2005 D.C. United season explained

Club:	D.C. United
Season:	2005
League:	MLS
League Result:	3rd
Chrtitle:	Owner
Mgrtitle:	Head coach
Manager:	Piotr Nowak
Cup1:	MLS Cup Playoffs
Cup1 Result:	Conference semifinals
Cup2:	U.S. Open Cup
Cup2 Result:	Quarterfinals
Cup3:	CONCACAF Champions' Cup
Cup3 Result:	Semifinals
Cup4:	Copa Sudamericana
Cup4 Result:	Round of 16
Cup5:	Carolina Challenge Cup
Cup5 Result:	Runners-up
Cup6:	Atlantic Cup
Cup6 Result:	Winners
Season Topscorer:	Eskandarian (10)
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Prevseason:	2004
Nextseason:	2006

The 2005 season was the ninth season in D.C. United history, as well as their ninth season in Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. The season covers the period from November 15, 2004, through October 30, 2005.

Under Piotr Nowak's tenure as head coach, this was the first and only season where he did not lead D.C. United to a trophy of any kind. D.C. United entered the season as the defending MLS Cup champions defeating Kansas City Wizards 3–2 in last season's championship. During Nowak's second season as head coach, he led the team to a slightly better regular season record, finishing third in the overall standings.

D.C. United made their first appearance in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup (now Champions League) for the first time in three years, earning qualification through winning the 2004 MLS Cup championship. In the continental tournament, D.C. United were the only American club to reach the semifinals of the tournament before losing to Mexico's UNAM Pumas 6–1 on aggregate.

In other external competitions, United finished as runners-up in the preseason Carolina Challenge Cup, reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup and won the Atlantic Cup rivalry series against MetroStars.

Background

See main article: 2004 D.C. United season.

See also: History of D.C. United and List of D.C. United seasons.

D.C. United entered the 2005 season as the defending MLS Cup champions, earning their first league championship since 1999. During the 2004 MLS regular season, United finished second in the Eastern Conference table and fourth in the overall regular standings. Their playoff run included a 4–0 aggregate series victory over their Atlantic Cup rivals, MetroStars in the conference semifinals. In the conference final, United defeated the Eastern Conference regular season champions, New England Revolution in a penalty shoot-out, after a 3–3 draw in regulation and extra time. Their playoff campaign culminated in MLS Cup 2004 defeating Kansas City Wizards 3–2 in the final.

Match results

Legend

Win

Loss

Tie

Carolina Challenge Cup

See main article: 2005 Carolina Challenge Cup.

Game	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Goalscorers	Attendance	Ref
1	March 19, 2005	San Jose Earthquakes	N	L	0–2			^[1]
2	March 23, 2005	Charleston Battery	A	T	2–2	Moreno, Quintanilla		^[2]
3	March 25, 2005	Columbus Crew	N	W	3–0	Gomez (2), Moreno		^[3]

CONCACAF Champions' Cup

See main article: 2005 CONCACAF Champions' Cup.

Round	Leg	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Goalscorers	Attendance	Ref
QF	1	March 9, 2005	Harbour View	H	W	2–1	Eskandarian, Gros	3,825
	2	March 16, 2005		A	W	2–1	Walker, Moreno	600
SF	1	April 6, 2005	UNAM	H	T	1–1	Gómez	21,185
	2	April 13, 2005		A	L	0–5		22,000

Major League Soccer

See main article: 2005 Major League Soccer season.

Regular season

Regular season results source

Game	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Goalscorers	Attendance	Ref
1	April 2, 2005	Chivas USA	A	W	2–0	Gros, Gómez	18,493	^[4]
2	April 9, 2005	Chicago Fire	H	T	1–1	Petke	19,052	^[5]
3	April 15, 2005	Columbus Crew	A	L	0–1		12,449	^[6]
4	April 23, 2005	New England Revolution	H	L	3–4	Moreno (2), Quaranta	13,691	^[7]
5	April 30, 2005	Kansas City Wizards	A	T	0–0		12,008	^[8]
6	May 7, 2005	Columbus Crew	H	W	3–1		14,894	^[9]
7	May 14, 2005	New England Revolution	A	L	0–1		13,662
8	May 21, 2005	Kansas City Wizards	H	W	3–2		18,731
9	May 28, 2005	FC Dallas	H	L	0–2		16,684
10	June 4, 2005	San Jose Earthquakes	A	T	0–0		11,989
11	June 12, 2005	MetroStars	A	T	0–0		15,125
12	June 15, 2005	Chicago Fire	H	W	4–3		14,198
13	June 18, 2005	New England Revolution	H	W	2–0		17,611
14	June 29, 2005	Chicago Fire	A	L	3–4		8,202
15	July 2, 2005	Columbus Crew	A	W	1–0	Marshall (o.g.)	12,988	^[10]
16	July 9, 2005	Kansas City Wizards	H	L	0–1		18,379
17	July 15, 2005	San Jose Earthquakes	H	W	3–0		13,978
18	July 20, 2005	Kansas City Wizards	A	D	1–1		7,560
19	July 23, 2005	Los Angeles Galaxy	A	W	1–0		27,000
20	August 6, 2005	Chicago Fire	A	W	3–2		14,478
21	August 10, 2005	MetroStars	H	W	3–0		11,883
22	August 13, 2005	Chivas USA	H	W	3–0		16,169
23	August 20, 2005	Los Angeles Galaxy	H	L	2–3		16,863
24	August 27, 2005	New England Revolution	A	L	1–2		18,049
25	August 31, 2005	Real Salt Lake	A	W	5–1		11,455
26	September 3, 2005	Colorado Rapids	A	L	0–1		17,044
27	September 10, 2005	FC Dallas	A	W	2–1		1,308		-	28	September 17, 2005	AFC Wimbledon	H	W	4–1	Parslow, Meredith, Rankine, Chambers	2,438
29	October 1, 2005	AFC Wimbledon	A	L	0–1		3,532
30	October 5, 2005	Fleetwood Town	H	W	1–0	Reed	2,220
31	October 8, 2005	Altrincham	A	D	0–0		1,143
32	October 15, 2005	Hayes & Yeading United	A	W	2–1	J. Smith, Rankine	458

