Tonight, D.C. United's 2008 campaign will come to a close with its final game in CONCACAF Champions League. Needless to say, the team's tournament has not gone as planned, earning just a single point through the first give Group A games. United is already eliminated from advancing to the knock out stage, but will attempt to play spoiler for CD Marathon who has a shot at advancing.
After Sunday's disappointing loss to the Crew, the big question is who will Coach Soehn run out in the lineup tonight? No doubt he and the players would love to end the season on a positive note. Much like the entire year, a number of players are unavailable tonight due to injury - Domenic Mediate (concussion), Jeff Carroll (broken metatarsal), Ben Olsen (ankle surgery), Marcelo Gallardo (MCL strain), Ibrahim Koroma (knee); Bryan Namoff (thigh contusion) amd Luciano Emilio (ankle contusion) are all listed as out for tonight's game.
If you haven't yet picked up a ticket and your evening is free, come on out to RFK Stadium and cheer on the Black-and-Red one last time in 2008. Opening day 2009 is a long way away.
Here are a few things to read before heading to the stadium.
- Steve Goff looks at the entire year, and what went wrong, in the Washington Post.
- In the Washington Times, John Haydon writes the team wants to play spoiler.
- Craig Stouffer did a five-part season evaluation of the team on his blog, The Pitch.
- The Capital Weather gang says it will be chilly, so bring your jackets!
Tonight's game will kickoff at 8 p.m. ET and if you can't make it out to the stadium, you can watch live on Fox Soccer Channel or listen live on 1050 AM (English) or 1500/820/730 AM (Spanish).
I'll take your last predictions of the year in the comments section. Winner (chosen at random from the correct predictions) receives an autographed player card from the player of their choice.
