As a part of this year's All-Star festivities, future D.C. United stars will have the opportunity to mingle with past and present members of the Black-and-Red on the eve of the 2004 Sierra Mist All-Star Doubleheader. United's young stars - Bobby Convey, Alecko Eskandarian and Troy Perkins - will join the old guard - back-to-back MLS Cup winners John Harkes, Marco Etcheverry and Jaime Moreno - in a series of clinics on Friday, July 30.
In advance of the All-Star doubleheader, hosted at RFK Stadium on Saturday, July 31, young fans of the Black-and-Red can hone their soccer skills at three locations throughout the Washington, D.C. area. Clinics will be held at Shirley Park in Arlington, V.A., at the Jelleff Boys and Girls Club in Georgetown and at the RFK Stadium Training Fields.
In addition to the clinic, the past, present and future icons of D.C. United will sign autographs and be available for pictures. Before and after the clinic, youngsters can also take part in the official skills competition of Major League Soccer, Dribble, Pass and Score.
The festival atmosphere will continue on Saturday, as the soccer action kicks off at 12:30 p.m. with a Celebration Game featuring a host of past and present league stars. Marco Etcheverry, Peter Nowak and Raul Diaz Arce will take on John Harkes, Alexi Lalas and Juergen Sommer in a match-up pitting members of the 1994 U.S. World Cup team and past international MLS superstars.
For more information on the clinics or to purchase tickets to the 2004 Sierra Mist All-Star Doubleheader, contact D.C. United at 202-587-5000.
U.S. Open Cup watch
D.C. United makes a midweek jaunt down I-95 to begin U.S. Open Cup play on Wednesday night. The Black-and-Red will take on the Richmond Kickers in the last of eight matches in the fourth round of the tournament.
Kick-off for the match is set for 7 p.m. at the University of Richmond Stadium. With a victory, D.C. United will host a quarterfinal match at RFK Stadium on Wednesday, August 4. Awaiting United in the quarterfinals will be the winner of tonight's match between the Chicago Fire and the Columbus Crew, one of two all-MLS match-ups in the fourth round.
Fans can follow all the action of United's U.S. Open Cup run on www.dcunited.com, as Tony Limarzi brings you the play-by-play. General admission tickets are also available from the Richmond Kickers box office. For more information, call 804-644-5425.
Hollywood East
As part of a new sponsorship agreement between Campbell's Soup and D.C. United, the home of the Black-and-Red was turned into a little slice of Hollywood on Monday. Freddy Adu took to the RFK Stadium pitch to film a soup commercial featuring the young D.C. United star.
The youngster was in a good mood on the set despite losing out in balloting for the ESPY "Best Breakthrough Athlete" category. Adu was nominated for the fan-chosen award in June, but lost to Lebron James, another young professional.
John Roushkolb is a contributor to DCUnited.com.
