Today's game against the Chicago Fire provides a simple equation for the Black-and-Red - win and take over first place in the Eastern Conference. With New York-Toronto (8 p.m.) and New England-Kansas City (8:30 p.m.) tonight, as well, the standings could look very different at the end of the night.
Tonight, United will be without the services of its leading goal-scorer Luciano Emilio, due to the red card received last weekend against New York, while Chicago will be without centerback Bakary Soumare, also due to a red card suspension. After missing the last several games with a hamstring strain, Ben Olsen has been upgraded to "probable" and may very well be available this evening off the bench.
Tonight's game can be seen locally on Comcast SportsNet or heard on the radio in English (1050 AM) or Spanish (1540 AM). You can also follow the game on twitter - tag your tweets with #dcu or #dcunited and they'll show up on the front page of dcunited.com.
The pre-game rundown begins... now.
- First Place is Up for Grabs for United - by Steven Goff (The Washington Post)
- A team once again United - by Scott Miller (The Washington Times)
- A Real test coming to town - by John Haydon (The Washington Times)
- Soehn making the right moves - by Craig Stouffer (Washington Examiner)
- United prepared for tough challenge from Fire - by Charlie Boehm (dcunited.com)
- United's N'Silu adjusts to American life - by Charlie Boehm (dcunited.com)
- Fire versus D.C. United preview - AP (espn.com)
Video!
Anyone care to drop in a score or lineup prediction? With Emilio out who will we see paired up top? Does Fred keep his spot as the #10 or do we see Christian Gomez slide back into the role with more than a full week of training under his belt?
