D.C. United starts the 2020 preseason

D.C. United has started their preseason, with players reporting this past Saturday and official training starting today. That’s right, the 2020 season is here and we could not be more excited to be talking about new soccer again!

Unlike in previous seasons, when we had to rely on Scandinavian teams announcing friendlies to get an idea of United’s preseason plans, the team came out and released the entire schedule themselves right before the preseason started. All of their games this year are against US-based teams, primarily other MLS squads with one USL Championship team to round out their games.

As has been the case for the past couple of years, D.C. United will have a split preseason based in the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area on the Gulf Coast of Florida, with stints back in Washington before and after each section. In the first stint, which typical features trialists, draft picks, and academy players, D.C. United will play games against the Montreal Impact, the New York Red Bulls, and Louisville City. After that, they will return to Washington for almost a week, when they traditional do some preseason media appearances and events, before return to Clearwater for their second stint.

In this phase of the preseason, the team typically starts building cohesion among the projected starters as they trend towards to beginning of the season, which for the first time will be in February. They will face off against Orlando City, Nashville SC, and the Philadelphia Union in this stage, before returning to Washington to prepare to open the season against the Colorado Rapids.

We will have coverage of the preseason as much as streaming will allow (we have a query in with the team about potential streaming plans), so let’s get ready for some actual soccer starting next week!