Playoffs

Round	Leg	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Goalscorers	Attendance	Ref
Conf. SF	1	October 21, 2005	Chicago Fire	A	T	0–0
	2	October 30, 2005		H	L	0–4		20,089

U.S. Open Cup

See main article: 2005 U.S. Open Cup.

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Goalscorers	Attendance	Ref
R4	August 3, 2005	Richmond Kickers	A	W	3–1	Adu, Gómez (2)	8,412	^[11]
QF	August 24, 2005	FC Dallas	H	L	1–1 (1–4 pen.)	Gómez	4,258	^[12]

Copa Sudamericana

See main article: 2005 Copa Sudamericana.

Round	Leg	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Goalscorers	Attendance	Ref
R16	1	September 17, 2005	Universidad Católica	H	T	1–1	Walker
	2	September 23, 2005		A	L	2–3	Gomez (2)	14,118	^[13]

League standings

Conference

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1	New England Revolution	32	17	7	8	55	37	18	59
2		32	16	10	6	58	37	21	54
3		32	15	13	4	49	50	-1	49
4	MetroStars	32	12	9	11	53	49	4	47
5	Kansas City Wizards	32	11	9	12	52	44	8	45
6	Columbus Crew	32	11	16	5	34	45	-11	38

¹Earns top-seed in MLS Cup Playoffs

Overall

width=30		Club	width=30		width=30		width=30		width=30		width=30		width=30		width=30		width=30
1		32	18	4	10	53	31	22	64
2	New England Revolution	32	17	7	8	55	37	18	59
3		32	16	10	6	58	37	21	54
4		32	15	13	4	49	50	-1	49
5		32	13	10	9	52	44	8	48
6	MetroStars	32	12	9	11	53	49	4	47
7	Kansas City Wizards	32	11	9	12	52	44	8	45
8		32	13	13	6	40	37	3	45
9	Los Angeles Galaxy	32	13	13	6	44	45	-1	45
10	Columbus Crew	32	11	16	5	34	45	-11	38
11	Real Salt Lake	32	5	22	5	30	65	-35	20
12	Chivas USA	32	4	22	6	31	67	-36	18

Notes

Note 1: The San Jose Earthquakes earn the top-seed in the Western Conference bracket of the MLS Cup Playoffs.

Note 2: The Columbus Crew earn the top-seed in the Eastern Conference bracket of the MLS Cup Playoffs.

Player details

Sources:^{[14] [15]}

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Transfers

All transactions sourced to: Web site: MLSnet.com: Transactions. Major League Soccer. D.C. United. August 25, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20060206083521/http://dcunited.mlsnet.com/MLS/mls/transactions/. February 6, 2006. April 3, 2005.

In

Date	Pos	Name	From	Fee/notes	Ref.
January 14, 2005	MF	Nick Van Sicklen	Wisconsin Badgers	Drafted in the 2005 MLS SuperDraft second round	^[16]
January 14, 2005	DF	Tim Merritt	North Carolina Tar Heels	Drafted in the 2005 MLS SuperDraft fourth round
February 4, 2005	FW	Matt Nickell	Drake Bulldogs	Drafted in the 2005 MLS Supplemental Draft first round	^[17]
February 4, 2005	GK	Andrew Terris	Stanford Cardinal	Drafted in the 2005 MLS Supplemental Draft third round
February 4, 2005	MF	Shawn Kuykendall	American Eagles	Drafted in the 2005 MLS Supplemental Draft fourth round

Out

Date	Pos	Name	To	Fee/notes	Ref.
November 19, 2004	MF	Ezra Hendrickson	Chivas USA	Acquired through 2004 MLS Expansion Draft	^[18]
November 19, 2004	FW	Thiago Martins	Chivas USA	Acquired through 2004 MLS Expansion Draft
November 19, 2004	MF	Kevin Ara	Real Salt Lake	Acquired through 2004 MLS Expansion Draft
January 20, 2005	MF	Doug Warren	New England Revolution	Traded for fourth round pick in the 2006 MLS SuperDraft
April 4, 2005	POS	Tim Laweson	No club	Waived
May 23, 2005	DF	Mike Petke	Colorado Rapids	Traded for Chris Henderson
May 24, 2005	MF	Chris Henderson	Columbus Crew	Traded to Columbus for partial allocation money
May 24, 2005	GK	Andrew Terris	None	Released

