D.C. United will put the prestigious Coffee Pot Cup on the line tonight against the Charleston Battery in the second of three matches of the preseason Carolina Challenge Cup tournament. Due to the history of this match, you might say that this is the most important game so far for United in the 2012 calendar year, but that isn’t saying a lot. To give you some background that I totally just made up, the winners of tonight’s game each receive a $15 Starbucks gift card, while the losers get Green Mountain Coffee Sumatran Reserve K-Cups.
Game time: 7:15 PM
Television: Online streaming on dcunited.com
Projected starting lineup: After playing its starters for most of the match against the Chicago Fire on Saturday, and with another match against the Columbus Crew approaching in just three days, United should be expected to use a collection of reserves for the majority of tonight’s minutes. That will almost definitely mean that the newly-signed goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra will get the start in net. With all four of United’s center backs playing exactly 45 minutes on Saturday, the defensive corps are more difficult to predict, but I’m going with a lineup that will include Brazilian trialist Guilherme on the left, Chris Korb on the right, and Dejan Jakovic and Ethan White in the middle. The midfield will probably feature Nick DeLeon on the left and Danny Cruz on the right, with Lance Rozeboom getting the chance to team with Branko Boskovic in the middle. Josh Wolff and Maicon Santos are your projected starting forwards.
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