In 1996, D.C. United played in the very first match in the inaugural season of Major League Soccer. In that same year, the Black and Red won the league’s first title match, becoming the first MLS Cup champions.
Thirty years later, D.C. United looks to recapture its glory.
With an overhauled roster and the league’s top scorer, D.C. United enters its 30th season in search of a winning touch to launch itself back into the playoffs for the first time in five years.
Overhauled roster
D.C. ended the 2024 campaign in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, tying in points with Atlanta, but missing out of the postseason due to a goal differential tiebreaker. Its latest failure was made worse in a playoff format where more than 50% of teams qualify.
General manager Ally Mackay quickly overhauled the roster, moving on from 11 players, including cutting ties with all four of its goalkeepers. He told WTOP upgrades were needed defensively after D.C. surrendered 70 goals, third most in MLS. The tinkering continued into the preseason as United traded midfielder and designated player Mateusz Klich to Atlanta and transferred homegrown players Matai Akinmboni and Ted Ku-DiPietro.
Instead of signing one big name, D.C. used every mechanism possible to add as many players as possible, including the re-entry draft, trades, wavier wire and the SuperDraft for college players. Once the transfer window opened up, United made three international signings, bringing in Brazilian winger João Peglow, Australian defender Kye Rowles and South Korean goalkeeper Kim Joon Hong.
The new names have already started turning heads.
On Thursday, head coach Troy Lesesne named Joon Hong the starting goalkeeper heading into United’s regular season opener Saturday against Toronto at Audi Field. The 21-year-old shined when starting in four of D.C.’s five preseason matches.
Rowles, a regular for the Australian national team, was also named vice captain and is expected to play at center back, filling in for the recently retired Steve Birnbaum.
One name who has garnered attention is midfielder Hosei Kijima. Traded from expansion side San Diego to D.C. after playing 2024 in St. Louis, the 22-year-old former Wake Forest star provides versatility for United’s attack. Captain Christian Benteke said Kijima has impressed him the most of all the offseason pickups because of his mindset to play forward.
“He can run, and he has an understanding how we want to play,” Benteke said. “He’s not scared to have the ball, to ask for the ball, and I think it’s a great addition for us.”
‘Less predictable’ playing style
Last season, Benteke won the Golden Boot for the most goals in MLS, scoring 23 times, beating the likes of Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi and LAFC’s Dénis Bouanga. However, D.C.’s approach to attack left itself vulnerable in defense, while predictable in attack. Teams dared United to score in other ways while marking out its main striker with multiple defenders.
Coach Lesesne said heading into this year, while the Belgian striker will remain the focal point of its high-intensity attack, more stability in the midfield and defense will help D.C. avoid allowing opponents easy opportunities to score on transitions and counterattacks.
“We caused chaos all over the field last year, but sometimes, we didn’t control that chaos very well,” Lesesne said. “I think that’s a step that we want to take to eliminate the moments in the game that go against us, when we can control the moment a little bit better.”
Benteke said the new playing style will also allow the ball to be distributed more evenly on offense and create attacks for others. In turn, it could help him score more goals “because then the attention is not going to just be on me.”
United hopes the new playing style will provide the stability it lacked last season.
Outside back Aaron Herrera told WTOP he’s been asked to stay back more often this year instead of being an extra attacker on offense. Herrera, who was named to the MLS All-Star team last season, admitted allowing so many goals last season was “horrible” and vowed it wouldn’t happen again.
“Your best defense, a lot of times, is your offense and being on the ball and keeping the ball away from the other team,” Herrera said. “Seventy goals won’t happen again. I could tell you that right now, it was a bit wild that that did even happen last year. So we’re doing everything we can to make sure that doesn’t happen again. And it definitely won’t.”
Rebuilding home field advantage
United ended 2024 with only four wins at its home stadium, Audi Field, in Southwest D.C. Since 2021, D.C. has only mustered 14 wins at home out of 51 league matches.
Lesesne said during the preseason, United has researched every method, from reorganizing its game day schedules and establishing new routines, to help get out of its home-losing funk.
“We want to win at home. That’s something that we did not fulfill enough last year,” he said. “One thing (the players) want to have more of is an expectation to win, not just compete. And we were competitive last year, but we want to take a step forward this year.”
Benteke, who has wished to play in the MLS postseason since arrived in D.C. in 2022, said United has a chance to compete for every trophy this season. After watching several underdog teams win in the playoffs last season, the captain said his team needs to win at home to have a fighting chance to move forward and make the fans happy.
“So why not us?” he said. “We really have to believe that we can go through everything this season.”
Herrera agreed with his captain, telling WTOP that playoffs are the bare minimum for D.C. this season. And it all starts Saturday during a home game against Toronto.
“We want to push it much further than that,” he said. “We know that that’s where we need to be and where we deserve to be, where this club deserves to be, and what the fans deserve. And so, we’re going to do everything we can to be back there.”
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