From Deseret News archives:
The 'United' state of MLS East
Talented DC team should dominate conference
Its record prior to that summer visit to Salt Lake City was 13-1-6. That loss, however, sent D.C. into a downward spiral, and it finished the year with a 2-5-4 mark in its final 11 games and was eliminated by New England in the Eastern Conference finals.
Don't expect a repeat performance.
A handful of offseason acquisitions has D.C. United looking even stronger in 2007, making the likelihood of another midseason collapse even less likely.
With Major League Soccer slated to kick off this weekend, here's a look at the Eastern Conference in predicted order of finish.
1. D.C. United
2006 RECORD: 15-7-10 (55 points)
CONFERENCE FINISH: First
COACH: Tom Soehn (first season)
FIRST-CHOICE STARTING 11: Troy Perkins (K), Facundo Erpen (D), Bobby Boswell (D), Bryan Namoff (D), Ben Olsen (M), Brian Carroll (M), Christian Gomez (M), Fred (M), Joshua Gros (M), Luciano Emilio (F), Jaime Moreno (F)
CONCERNS: United was far and away the best team in MLS last year, but the club seemed to burn out in the final months and didn't even advance to MLS Cup. That is an even bigger concern this year. In addition to the grind of the 30-game MLS regular season, D.C. will be extremely busy as well, participating in the U.S. Open Cup, CONCACAF Champions Cup and the debut SuperLiga. Burnout seems inevitable at some point.
2. Chicago Fire
2006 RECORD: 13-11-8 (47 points)
CONFERENCE FINISH: Third
COACH: Dave Sarachan (fifth season)
Comments
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105
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