2014 D.C. United season

D.C. United

2014 season
General manager	Dave Kasper
Head coach	Ben Olsen
Stadium	RFK Stadium
MLS	Eastern Conference: 1st Overall: 3rd
MLS Cup Playoffs	Conference semifinals
U.S. Open Cup	Fourth round
CONCACAF Champions League	Quarterfinals
Atlantic Cup	Winners
Carolina Challenge Cup	Winners
Highest home attendance	53,267 vs. Columbus
Lowest home attendance	1,904 vs. Tauro
Average home league attendance	Regular season: 17,030 Playoffs:—
Home colors Away colors
← 2013 2015 →

The 2014 D.C. United season was the club's nineteenth season of existence, and their nineteenth in

.

Outside of MLS regular season play, the club is going to be participating in the

.

Background

Pre-season

After an abysmal 2013 campaign that saw the team break several negative MLS records, the team swapped out over half of its roster. Several starters from 2013 were released or simply let go, including starters like Lionard Pajoy, Dwayne De Rosario, and James Riley among others. In their place, the team gathered several players from other teams, including Davy Arnaud from Montreal, Bobby Boswell from Houston, and Eddie Johnson from Seattle.

Ben Olsen and Dave Kasper were allowed to stay on as Head Coach and General Manager (respectively) of the team.

By the time the first match of the MLS season came around, only 4 of the starting 11 had stayed with the team from last year. Unfortunately, prospective starting midfielder Chris Pontius suffered a serious hamstring injury and was pronounced out for most of the season. His spot was given to fellow midfielder Perry Kitchen.

March

The season started on a bad note, with a relatively new

and the promoted Kitchen helped to give D.C. United a 2–1 lead in the second half, something the team had not had in MLS season play in a while.

April

D.C. United went on a roll, adding a 3–0–1 tally throughout the month. Former

, as the team's defense–--combined with some lucky breaks---managed to hold on to a one-goal lead for most of the match.

DC almost won a third straight match at Columbus in a rematch against the Crew, but for a mistake by Espindola which led to a goal by Crew forward

player allowed the team, led by Espindola, to rack up a 4–1 victory.

May

Poor marking on defense and an anemic offense allowed the struggling

Montreal Impact

thanks to DC forward Eddie Johnson scoring his first goal on the season. The team did much better in their following match against Houston, getting a 2–0 victory at home. Then they fell apart in the second half of a match against the Revolution in Foxboro, losing both the game 2–1 and Johnson to a red card suspension.

Back home against Sporting KC, the team held on to an Espindola goal to win the match 1–0, but starting defender Jeff Parke left the game due to a foot injury. He would be replaced by rookie defender Steve Birnbaum.

June

After a friendly between Spain and El Salvador, D.C. United played the second half of a doubleheader of soccer action in

earning his first-ever hat trick for the team. Unfortunately, Espindola suffered an MCL sprain during this match, and would be sidelined for at least 8 weeks.

Following this game, the entire league took two weeks off for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, as many of its star players were busy playing for their respective national teams in the Cup. During this break, D.C. United played a match in the fourth round of the 2014 U.S. Open Cup against the Rochester Rhinos, but unlike last year, Ben Olsen downplayed the significance of the tournament and fielded a team of mostly reserve players. The team was eliminated in a quiet 1–0 defeat, the only highlight of the match for DC was Birnbaum being sent off in the 60th minute.

On the 28th, D.C. United resumed league play against the Seattle Sounders, where they lost 1–0 at home.

July

At the start of the month,

.

Four days later, DC travelled to Toronto and won 2–1, thanks to a pair of stylish goals from midfielders Perry Kitchen and Nick DeLeon. Afterwards, the team travelled to San Jose to face the Earthquakes, and managed to win 2–1 thanks to a combination of a successful Eddie Johnson penalty kick and Bill Hamid making miraculous saves in the dying minutes of the match. The team travelled back home to Washington to face the surging Chivas USA, and defeated them 3–1. Johnson scored his third goal of the season (and second from a penalty kick) in that match. During this time, Parke recovered from his foot injury, but immediately suffered painful migraine headaches that kept him on the sidelines.

