Following a bye week, D.C. United return to MLS action tonight to face the defending MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew at Crew Stadium. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. ET before a national television audience on ESPN 2. The Fourth of July match up is the first meeting of the season between the Eastern Conference foes and it promises to be a good one as the teams are separated by just a point at the top of the Eastern Conference table, United sitting in first place with 23 points while Columbus has just one loss in their last 11 meetings to catapult to second place with 22 points.
United will be without the services of four regulars as Jaime Moreno (hamstring) and Luciano Emilio (knee) stayed back in DC to rehab their injuries while Santino Quaranta (USA) and Dejan Jakovic (Canada) are away on international duty representing their respective countries at the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
If you're following the game at home and want to join in on the Twitter discussion on the front page of dcunited.com, simply tag your tweets with #dcu or #dcunited.
For all things United, please read the following:
- United clings to shaky hold on 1st place (Steven Goff - Washington Post)
- Janicki's reversal of fortune (John Haydon - Washington Times)
- D.C. United set for fireworks in Fourth of July match up against Crew in Ohio (Craig Stouffer - Washington Examiner)
- Poise helps Crew get past rocky beginning (Tom Reed - The Columbus Dispatch)
