2021 D.C. United season

The 2021 D.C. United season will be the club's 26th season of existence, and their 26th consecutive season playing in Major League Soccer, the top flight of American soccer. Pending developments from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the season is slated to begin in either February or March 2021 and conclude in October or November 2021.

D.C. United

2021 season
General manager	Dave Kasper
Head coach	Hernán Losada
Stadium	Audi Field
MLS	Conference: TBD Overall: TBD
MLS Cup Playoffs	TBD
U.S. Open Cup	TBD
Home colors Away colors

Beyond MLS play, D.C. United will be participating in the 2021 U.S. Open Cup, which, pending developments with the COVID-19 pandemic, will begin in March or April 2021.

Background

Offseason

The 2021 season was the first season since 2010 where Ben Olsen was not the club's head coach, as he was fired before the end of the 2020 season while Chad Ashton filled in as the interim head coach. After the 2020 season ended, the team began interviewing multiple candidates for the vacancy. Among the candidates included Ashton, former New York Red Bulls manager Chris Armas, former USWNT coach Jill Ellis, Columbus Crew assistant coach Ezra Hendrickson, and Seattle Sounders assistant coach Carlos Pineda. However, the team was either unable or unwilling to hire any of those candidates for undisclosed reasons. After a couple months of interviews and expanding the search to Europe, D.C. United officially announced the signing of former Argentine player and current head coach of Beerschot, Hernán Losada, on January 18 2021.[1]

On the player front, D.C. United declined options on six different players, letting their deals expire. The team also traded Ulises Segura to expansion side Austin FC for cash considerations. Meanwhile, the team signed D.C. United Academy and Loudoun United defender Jacob Greene to a Homegrown Contract. Later, the team picked up forward Adrien Perez from LAFC in the MLS Re-Entry Draft, and acquired Jon Kempin from Columbus to add depth to their goalkeeping corps in exchange for their third-round pick in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft.

Management team

Position	Name
Chairman	Jason Levien
Co-Chairman	Stephen Kaplan
General Manager	Dave Kasper
Technical Director	Stewart Mairs
Head coach	Hernán Losada
Assistant coach	Nicolás Frutos
Goalkeeping coach	Zach Thornton

Roster

Squad No.	Name	Nationality	Position(s)	Date of birth (Age)	Apps	Goals	Assists	Signed from
Goalkeepers
1	Chris Seitz		GK	March 12, 1987	7	0	0	Houston Dynamo
24	Bill Hamid		GK	November 25, 1990	238	0	0	Midtjylland
	Jon Kempin		GK	April 8, 1993	0	0	0	Columbus Crew
Defenders
3	Chris Odoi-Atsem		RB	May 27, 1995	30	1	0	Maryland Terrapins
13	Frédéric Brillant		CB	June 26, 1985	66	3	4	New York City FC
15	Steve Birnbaum		CB	January 23, 1991	163	8	3	California Golden Bears
23	Donovan Pines		CB	March 7, 1998	10	0	0	Maryland Terrapins
28	Joseph Mora		LB	January 15, 1993	50	0	3	Saprissa
33	Jacob Greene		LB / RB	March 23, 2003	0	0	0	D.C. United Academy
	Michael DeShields		CB	April 23, 1998	0	0	0	Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Midfielders
4	Russell Canouse		DM	June 11, 1995	56	1	2	TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
5	Júnior Moreno		DM	July 20, 1993	49	0	5	Zulia
10	Edison Flores		AM / LW	May 14, 1994	13	0	4	Monarcas Morelia
11	Yamil Asad		LM / LW	July 24, 1994	54	12	7	Vélez Sarsfield
18	Felipe		CM	September 30, 1990	17	0	1	Vancouver Whitecaps FC
27	Moses Nyeman		CM	November 5, 2003	11	0	0	D.C. United Academy
30	Kevin Paredes		MF	May 7, 2003	17	0	1	D.C. United Academy
31	Julian Gressel		RM	December 16, 1993	22	2	0	Atlanta United
Forwards
9	Ola Kamara		ST	October 15, 1989	27	7	0	Shenzhen
22	Griffin Yow		FW	September 25, 2002	12	2	0	D.C. United Academy
29	Yordy Reyna		ST	September 17, 1993	5	0	0	Vancouver Whitecaps FC
50	Erik Sorga		ST	July 8, 1999	17	1	0	Flora
	Adrien Perez		FW	October 13, 1995	0	0	0	Los Angeles FC

Transfers

In

Date	Position	No.	Name	From	Fee/Notes	Ref.
November 25, 2020	DF	33	Jacob Greene	D.C. United Academy	Homegrown Player	[2]
January 6, 2021	FW		Adrien Perez	Los Angeles FC	2020 MLS Re-Entry Draft	[3]
January 8, 2021	GK		Jon Kempin	Columbus Crew	Traded for third round pick in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft	[4]

Out

Date	Position	No.	Name	To	Fee/Notes	Ref.
November 30, 2020	MF	25	Mohammed Abu	Vålerenga	End of loan	[5]
	GK	36	Earl Edwards Jr.	New England Revolution	Option Declined	[5]
	DF	91	Oniel Fisher		Option Declined	[5]
	FW	20	Gelmin Rivas		Option Declined	[5]
	DF	44	Axel Sjöberg	San Antonio FC	Option Declined	[5]
December 13, 2020	MF	8	Ulises Segura	Austin FC	$150,000 GAM	[6]

Loan out

No.	Pos.	Player	Loaned to	Start	End	Source
7	MF	Paul Arriola	Swansea City	February 1, 2021		[7]

MLS SuperDraft picks

2021 D.C. United SuperDraft Picks
Round	Selection	Player	Position	College	Status
1	4	Kimarni Smith	FW	Clemson
1	5	Michael DeShields	DF	Wake Forest	Signed to first team[8]
2	32	Logan Panchot	MF/DF	Stanford

Non-competitive

Preseason

The schedule will be announced in the Winter of 2020–21.

