The 2014 D.C. United season was the club's nineteenth season of existence, and their nineteenth in Major League Soccer, the top tier of the American soccer pyramid.
Outside of MLS regular season play, the club is going to be participating in the 2014 U.S. Open Cup, in which they are the defending champions, as well as the 2014–15 CONCACAF Champions League. It is United's first appearance in the Champions League since the 2009–10 campaign. Ahead of the MLS regular season campaign, United will participate in the 2014 Carolina Challenge Cup.
Background
Pre-season
After an abysmal 2013 campaign that saw the team break several negative MLS records, the team swapped out over half of its roster. Several starters from 2013 were released or simply let go, including starters like Lionard Pajoy, Dwayne De Rosario, and James Riley among others. In their place, the team gathered several players from other teams, including Davy Arnaud from Montreal, Bobby Boswell from Houston, and Eddie Johnson from Seattle.
Ben Olsen and Dave Kasper were allowed to stay on as Head Coach and General Manager (respectively) of the team.
By the time the first match of the MLS season came around, only 4 of the starting 11 had stayed with the team from last year. Unfortunately, prospective starting midfielder Chris Pontius suffered a serious hamstring injury and was pronounced out for most of the season. His spot was given to fellow midfielder Perry Kitchen.
March
The season started on a bad note, with a relatively new Columbus Crew beating a disorganized D.C. United side at home 3-0, and then a 1-0 loss to a surprisingly hot Toronto FC side. However, the team began showing signs of life in a home game against the Chicago Fire. Though the game ended in a 2-2 draw, the newly signed Fabian Espindola and the promoted Kitchen helped to give D.C. United a 2-1 lead in the second half, something the team had not had in MLS season play in a while.
April
D.C. United went on a roll, adding a 3-0-1 tally throughout the month. Former Chicago Fire midfielder Chris Rolfe, signed to shore up the midfield in the absence of Pontius, made an immediate impact in his first game with the team. In a game against the New England Revolution, he scored a brace in the closing seconds of stoppage time, contributing to the team's 2-0 victory. DC then tacked on another victory against the New York Red Bulls, as the team's defense–--combined with some lucky breaks---managed to hold on to a one-goal lead for most of the match.
DC almost won a third straight match at Columbus in a rematch against the Crew, but for a mistake by Espindola which led to a goal by Crew forward Hector Jiménez that allowed them to tie the match near the end of the second half. DC ended up settling for a draw. Back at home, DC would get a crushing victory after an early red card on an FC Dallas player allowed the team, led by Espindola, to rack up a 4-1 victory.
May
Poor marking on defense and an anemic offense allowed the struggling Portland Timbers to sneak away with a 3-2 victory in the dying seconds of the match. It was a familiar tune that would repeat itself over the next few games as D.C. United barely held on to a 1-0 victory in Philadelphia, and managed to salvage a 1-1 draw against the cellar-dwelling Montreal Impact thanks to DC forward Eddie Johnson scoring his first goal on the season. The team did much better in their following match against Houston, getting a 2-0 victory at home. Then they fell apart in the second half of a match against the Revolution in Foxboro, losing both the game 2-1 and Johnson to a red card suspension.
Back home against Sporting KC, the team held on to an Espindola goal to win the match 1-0, but starting defender Jeff Parke left the game due to a foot injury. He would be replaced by rookie defender Steve Birnbaum.
June
After a friendly between Spain and El Salvador, D.C. United played the second half of a doubleheader of soccer action in FedExField in Landover, against the Columbus Crew. The game ended in a 0-0 draw, with Espindola chipping a penalty kick right into the opposing goalkeeper's hands in the final minutes of play. A few days later, the team travelled to Montreal and beat the Impact 4-2, with Luis Silva earning his first-ever hat trick for the team. Unfortunately, Espindola suffered an MCL sprain during this match, and would be sidelined for at least 8 weeks.