On the 26th, the team travelled to Jacksonville to play a friendly against

also left the game with injuries.

A few days later, DC acquired Kofi Opare from the LA Galaxy in a trade and defeated Toronto 3–0 at home.

August

D.C. United began August with a pair of road losses, but the team recovered to post some strong results and finished the month on top of the Eastern Conference standings. With Chris Korb out, Taylor Kemp made his first start at left back. Despite an early yellow card on Kemp, D.C. United seemed poised to take a rare point in Houston, when Will Bruin beat Kemp and Birnbaum to get on the end of a long pass in added time and scored the lone goal in a 1–0 win for the Dynamo. D.C. United next traveled to Utah to play Real Salt Lake. Although Espindola returned to action in the second half after a prolonged injury absence, RSL scored 3 times in the first half to hand DC its second straight loss. Eddie Johnson received a red card and so would miss the next MLS match.

A Sunday night match at RFK saw D.C. United break out of a scoring slump, with 4 goals against the

on an early goal by Johnson.

United went on the road for a game 3 nights later against division-leading Sporting Kansas City. With first-half goals by Espindola, Rolfe and Kitchen, DC surprised SKC by a 3–0 score to take over the top spot in the MLS Eastern Conference. Coach Ben Olsen rested several starters on a road match in Los Angeles, and the team suffered a hard loss, losing 4–1 to the LA Galaxy. 4 days later, D.C. United rebounded at home, riding goals by Silva and Espindola to a 2–0 win over New York Red Bulls, leaving D.C. United 4 points clear in the Eastern Conference race.

September

Before heading out on the road for a match against Vancouver Whitecaps FC, D.C. United added a Ghana international, Samuel Inkoom. Once again, DC started the month slowly, with a draw in Vancouver, followed four days later by a heartbreaking road loss to New York Red Bulls. United lost Chris Rolfe to a broken arm injury suffered in practice prior to the game against NYRB. Despite playing a man down for most of the match after Espindola was red-carded, United seemed destined to hold on for a draw until Lloyd Sam's stoppage-time goal won the night for the Red Bulls. The game marked the first MLS action of the season for Pontius, who came on as a second-half substitute.

With Espindola forced to miss the next MLS match, Olsen started Espindola in the return match against Waterhouse FC in Jamaica in CONCACAF group play. Espindola had both D.C. United goals in a 2–1 win for the MLS team.

Next, D.C. United traveled to Chicago to play the

, and the DC team rallied from a 2–0 deficit to get a point in a 3–3 draw. DC went ahead 3–2 on a pair of goals by Silva and a goal by Boswell before the team once again lost points on a late goal by the Fire.

The team returned to RFK for another CONCACAF Champions League match, this time facing struggling Panamanian side Tauro FC. With goals by Johnson and Pontius, and an assist by Inkoom, D.C. United earned a 2–0 win over Tauro, and clinched the top spot in the group and a place in the quarterfinals.

When the team resumed MLS action four days after the Tauro match, DC fans turned out in big numbers, with the biggest home crowd in nearly two years. 19,478 fans watched D.C. United defeat the Philadelphia Union on a header for a goal by Silva. The assist went to Korb, who was playing in his first MLS match since injuring his hamstring on August 9.

October

Pontius made his first MLS start of the year for a home match against Sporting Kansas City. The goalless draw was enough for D.C. United to clinch a playoff berth. The good news kept coming for D.C. United, as the team next won for the first time ever in Houston, defeating the Dynamo 3–1 on goals by Kemp, Espindola and Johnson. The one sour note for DC was a hamstring injury suffered by Silva after play had resumed following a lengthy rain delay.

On October 18, D.C. United completed its worst-to-first turnaround. A 2–1 home win before a sellout crowd at RFK clinched first place and the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Pontius scored his first league goal in over a year, and Johnson capped off the scoring for D.C. United.

