After a disappointing start to the 2010 season this past weekend in Kansas City, D.C. United has their home opener on Saturday at RFK Stadium. Last week, Curt Onalfo told me “Every game is important,” and even though it’s early in the season, nobody wants to start the year with a loss and a tie, or even worse…two straight losses. United’s opponent for this weekend also dropped their opener on the road, which means that somebody will start 0 and 2, or both teams will begin 2010 with one point from two matches. The stakes are high for the second game of the season, and the opponent on Saturday is a team that always brings a little extra energy to the Nation's Capital – The New England Revolution.
Many people think that the rivalry between D.C. and New England began with the 2004 Eastern Conference Final. That game was a classic match that surely brought out the best in both teams and will forever leave a bitter taste in the mouths of Revolution fans, but the rivalry began in earnest a season earlier.
From 1996 – 2002, it was easy for United and the Revolution to ignore each other. In the early days, D.C. was king of the world and New England was an also-ran. Starting in 2000, D.C. United entered their dark ages while New England emerged as a serious contender, making their way to the MLS Cup Final in 2002. In 2003, both D.C. and New England were playoff teams, and that was the year that serious competition between the two clubs began.
Since D.C. and New England have always been in the Eastern Conference, for many seasons they went head-to-head four times a year. Another reason why the intensity has been so high between the two teams is because the same core group of players was stepping on the field each meeting. There were some significant players in the rivalry that had moved on, like Eskandarian, Noonan, Gomez, and Dempsey, but the icons of the teams were there throughout – Moreno, Twellman, Olsen, Ralston, Namoff, Joseph. This season, there are very few players that can comment on the rivalry first hand. In fact, based on the injury situations for both teams, of the 36 players that will be available on Saturday, it is possible that only one player will remain from that classic game in November 2004 – Jaime Moreno.
As for this weekend, with the lower level of familiarity among the players will the intensity decrease from previous meetings? Definitely not, but both teams are still looking for their first goal of the season and their first standings points of the season. One of the teams could start the season with back-to-back losses, which is a bad place to be for any team, especially one that has a lot of new players on the roster. There will be a slight element of desperation for both teams at RFK this weekend and there will be added motivation knowing that a victory not only gets your season back on track, it also causes mounting frustration for one of your fiercest rivals.
