D.C. United, the most successful franchise in Major League Soccer, will play an exhibition game against the UCSB men’s team on Tuesday, Feb. 22 at Meredith Field at Harder Stadium.
UCSB is calling the event the Soccer Heaven Spring Showcase. Admission to the game will be free.
The game will cap DC United’s 11-day preseason training camp in Oxnard.
A winner of four MLS Cup championships, two U.S. Open Cups, the CONCACAF Champions Cup and Interamerican Cup, D.C. United fell on hard times last season.
The club, ravaged by injuries, finished in last place in the Eastern Division.
Among the key United players lost to injury in 2010 was former UCSB star Chris Pontius. After a stellar rookie year in 2009, in which he scored four goals and had three assists in MLS play and a total of eight goals and six assists in all competitions, Pontius suffered a serious hamstring injury and played in just 17 matches, scoring two goals. He had surgery in September.
Pontius was an All-American in his senior year at UCSB in 2009 and was a key player on the Gauchos’ 2006 national championship team. He was the seventh overall pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft.
Pontius and United are looking for a big comeback in 2011 under coach Ben Olsen.
United has an exciting young American player in Andy Najar, who at 17 last season, scored a team-high seven goals in all competitions and had two assists. He was named the MLS Rookie of the Year.
Among the talented newcomers on the squad are two members of Akron’s national championship team, defender-midfielder Perry Kitchen and defender Chris Korb. They played in the College Cup at Harder Stadium back in December.
United also may have U.S. national team player Charlie Davies on its squad when it plays at UCSB. Davies, who suffered serious injuries in a car crash 16 months ago, has been training with the club in Florida. United is trying to work out a contract for Davies, who was was on the roster last season with the French team Sochaux.
According to a report in the Washington Post, Davies will travel to California and train with the team in Oxnard if contract issues are ironed out.
