D.C. United have finally captured the Supporters' Shield trophy they've been coveting all season, simultaneously adding another piece of silverware to the crowded cabinet at RFK Stadium and making MLS history as the first team to successfully defend the award.
"It just shows the characteristics of our team, to fight through everything in order to try to win this accomplishment, which I think is one of the biggest accomplishments, especially to try to do it in repeat," said defender Bryan Namoff on Monday. "It's great for the team, great for the organization, and it just shows a lot of character."
Though the feat was made official a bit earlier than the squad expected, thanks to the Colorado Rapids' surprising 2-1 victory against Chivas USA on Sunday, the Black-and-Red have allowed themselves a brief moment of celebration before turning their focus towards their last challenge of 2007, the MLS Cup Playoffs.
"It's a good feeling to be able to take a day and just breathe, relax, have some fun with the guys, and then come Tuesday, Wednesday, put it behind us and move on," said goalkeeper Troy Perkins. "Because we're playing next Thursday, or the following Saturday, but we first have got to worry about this next home game against Columbus. We'll get a result and get some confidence about ourselves going into the playoffs."
As the most successful team over Major League Soccer's grueling seven-month, 30-game campaign, United will again proudly represent the league in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup and SuperLiga in 2008. After enduring disappointing setbacks in those tournaments -- as well as the Copa Sudamericana -- this season, the team is gratified to have earned further opportunities to burnish their international credentials.
"For me, it's a special thing," said head coach Tom Soehn of the Supporters' Shield. "It's one of the things you pride yourself on at the beginning of the season, the [international] tournaments which are so important to me -- knowing that we're going to be back in there, that was probably my No. 2 goal on the list. So we're all excited about that. It's a situation where we've controlled our own destiny the whole time, and that makes you pretty proud as a coach as well."
The trophy offers well-deserved validation for a club which has endured a busy year full of ups and downs in three international competitions, yet still maintained remarkably consistent form in league play after a three-game winless streak to open the season.
"After those first three games of the year, everyone was really down on us," said Perkins. "Our fans were down on us, people were doubting us already, and you know what, we came together within these walls of the locker room and made it turn around. It could've been a disaster of a season for us but we proved them all wrong and made a lot of people eat their words about jumping the gun too quickly on us."
Soehn and his coaching staff shook things up after a winless April that started with a heartbreaking loss to Chivas de Guadalajara in the Champions' Cup, shuffling the lineup and jettisoning former boss Peter Nowak's 3-5-2 formation in favor of a 4-4-2 shape that helped galvanize the team.
"I give a lot of credit to Tommy," said United general manager Dave Kasper. "We had a very poor start and he made some very bold moves, including addressing how we play, with a formation change. He changed it midweek before an important game against New England and from there, we've gone onward and upwards."
United has lost just two league games since the change and their leader believes much of that success can be attributed to a newfound mental strength in his locker room -- a quality that might still be required as D.C. looks towards winning a fifth MLS title on their home field next month.
"It was a difficult time coming off of CONCACAF, and I think were able to refocus ourselves, but it took a little bit to get over," said Soehn. "There's always a healing process. You could see when we had a couple other disappointments along the way, how fast we rebounded. I don't know if we would've rebounded as fast had we not gone through that first one. So credit to the guys, they've been focused and disciplined and organized the whole time and now we've had a great run. But we know there's still a lot to do."
The league's postseason format leaves room for upsets and unpredictable results en route to MLS Cup, but United derive satisfaction from knowing that they have proved themselves tops over the long haul.
"We've won the table," said Kasper. "In our case, the table is two conferences, but still, when you're looking at the regular season, the championship is the Supporters' Shield. The table doesn't lie and it's something that we're very proud of."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