Midseason

The schedule will be announced in the Winter of 2020–21.

Competitive

Major League Soccer

The schedule will be announced in the Winter of 2020–21.

Eastern Conference

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
3	FC Cincinnati	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Playoffs first round and 2022 Leagues Cup
4	Columbus Crew SC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	D.C. United	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Playoffs first round
6	Inter Miami CF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	CF Montréal[lower-alpha 1]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played on April 3, 2021. Source: MLS
Rules for classification: 1) points per game; 2) total wins per match played; 3) total goal differential per match played; 4) total goals scored per match played; 5) fewest disciplinary points per match played; 6) away goal differential per away match played; 7) away goals scored per away match played; 8) home goal differential per home match played; 9) home goals scored per home match played; 10) coin toss or drawing of lots.
Notes:

1. Canadian clubs cannot qualify for the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League through the MLS regular season or playoffs.

Overall table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts
6	Columbus Crew SC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	FC Dallas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
8	D.C. United	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
9	Houston Dynamo FC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	Inter Miami CF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played on April 3, 2021. Source: MLS
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) total wins; 3) total goal differential; 4) total goals scored; 5) disciplinary points; 6) away goals scored; 7) away goal differential; 8) coin toss or drawing of lots

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	Pts	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Source: MLS standings
Pld = Matches played; Pts = Points; W = Matches won; T = Matches tied; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference

Results by round

Round	1
Ground
Result

Source: D.C. United schedule
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Match results

April 3–4 1		v
TBD EDT

2		v
TBD EDT

3		v
TBD EDT

4		v
TBD EDT

5		v
TBD EDT

6		v
TBD EDT

7		v
TBD EDT

8		v
TBD EDT

9		v
TBD EDT

10		v
TBD EDT

11		v
TBD EDT

12		v
TBD EDT

13		v
TBD EDT

14		v
TBD EDT

15		v
TBD EDT

16		v
TBD EDT

17		v
TBD EDT

18		v
TBD EDT

19		v
TBD EDT

20		v
TBD EDT

21		v
TBD EDT

22		v
TBD EDT

23		v
TBD EDT

24		v
TBD EDT

25		v
TBD EDT

26		v
TBD EDT

27		v
TBD EDT

28		v
TBD EDT

29		v
TBD EDT

30		v
TBD EDT

31		v
TBD EDT

32		v
TBD EDT

33		v
TBD EDT

November 7 34		v
TBD EST

U.S. Open Cup

The schedule will be announced in the Winter of 2020–21.

Statistics

Appearances and goals

Numbers after plus–sign (+) denote appearances as a substitute.

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		MLS		MLS Cup		U.S. Open Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
4	MF		Russell Canouse	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	MF		Júnior Moreno	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	MF		Paul Arriola	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
8	MF		Ulises Segura	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
9	FW		Ola Kamara	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	MF		Edison Flores	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
11	MF		Yamil Asad	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
13	DF		Frédéric Brillant	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
15	DF		Steve Birnbaum	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
22	FW		Griffin Yow	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
23	DF		Donovan Pines	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
24	GK		Bill Hamid	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
27	MF		Moses Nyeman	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
28	DF		Joseph Mora	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
29	FW		Yordy Reyna	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
30	MF		Kevin Paredes	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
31	MF		Julian Gressel	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
50	FW		Erik Sorga	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

• Last updated: November 24, 2020
• Source: Soccerway

Top scorers

Rank	Position	Number	Name	MLS	MLS Cup	U.S. Open Cup	Total

Top assists

Rank	Position	Number	Name	MLS	MLS Cup	U.S. Open Cup	Total

Disciplinary record

No.	Pos.	Player	MLS			MLS Cup			U.S. Open Cup			Total

Awards

Awards will be announced as the season begins.

References

1. "D.C. United Name Hernán Losada as Head Coach". D.C. United. Major League Soccer. January 18, 2021. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
2. "D.C. United Sign Academy Product Jacob Greene as 15th Homegrown Player in Club History". D.C. United. Major League Soccer. November 25, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
3. "D.C. United Acquire Forward Adrien Perez". D.C. United. Major League Soccer. January 6, 2021. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
4. "D.C. United Acquire Goalkeeper Jon Kempin from Columbus Crew SC". D.C. United. Major League Soccer. January 8, 2021. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
5. "D.C. United Announce End-of-Season Roster Decisions". D.C. United. Major League Soccer. November 30, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
6. "D.C. United Acquire $150,000 in GAM from Austin FC for Ulises Segura". D.C. United. MLS. December 13, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
7. "D.C. United Loan Midfielder Paul Arriola to Swansea City A.F.C." D.C. United. Major League Soccer. February 1, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
8. Anderson, Jason (February 5, 2021). "D.C. United signs first round pick Michael DeShields". Black And Red United. SB Nation. Retrieved February 7, 2021.

External links

• D.C. United