Three days later, a team of reserves traveled to Panama. A fluke goal on a ball that ricocheted off Conor Shanosky's head was enough for a 1–0 D.C. United win. This win meant that D.C. United earned the full 12 points, the only team in group play to do so. As a result, United gained the top seed heading into the quarterfinal round of CONCACAF Champions League play in February 2015.

The final match of the regular season took United across the northern border, where the team fell behind to the Montreal Impact on a goal by

race. United completed the largest turnaround in points from one MLS season to the next.

November

An injury-depleted D.C. United squad traveled to Red Bull Arena for a playoff match against New York Red Bulls. United fell 2–0 on goals by Bradley Wright-Phillips and Peguy Luyindola. Needing at least two goals in the return match at RFK, D.C. United got a first half goal from Nick DeLeon to set the stage for an improbable comeback. However, another goal by Luyindula, on an assist by Thierry Henry, sealed D.C. United's fate. A late goal by Sean Franklin was not nearly enough to send the home-and-home series to overtime, as NYRB defeated D.C. United by an aggregate 3–2 score.

December

Awards season saw D.C. United get several honors. Bobby Boswell was named MLS Defender of the Year. Bill Hamid was MLS Goalie of the Year and Ben Olsen was named MLS Coach of the Year.

In roster moves, D.C. United added Thomas McNamara in the dispersal draft that allocated players from disbanded Chivas USA. However, McNamara was selected by New York City in the subsequent MLS expansion draft. Orlando City SC also took a D.C. United player, Lewis Neal. Prior to the expansion draft, D.C. United traded Joe Willis and Inkoom to Houston in exchange for Andrew Driver, a move that allowed the team to protect an additional domestic player in the expansion draft.

Squad

As of October 2, 2014.^[1]

No.	Position	Player	Nation
2	DF	Jeff Parke	United States
3	MF	David Estrada	United States
4	DF	Nana Attakora	Canada
5	DF	Sean Franklin	United States
6	DF	Kofi Opare	United States
7	FW	Eddie Johnson (DP)	United States
8	MF	Davy Arnaud	United States
9	FW	Fabián Espíndola	Argentina
11	MF	Luis Silva	United States
12	MF	Alex Caskey	United States
13	FW	Chris Pontius	United States
14	MF	Nick DeLeon	United States
15	DF	Steve Birnbaum	United States
17	MF	HGP )	United States
18	FW	Chris Rolfe	United States
19	MF	Kyle Porter	Canada
20	DF	HGP )	United States
21	DF	Samuel Inkoom	Ghana
22	DF	Chris Korb	United States
23	MF	Perry Kitchen	United States
24	MF	Lewis Neal	England
25	MF	Jared Jeffrey	United States
27	MF	HGP )	United States
28	GK	HGP )	United States
29	FW	HGP )	Jamaica
30	FW	Conor Doyle	United States
31	GK	Joe Willis	United States
32	DF	Bobby Boswell	United States
33	DF	Taylor Kemp	United States
50	GK	Andrew Dykstra	United States

Competitions

Preseason

Florida training camp

Carolina Challenge Cup

Major League Soccer

Overall table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Seattle Sounders FC (S)	34	20	10	4	65	50	+15	64	CONCACAF Champions League
2	LA Galaxy (C)	34	17	7	10	69	37	+32	61
3	D.C. United	34	17	9	8	52	37	+15	59
4	Real Salt Lake	34	15	8	11	54	39	+15	56
5	New England Revolution	34	17	13	4	51	46	+5	55
6	FC Dallas	34	16	12	6	55	45	+10	54
7	Columbus Crew	34	14	10	10	52	42	+10	52
8	New York Red Bulls	34	13	10	11	55	50	+5	50
9	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	34	12	8	14	42	40	+2	50	CONCACAF Champions League
10	Sporting Kansas City	34	14	13	7	48	41	+7	49
11	Portland Timbers	34	12	9	13	61	52	+9	49
12	Philadelphia Union	34	10	12	12	51	51	0	42
13	Toronto FC	34	11	15	8	44	54	−10	41
14	Houston Dynamo	34	11	17	6	39	58	−19	39
15	Chicago Fire	34	6	10	18	41	51	−10	36
16	Chivas USA	34	9	19	6	29	61	−32	33
17	Colorado Rapids	34	8	18	8	43	62	−19	32
18	San Jose Earthquakes	34	6	16	12	35	50	−15	30
19	Montreal Impact	34	6	18	10	38	58	−20	28

