFK Stadium located in the city's seventh ward near the Eastland Gardens neighborhood and D.C. Armory.
The current design reoriented the eagle facing left, and removed the three stars below it, whose metaphor was retained by three raised wing feathers.
[10] In the inaugural MLS Cup championship match, United took on the Western Conference champions, Los Angeles Galaxy.
[11] United's double was the first time a professional American soccer club won both the league and domestic championship since the New Bedford Whalers did so in 1932.
There, an 84th-minute goal from Marco Etcheverry gave the club the 1–0 win, and a spot in the CONCACAF semifinals, where United would face a familiar foe, Los Angeles Galaxy.
Following a lopsided quarterfinal 8–0 victory over Trindiadian side Joe Public, United earned a semifinal matchup against the 1997 Mexican Invierno champions, León, ultimately defeating Club Leon 2–0 on goals by Roy Lassiter.
United became the first sports franchise in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to earn a continental honor, and the first American and MLS club to win a CONCACAF title.
United's continental success culminated in the 1998 Copa Interamericana, a now-defunct playoff series between the CONCACAF and CONMEBOL champions to determine the best soccer club in The Americas.
As winners of 1998 Champions' Cup, United earned a berth into the series to take on Vasco da Gama of Brazil.
To replace Arena, United turned to Thomas Rongen, who had won Coach of the Year honors as head of the Tampa Bay Mutiny in MLS's inaugural season.
[17] Nevertheless, a strong finish, assisted in large measure by the late-season acquisition of Argentine midfielder Christian Gómez, propelled United into the 2004 playoffs as the second seed.
[18][19][20][21] In front of 21,000 spectators; United and the Revolution battled to a 3–3 draw during regulation time, thanks to a last gasp equalizer from New England's Pat Noonan.
The series had to go to sudden death penalty kicks, where New England's Clint Dempsey missed his, whereas United's Brian Carroll successfully converted his.
During that moment, United defensive midfielder Dema Kovalenko drew a penalty kick for Kansas City and consequently earned a red card ejection from the match.
[23] To fans and the media alike, 2008 marked a downfall for the franchise, as well as end to what was considered a "second golden age" for the club in league play.
The justification behind this involved United's inability to defend the Supporters' Shield, an awarded given to the MLS club with the best regular season record, for a third-consecutive year.
In the Champions League, United continued their misfortunes, losing all their Group Stage matches at home, and only managing to pick up one draw at Costa Rica's Saprissa.
In the championship, United defeated Charleston Battery of the USL Second Division (third tier) to win the Open Cup for a second time in club history.
Two minutes later, Wicks was ejected from the match, causing United's Christian Gomez to sub out to be replaced by back-up keeper, Miloš Kocić.
Following the club's failure to qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs for two consecutive seasons, Tom Soehn resigned from the head coaching duties.
Onalfo was fired before the end of the season, on August 4, 2010, and the team assigned coaching duties to Ben Olsen on an interim basis.
Despite the team's poor regular season performance, the club had a strong run in the 2010 U.S. Open Cup, where they reached the semifinals before falling to eventual runners-up, Columbus Crew.
The club completed three major acquisitions during the offseason, first obtaining ex-Sporting Kansas City attacker Josh Wolff and Houston Dynamo striker Joseph Ngwenya in the MLS Re-Entry Draft and then in February 2011, following a lengthy trial, signing U.S. national team standout Charlie Davies on a season-long loan from French outfit Sochaux of the French Ligue 1.
In summer 2012, Erick Thohir and Jason Levien, both at the time minority partners in the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, joined club owner William Chang's ownership group.
On October 21, 2012, D.C United defeated Columbus Crew at RFK, 3–2, and returned to the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time in five years.
[27] The 3 goals that D.C.United scored against Columbus stood out in a 7-game undefeated streak, as the team closed out the regular season with 5 wins and 2 draws in their final 7 games.
After losing star player Dwayne De Rosario to a season-ending knee injury, coach Ben Olsen had implemented a strategy of playing a deliberately defensive shell and aiming for one clear chance in attack to win a game, tactics that came to be known as Bennyball.
[28] The match finally took place the following night, with Nick Deleon finishing a through ball from Robbie Russell to seal victory for DC United.
The Re-Entry draft saw the return to the fold of Bobby Boswell, along with fellow free agents Sean Franklin and Fabian Espindola.
[35] 2014 ended on a particularly high note for the franchise, as the District of Columbia government approved a plan to purchase land at Buzzard Point for a new stadium to be built and financed by the team and its ownership.
