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D.C. United: 2020 Preview – Struggles post Rooney and Acosta?

By Matt Coles

ATLANTA, GA MARCH 13: Atlanta's Julian Gressel (24) thanks the home crowd following the end of the Concacaf Champions League match between CF Monterrey and Atlanta United FC on March 13th, 2019 at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA MARCH 13: Atlanta's Julian Gressel (24) thanks the home crowd following the end of the Concacaf Champions League match between CF Monterrey and Atlanta United FC on March 13th, 2019 at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 11: D.C United coach Ben Olsen before a MLS match between D.C. United and the L.A.Galaxy on August 11, 2019, at Audi Field, in Washington D.C.(Photo by Tony Quinn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 11: D.C United coach Ben Olsen before a MLS match between D.C. United and the L.A.Galaxy on August 11, 2019, at Audi Field, in Washington D.C.(Photo by Tony Quinn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

2020 Outlook

D.C. United start their 2020 regular season with a home doubleheader, beginning on February 29 against the Colorado Rapids before hosting expansion side Inter Miami CF seven days later.

The club’s first game on the road will be at last year’s bottom club, FC Cincinnati, coming on March 14, with matches against Philadelphia Union, Toronto FC and New York City FC, three of the four sides that finished above D.C. in the Eastern Conference in 2019, also coming in the opening seven matches of the new term.

D.C. face the other expansion team, Nashville SC, in mid-April, one of the early games at Nissan Stadium, before then playing the New York Red Bulls twice in the space of a month. Also in that time, they face a trip to the reigning MLS Cup champion Seattle Sounders.

D.C. United have been lumped with arguably the toughest possible run-in to end the season. They must play last season’s record-breakers, Los Angeles FC, last season’s second-placed Eastern Conference side, the Philadelphia Union, and the 2018 MLS Cup Champions, Atlanta United, over the course of their last three games, hosting the Five Stripes on Decision Day.

Along with the MLS campaign, D.C. United will feature in the U.S. Open Cup and they will also be a part of the 2020 Leagues Cup, as one of eight teams that qualified from MLS. They made it into just the second edition of the competition thanks to coming home in fifth spot in the Eastern Conference in 2019. They will host a home tie against Liga MX in the Round of 16 in either July or August.

Next. MLS: Top 3 winners of 2020 offseason. dark

Despite losing Rooney and Acosta, the Washington-based side should still have enough to advance to the postseason once again, but how far could they go if they are to make it into the top seven in the East?

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