Notes and References

1. Web site: CCC 2005 matchday 1. CharlestonBattery.com. September 21, 2012. March 19, 2005. https://web.archive.org/web/20120207145838/http://www.charlestonbattery.com/news.asp?id=169. February 7, 2012. dead. mdy-all.
2. Web site: CCC 2005 matchday 2. CharlestonBattery.com. September 21, 2005. March 23, 2005. https://web.archive.org/web/20110516222627/http://www.charlestonbattery.com/news.asp?id=171. May 16, 2011. dead. mdy-all.
3. Web site: CCC 2005 matchday 3. CharlestonBattery.com. September 21, 2012. March 25, 2005. https://web.archive.org/web/20120207145912/http://www.charlestonbattery.com/news.asp?id=173. February 7, 2012. dead. mdy-all.
4. Web site: Bueno. Danny. Defending champs knock off Chivas USA. MLSnet.com. August 18, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20051210101343/http://dcunited.mlsnet.com/MLS/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20050402&content_id=25439&vkey=news_dcu&fext=.jsp&team=dcu. December 10, 2005. April 2, 2005.
5. Web site: Garriott. Omar. United, Fire tied down at RFK Stadium. MLSnet.com. D.C. United. August 18, 2005. https://web.archive.org/web/20051212003326/http://dcunited.mlsnet.com/MLS/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20050409&content_id=26179&vkey=news_dcu&fext=.jsp&team=dcu. December 12, 2005. April 9, 2005.
6. Web site: Kuhn. John. Youthful United fall to Crew in Columbus. MLSnet.com. D.C. United. August 18, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20051212003706/http://dcunited.mlsnet.com/MLS/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20050415&content_id=26782&vkey=news_dcu&fext=.jsp&team=dcu. December 12, 2005. April 15, 2005.
7. Web site: Boehm. Charles. Hole proves too deep for United. MLSnet.com. D.C. United. August 20, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20051217120007/http://dcunited.mlsnet.com/MLS/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20050423&content_id=27593&vkey=news_dcu&fext=.jsp&team=dcu. December 17, 2005. April 23, 2005.
8. Web site: Rusert. Robert. MLS Cup rematch ends in stalemate. MLSnet.com. D.C. United. August 20, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20051212004805/http://dcunited.mlsnet.com/MLS/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20050430&content_id=28292&vkey=news_dcu&fext=.jsp&team=dcu. December 12, 2005.
9. Web site: Boehm. Charles. D.C. dominant in victory over Crew. MLSnet.com. D.C. United. August 20, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20051212003950/http://dcunited.mlsnet.com/MLS/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20050507&content_id=29041&vkey=news_dcu&fext=.jsp&team=dcu. December 12, 2005. May 7, 2005.
10. Web site: Halpin. Jason. Gift victory is just what United ordered. MLSnet.com. D.C. United. September 18, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20051212005355/http://dcunited.mlsnet.com/MLS/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20050702&content_id=35304&vkey=news_dcu&fext=.jsp&team=dcu. December 12, 2005. July 2, 2005.
11. Web site: Boehm. Charles. D.C. United give Kickers the boot. MLSnet.com. August 18, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20051109102420/http://www.mlsnet.com/MLS/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20050804&content_id=38732&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp. November 9, 2005.
12. Web site: Boehm. Charles. FCD's Thompson finishes off United. MLSnet.com. August 18, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20070819001345/http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20050825&content_id=40912&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp. August 19, 2007 .
13. Web site: Kluepfel . Brian . Sudamericana heartbreak for D.C. United . . MLSnet.com . May 18, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20051113145230/http://mlsnet.com/MLS/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20050923&content_id=43680&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp . November 13, 2005 . September 23, 2005 . dead .
14. Web site: 2005 DC UNITED ROSTER. https://web.archive.org/web/20050408232953/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/mls/news/2005/dcunitedros/. dead. April 8, 2005. SI.com. August 18, 2011. October 14, 2005.
15. Web site: Team Statistics: D.C. United 2005 Regular Season. Major League Soccer. MLSSoccer.com. August 18, 2011.
16. Web site: D.C. United Lands Nick Van Sicklen, Tim Merritt in Draft. OurSportsCentral.com. August 18, 2011. January 14, 2005.
17. Web site: 2005 MLS Supplemental Draft Results . Major League Soccer . USLSoccer.com . August 18, 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110610133526/http://www.uslsoccer.com/docs/home/2005%20mls%20supplemental%20draft%20results.pdf . June 10, 2011 .
18. Web site: St. Clair. Mark. 2004 MLS Expansion Draft. August 18, 2011. November 19, 2004. https://web.archive.org/web/20120330225457/http://mls.webstrider.com/2004/ExpansionDraft.html. March 30, 2012. dead. mdy-all.