Eastern Conference standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	D.C. United	34	17	9	8	52	37	+15	59	MLS Cup Conference Semifinals
2	New England Revolution	34	17	13	4	51	37	+14	55
3	Columbus Crew SC	34	14	10	10	52	42	+10	52
4	New York Red Bulls	34	13	10	11	55	50	+5	50	MLS Cup Knockout round
5	Sporting Kansas City	34	14	13	7	48	41	+7	49
6	Philadelphia Union	34	10	12	12	51	51	0	42
7	Toronto FC	34	11	15	8	44	54	−10	41
8	Houston Dynamo	34	11	17	6	39	58	−19	39
9	Chicago Fire	34	6	10	18	41	51	−10	36
10	Montreal Impact	34	6	18	10	38	58	−20	28

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
34	17	8	9	52	37	+15	59	11	4	2	28	12	+16	6	4	7	24	25	−1

Results by round

Match results

Chicago Fire

October 18 33	Chicago Fire	Washington, D.C.
20:00 EDT	Pontius 31' Johnson 53'	Report	Shipp 67' Ritter  90+2'	Stadium: RFK Stadium Attendance: 20,162 Referee: Armando Villarreal

MLS Cup Playoffs

Conference semifinals

CONCACAF Champions League

Group stage

Knockout stage

U.S. Open Cup

Midseason friendlies

Statistics

Appearances and goals

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		MLS		MLS Cup Playoffs		U.S. Open Cup		CONCACAF Champions League
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
2	DF	USA	Jeff Parke	13	0	13+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
3	MF	USA	David Estrada	3	0	0+1	0	0+1	0	0+0	0	1+0	0
4	DF	CAN	Nana Attakora	2	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	1+0	0	1+0	0
5	DF	USA	Sean Franklin	20	2	17+1	1	1+1	1	0+0	0	0+0	0
6	DF	USA	Kofi Opare	1	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	1+0	0
7	FW	USA	Eddie Johnson	22	5	19+0	4	1+1	0	0+0	0	1+0	1
8	MF	USA	Davy Arnaud	24	2	21+1	2	2+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
9	FW	ARG	Fabián Espíndola	19	8	15+2	8	2+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
11	FW	USA	Luis Silva	19	7	13+5	7	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+1	0
12	MF	USA	Alex Caskey	10	0	1+7	0	0+0	0	1+0	0	1+0	0
13	FW	USA	Chris Pontius	2	0	0+0	0	2+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
14	MF	USA	Nick DeLeon	23	3	21+0	2	2+0	1	0+0	0	0+0	0
15	DF	USA	Steve Birnbaum	13	0	10+0	0	2+0	0	1+0	0	0+0	0
17	MF	USA	Conor Shanosky	1	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	1+0	0
18	FW	USA	Chris Rolfe	24	6	19+2	6	1+1	0	0+1	0	0+0	0
19	MF	CAN	Kyle Porter	5	0	0+3	0	0+0	0	1+0	0	1+0	0
20	DF	USA	Jalen Robinson	1	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	1+0	0	0+0	0
21	DF	GHA	Samuel Inkoom	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
22	DF	USA	Chris Korb	14	0	12+1	0	1+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
23	MF	USA	Perry Kitchen	23	3	21+0	3	2+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
24	MF	ENG	Lewis Neal	23	0	6+14	0	0+1	0	1+0	0	1+0	0
25	MF	USA	Jared Jeffrey	9	0	1+6	0	0+0	0	1+0	0	1+0	0
27	MF	USA	Collin Martin	6	0	1+3	0	0+0	0	1+0	0	1+0	0
28	GK	USA	Bill Hamid	19	0	19+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
29	FW	JAM	Michael Seaton	2	0	0+1	0	0+0	0	0+1	0	0+0	0
30	FW	USA	Conor Doyle	18	0	1+16	0	0+0	0	1+0	0	0+0	0
31	GK	USA	Joe Willis	1	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	1+0	0
32	DF	USA	Bobby Boswell	26	1	23+0	1	2+0	0	0+1	0	0+0	0
33	DF	USA	Taylor Kemp	7	0	2+1	0	1+0	0	2+0	0	0+1	0
50	GK	USA	Andrew Dykstra	5	0	4+0	0	0+0	0	1+0	0	0+0	0
Players who left the club during the 2014 season
3	DF	ESP	Christian	15	0	15+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
21	FW	HAI	Christiano François	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0

