Football Season Guide

Another year of misery for DC in 2025. Had the worst record in the entire MLS W5 D18 L11. Only Kansas City conceded more than the 66 goals DC allowed. The displays were poor from the start and never improved much. Sacked coach Lesense after just 1 year in charge. Did that in September but at the moment of writing continue to be without a permanent new head coach. Had 2 names pretty much ready to take the job but at the last minute they pivoted to better teams. This frustrated DC and right now they are taking their time. Should have an appointment any day, right now 4 final candidates are undertaking final interviews. Parted ways with captain Benteke this off-season. The Belgian won the Golden Boot in the MLS just 2 years ago so he was definitely not the reason for the bad results. Replaced him pretty well. The top scorer of last year’s Supporters’ Shield winners Philly Baribo arrived. He will be the main weapon up front going forward. Paid a big fee for the Romanian striker Louis Munteanu too so DC at least promise to be scoring more goals this year. How the big issues in defence will be fixed and by whom remains a mystery. Nealis and Kurokawa were signed to replace Schnegg and MacNaughton. Changed the GK room too. Bono and Johnson arrive to replace Barraza and Kim. No new faces in midfield. If anything weaker in this zone that was weak even last year. Enow and Leal’s departures remove 2 experienced players. It seems the main hope in midfield will be for young Hopkins (21) and Kijima (23) to take major jumps in their developments.