D.C. United showed their quality yet again in 2007, winning a second consecutive Supporters' Shield and pacing Major League Soccer with an attractive style built on a talented blend of Latin American flair and homegrown hustle.
After last season's playoff disappointment, the league's most successful club rejiggered its roster with surprising boldness. Most notably, Freddy Adu and Alecko Eskandarian were traded to stockpile allocation money for Brazilian acquisitions Fred and Luciano Emilio, both of whom have meshed well with D.C.'s potent attack, while midseason moves for Greg Vanney and Marc Burch solidified the back line.
"It's a very balanced team, on and off the field," said general manager Dave Kasper. "We have great veteran leadership: Jaime [Moreno], Ben [Olsen], Christian [Gomez], guys like Bryan Namoff, players like Troy Perkins -- who's not a young player anymore, he's young, but in terms of experience. So we've got veteran leadership. The new players have done well, Fred and Luciano, obviously. Our acquisitions, Marc Burch and Greg Vanney -- it's all really come together."
Those choices, along with some shrewd lineup rotation, helped make Tom Soehn the latest Black-and-Red boss to enjoy a successful rookie coaching debut.
Yet time and again, United fell excruciatingly short when the spotlight burned brightly and the stakes were highest, from a string of international competitions to their stinging playoff defeat at the hands of the Chicago Fire. That final setback lent a harsh tinge to the team's perspective on a campaign which was brimming with ambition when it kicked off in frigid winter conditions back in January.
"You can ask ... most coaches and the test of a good team is over the course of the season," said Soehn after the year-ending 2-2 draw with the Fire. "And anywhere else in the world, the champion is crowned after the season.
"So, I am still really proud of what we accomplished. Winning the Supporters' Shield, that was high on our list. And of course the MLS Cup, it's a time where you hope your team is hot and healthy, and unfortunately we weren't. But that's soccer. You have to deal with that. The final is here and we are not in it -- of course I'm bitter."
Narrow setbacks in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup, the inaugural SuperLiga and the Copa Sudamericana were disappointing for a United squad that has developed a craving for international accolades. But the enticing prospect of the MLS Cup Final at RFK Stadium always hovered in the minds of players, coaches and fans alike -- making another first-round exit to Chicago all the more traumatic.
"You could see the light at the end of the tunnel, you could see the trophy. Everything was set up perfectly for us to win the championship at home," said defender Bryan Namoff. "To have that door shut in our face is frustrating. It's tough. It's tough to take that realization that it actually happened and we're actually not going to be in that final ... it really feels like we did fall short."
That battered collective psyche might have to endure more roster changes this offseason. Jaime Moreno and Christian Gomez have orchestrated the United attack for years and the future plans of the South American veterans, who are close friends, remain uncertain. Add in the need to address other key players' expiring contracts and whittle down a list of those to be protected in the upcoming expansion draft, and the challenges facing Soehn and Kasper become apparent.
"From year to year we want to keep continuity, especially with a team that's successful," said Kasper. "But we have expansion on the horizon. It's a little too early to tell. We want to keep this group together, but we need to sit down in December and look at it."
D.C.'s regular-season excellence means another early start to '08 with participation in the Champions' Cup and a berth in SuperLiga come summer -- and like so many clubs around the world, United's domestic success has only fueled their burning ambition to achieve at the international level. But after a year plagued by "almosts," the elusive search for that missing ingredient, the final step toward greatness, will linger in the minds of the Black-and-Red through the winter.
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