Statistics current as of August 20, 2014
Sources: D.C. United Season Statistics; DC United Squad - ESPN FC

Top scorers

Rank	Pos	No.	Player	MLS	MLS Cup Playoffs	U.S. Open Cup	CCL	Total
1	FW	9	Fabian Espindola	11	0	0	2	13
2	FW	11	Luis Silva	11	0	0	0	11
3	FW	7	Eddie Johnson	7	0	0	2	9
4	MF	18	Chris Rolfe	6	0	0	0	6
5	MF	23	Perry Kitchen	5	0	0	0	5
6	MF	14	Nick DeLeon	2	1	0	0	3
7	MF	8	Davy Arnaud	2	0	0	0	2
	DF	5	Sean Franklin	1	1	0	0	2
	FW	13	Chris Pontius	1	0	0	1	2
10	DF	32	Bobby Boswell	1	0	0	0	1
	DF	33	Taylor Kemp	1	0	0	0	1
13	MF	17	Conor Shanosky	0	0	0	1	1

Top assists

Rank	Pos	No.	Player	MLS	MLS Cup Playoffs	U.S. Open Cup	CCL	Total
1	FW	9	Fabián Espíndola	9	0	0	0	9
2	MF	18	Chris Rolfe	6	0	0	0	6
3	MF	14	Nick DeLeon	5	0	0	0	5
4	FW	11	Luis Silva	4	0	0	0	4
	MF	23	Perry Kitchen	4	0	0	0	4
	DF	5	Sean Franklin	4	0	0	0	4
	MF	3	David Estrada	2	0	0	2	4
8	DF	32	Bobby Boswell	3	0	0	0	3
	DF	22	Chris Korb	3	0	0	0	3
	FW	7	Eddie Johnson	3	0	0	0	3
	DF	33	Taylor Kemp	2	1	0	0	3
	DF	21	Samuel Inkoom	1	0	0	2	3
13	DF	3	Christian	1	0	0	0	1
	MF	24	Lewis Neal	1	0	0	0	1
	GK	28	Bill Hamid	1	0	0	0	1
	DF	15	Steve Birnbaum	0	1	0	0	1

