DC United Preview - "Revenge of the Sith"

DC United vs. Red Bull New York
Giants Stadium, New Jersey
7:30pm EST

After two matches in the first four games of the season, the Atlantic Cup rivalry between the 4 time MLS Cup Champion DC United and the Arizona Cardinals of MLS, Red Bull New York kicks off again tonight. United currently sit atop the Eastern Conference with 45 points, where as the Bulls have 24. This is the first of 2 meetings in less than a week, as United host the Bulls at RFK next Wednesday night in the Quarter Finals of the US Open Cup.

The big story of this match, is the return of the man, the myth, the loser, Bruce Arena. Bruce went away from MLS, namely DC United after leading United to 2 MLS Cups, a USOC, a CONCACAF Champions Cup and the last Interamerican Cup. Bruce went on to become the USMNT coach, where he feels -

"I've probably showed them the finest eight years of the national team they're going to see for a long time." - CNN/SI

Now The Bitter One, (as opposed to Jose Mourinho being The Special One) is now back in MLS after those "fine eight years" as coach of the USMNT. He is now responsible for taking the armpit of the league and turning them into a club that can compete. How he does this, we have already seen a glimpse of, by bringing in his former DC United people and getting former DC United players.

DC United on the other hand, are coming into this match after two weeks away from league play. They defeated the Columbus Crew 2-1 in overtime on a very humid and muggy night in the USOC and played a spirited and action packed 1-1 draw with Real Madrid in Seattle. 8 members of the squad took part in the MLS All Star match, which saw the "Some Stars" shock EPL Champion Chelsea with a 1-0 victory.

I see this match as one of the defining moments of this season for United. They are going into RFK North, facing their most hated rivals, facing their former coach who was sorta the "Godfather" of the club and have a chance to seal up the Atlantic Cup for a third straight season. The Eastern Conference has been a very soft Conference this season, with DC United being the omission to this idea. Red Bull New York still have a chance to make the playoffs this season, but they will not get the 3 points that they need from this match.

United coach peter Nowak will not let this club slip back into the form that had them lose 2-1 to RSL or who drew 1-1 with the Chicago Fire. In the last three matches that Nowak has coached, each one of those squads has run out onto the field and taken it to the opponent. The finishing in the USOC match was lacking, but I am sure that the goal sieve that is the RBNY defense will be less of a problem for the United offense.

Prediction: DC United 2 - 0 Red Bull New York
DC United: 2006 Atlantic Cup Champions