and the abundant passion and gratitude expressed by the United faithful could do little to ease the stinging disappointment felt by an ambitious squad that had long before set its sights on a home-field title triumph.
"It's a harsh reality," admitted goalkeeper Troy Perkins as he greeted fans and posed for pictures exactly one week after United's stunning playoff exit at the hands of the upstart Fire.
Sitting next to Perkins, Ben Olsen conceded that he, too, was grappling with the fallout from a jarringly premature end to a 2007 campaign in which the Black-and-Red competed in a host of domestic and international competitions but earned only one trophy for all their hard work, the Supporters' Shield for best regular-season record in MLS.
"I think as time goes, you get to appreciate, a little bit, the success this team has had this year," said the veteran midfielder. "But truthfully, it still hurts. It still hurts, even more than usual, just because of the situation we had as far as being at home and rewarding these fans, to play in front of them. So it's still not easy to swallow."
Players and fans in places like Columbus, Toronto and Salt Lake City might find it hard to sympathize with that disappointment. But things are different in the nation's capital, where a tradition of championships and a commitment to stylish soccer has raised expectations both within the United organization and among the discerning soccer community that comprises one of Major League Soccer's most fervent markets.
"They continue to grow and make RFK a better atmosphere each year. It was a great atmosphere in '97 and each year it's gotten better and better, and the fans have gotten more passionate about it," said Olsen. "We're lucky, we're really lucky to be in Washington, D.C., which now is a soccer town. I really believe that this is the biggest soccer town in the country."
It's a place where the significance and value of the Supporters' Shield -- an achievement requiring quality, consistency and depth over a grueling 30-game season -- is fully, if ruefully, appreciated. United have garnered that honor for two years running and are well aware that it would make them top dogs almost everywhere else on earth.
"Yeah, we were on the wrong end of it this year," said a pensive Devon McTavish. "It's tough -- like everyone says, in any other league in the world we would've been champions of the league.
"But that's the way it is in the playoffs. It's entertaining and you have to get the breaks, and you have to show up every minute of the game. It's American soccer. We realize that and we can get frustrated with it, but at the end of the day we know that you have to win the playoffs in order to be crowned MLS champions."
Unfortunately for the young defender and his teammates, the 3-2 aggregate loss to Chicago in the conference semifinals was only the latest in a string of excruciating setbacks in clutch situations.
Early spring brought a promising start in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup with a 7-3 aggregate victory against Honduran side CD Olimpia, but a tightly contested semifinal showdown with Chivas de Guadalajara ended in tears as Perkins saw the series-winning goal slip through his fingers on a rainy night at Estadio Jalisco.
Some six months later, Mexico's most popular club would end United's Copa Sudamericana run as well, edging the Black-and-Red on away goals after Mexican international Ramon Morales produced a moment of magic with a 20-yard bullet to hand his side a 1-0 win in Guadalajara.
In midsummer, the inaugural SuperLiga competition offered D.C. another opportunity for glory. But with a majestic free kick goal and an assist on Landon Donovan's tally, LA Galaxy superstar David Beckham produced one of the few shining performances of his injury-plagued debut season to knock United out at the semifinal stage.
"Throughout the tournaments, we got beat by some fluke plays and I hope we learned from that," said coach Tom Soehn, "because we're going to be in those situations this coming season, and hopefully it will have made us better."
Throughout those international tribulations, the capital club maintained remarkable consistency in league play despite a crowded calendar and the loss of several starters to international duty. Beginning in late July, United reeled off a 13-game unbeaten streak that lasted until the final day of the regular season.
That success represented a dramatic reversal from the three-game losing skid that afflicted D.C at the outset of the campaign, when the Chivas heartbreak seemed to batter the team's psyche. It was an unsettling commencement to Soehn's head coaching career. But the former MLS defender and longtime assistant adeptly addressed the first challenge of his tenure with a formation change and a series of lineup tweaks that helped his entire squad prepare for the demanding days ahead.
"I think he did an excellent job," said McTavish. "Starting the season at 0-3, a lot of coaches would panic, but all the players knew we weren't playing our best and Tommy knew that. He kind of figured out the problem and made the right changes and it ended, ultimately, with a Supporters' Shield. That's very tough to do: over 30 games, have the best record in the league. That's quite an accomplishment, and that's credit to Tommy."
Keen to apply the lessons of United's 2006 season, when coach Peter Nowak's relentless approach left many key starters worn down by the time the postseason arrived, Soehn routinely juggled his first XI and rested veterans like Olsen, Jaime Moreno and Christian Gomez when necessary. The tactic helped his side navigate an exhausting schedule that lasted 43 games from start to finish, with other competitions comprising nearly half a league season's worth of extra play.
"I think this year more than any year, our schedule was so much thicker," said Soehn. "Thankfully we put together a deep team and we were able to handle a lot of that. But the amount of games we had to play, I'm not sure that it isn't one of the heavier schedules in league history and having to deal with that was pretty stressful."
Yet the most troublesome aspect of the 2007 season was United's confounding inability to prevail in the moments that mattered most, a trait that sentences the squad to plenty of soul searching in the offseason.
"If your team has a theme of not performing in big games, it's not a good thing," said Olsen, "and that's the sense I've gotten in the last couple of years with our team. That's what it is and whether it's a killer instinct or a big-game mentality, I don't know. I'm not a coach and I don't know how to fix that."
A year ago, United made several dramatic roster moves that belied their league-leading regular season, and after a third consecutive playoff disappointment many around the club believe that significant changes will be made this winter as well. But the extent of the tweaking will hinge on the fate of Jaime Moreno and Christian Gomez, two critical cogs in the D.C. attack who are contemplating moves abroad (Moreno is also said to be mulling retirement).
To add further elements of offseason intrigue, the club's reported courtship of Argentinean star Juan Sebastian Veron as a designated player signing continues, as does the search for a new stadium site after the District of Columbia government cut off negotiations around the Poplar Point project.
"You can always come back with a million reasons why and you'll tend to do that," said Soehn of the past season's shortcomings. "All we can do is now look forward and say 'how can we put ourselves in a better spot next year?' Whether it's personnel changes or preparation, we're going to take everything into account and be hard on ourselves to make sure we come out better off than we did this year."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