Transfers

In

No.	Pos.	Player	Transferred from	Fee/notes	Date	Source
8	MF	Davy Arnaud	Montreal Impact	Traded for international roster spot	December 10, 2013
5	DF	Sean Franklin	Los Angeles Galaxy	Selected in 2013 MLS Re-Entry Draft Stage One	December 12, 2013
32	DF	Bobby Boswell	Houston Dynamo	Selected in 2013 MLS Re-Entry Draft Stage One	December 12, 2013
7	FW	Eddie Johnson	Seattle Sounders FC	Undisclosed	December 17, 2013	[2]
9	FW	Fabián Espíndola	New York Red Bulls	Selected in 2013 MLS Re-Entry Draft Stage Two	December 18, 2013
4	DF	Nana Attakora	San Jose Earthquakes	Selected in 2013 MLS Re-Entry Draft Stage Two	December 18, 2013
20	MF	Jalen Robinson	Wake Forest Demon Deacons	Signed a HGP contract	January 6, 2014
2	DF	Jeff Parke	Philadelphia Union	Traded for Ethan White	January 14, 2014	[3]
15	DF	Steve Birnbaum	California Golden Bears Orange County Blue Star	Selected in the first round of the 2014 MLS SuperDraft	January 16, 2014
34	MF	Victor Muñoz	OC Blues Strikers	Selected in the second round of the 2014 MLS SuperDraft	January 16, 2014
35	MF	Zach Barnes	Portland Timbers U23s	Selected in the third round of the 2014 MLS SuperDraft	January 21, 2014
40	DF	Travis Golden	Campbell Camels Austin Aztex	Selected in the fourth round of the 2014 MLS SuperDraft	January 21, 2014
21	FW	Christiano Francois	Maryland Terrapins	Waiver Draft	January 24, 2014	[4]
3	DF	Christian	Almería	Free	February 7, 2014	[5]
12	MF	Alex Caskey	Seattle Sounders FC	Traded for 2016 MLS SuperDraft third round pick	March 4, 2014	[6]
18	MF	Chris Rolfe	Chicago Fire	Undisclosed	April 2, 2014
6	DF	Kofi Opare	Los Angeles Galaxy	Swapped allocation ranking with the LA Galaxy	July 29, 2014	[7]
3	M/F	David Estrada	Seattle Sounders FC	Traded for the third pick in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft	August 7, 2014	[8]
21	D/M	Samuel Inkoom	Platanias		September 5, 2014	[9]

Out

No.	Pos.	Player	Transferred to	Fee/notes	Date	Source
26	FW	Lionard Pajoy	La Equidad	Released	October 30, 2013	[10]
20	FW	Carlos Ruiz	Municipal	Released	October 30, 2013	[10]
11	MF	Marcelo Saragosa	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Released	October 30, 2013	[10]
7	FW	Dwayne De Rosario	Toronto FC	Released	October 31, 2013	[11]
6	MF	Syamsir Alam	Vise	Loan expired, option declined	November 1, 2013	[12]
2	DF	James Riley	LA Galaxy	Option declined	December 9, 2013	[13]
8	MF	John Thorrington	Retired	Option declined, subsequently retired	December 9, 2013
21	DF	Daniel Woolard	Retired	Option declined	December 9, 2013
15	DF	Ethan White	Philadelphia Union	Traded for Jeff Parke	January 14, 2014	[3]
5	DF	Dejan Jakovic	Shimizu S-Pulse	Undisclosed (~375K est.)	January 14, 2014	[14]
40	MF	Travis Golden	Austin Aztex	Released	February 13, 2014	[15]
35	MF	Zach Barnes	Lane United	Released	February 13, 2014	[15]
16	FW	Casey Townsend	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Waived	February 19, 2014	[16]
34	MF	Victor Muñoz	Sporting Kansas City	Released	March 3, 2014
3	DF	Christian	UD Las Palmas	Mutually-terminated contract	July 1, 2014	[17]
21	FW	Christiano François	Ironbound Soul	Released	August 8, 2014	[18]

Loan out

No.	Pos.	Player	Loaned to	Start	End	Source
31	GK	Joe Willis	Richmond Kickers	February 26, 2014		[19]
21	FW	Christiano François	Richmond Kickers	February 26, 2014	August 8, 2014	[19]
24	MF	Collin Martin	Richmond Kickers	February 26, 2014		[19]
15	DF	Steve Birnbaum	Richmond Kickers	March 22, 2014
29	FW	Michael Seaton	Richmond Kickers	March 22, 2014
19	MF	Kyle Porter	Richmond Kickers	April 4, 2014		[20]

See also

• D.C. United
• List of D.C. United seasons
• 2014 Major League Soccer season
• 2014 MLS Cup Playoffs
• 2014 U.S. Open Cup
• 2014–15 CONCACAF Champions League
• 2014 in American soccer

References