3 Questions: A look at D.C. United with Donald Wine from The District Press

Remember the last time Atlanta United played D.C. United?

Unlike October 18, the Wooden Spoon won’t be on the line. But when Atlanta and D.C. meet on Saturday, they’ll both be looking to take another step toward respectability. Atlanta looked largely confident in a 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Union. While the cynical view is that the Union are just a bad team, Atlanta have struggled with bad teams in the past. D.C., while not one of the elite teams in MLS, will present a little more of a challenge.

For more on D.C. United, I connected with Donald Wine (X, Bsky) from, among other outlets, The District Press (X, Bsky).

I thought D.C. had a good offseason. They picked up Tai Baribo, brought in Sean Johnson, and signed a promising striker in Louis Munteanu (though he’s injured). As someone who follows them much more closely than I do, how would you rate Erkut Sogut’s first offseason in the front office?

I think objectively you gotta rate it probably a 7/10. They’ve made a ton of moves, which were needed to inject some energy into the club. However, it’s too early to rate everything a complete win, and René Weiler has said that he wants the results on the field to do the talking.

Let’s talk about what’s happening on the field. We’re now four games into René Weiler’s first full season as D.C. United’s head coach. From a tactical standpoint, how have things been going in your eyes?

The defense has been pretty good, keeping teams at bay outside of the occasional mistake. They’ve only allowed 4 goals in 4 games, and that’s a far cry from what they were doing last year. Sean Johnson has been pretty solid between the sticks, and the defense has been mostly successful because everyone is involved from the backline to Tai Baribo up front. The midfield has been very aggressive at pushing the ball forward, and they’re the key to this offense. 

Still, they haven’t generated the goals they want, and that’s been the most frustrating part of the season thus far. Last year, the Black-and-Red scored 30 goals total. Lionel Messi, the Golden Boot winner, scored 29 by himself. That has to change. D.C. United has to be a team that is generating goals consistently, because in this league, playoff teams have to be able to put out multiple goals in a game. The last time D.C. United scored 3 goals in a league match was in October 2024 against Nashville. Last year, they only scored 3 goals in a U.S. Open Cup match against Charlotte FC that went to penalties. If teams know that D.C. United isn’t going to score against them, they can bide their time and wear them down, knowing they are always in the match if they have the ability to score in bunches. D.C. has to put points on the board to start their move up the table.

What’s D.C.’s ceiling this season? Last year marked six straight years out of the playoffs for them. You mentioned last time that things need a makeover and that the club needs to rebuild trust with its fans. Have they made a step in the right direction?

The trust rebuild is still in its infancy, and fans will need more pluck for their buck before they start presenting themselves as ready to be hurt again. As for D.C.’s ceiling? Realistically, it’s to make the playoffs. That should be a realistic goal every season, because as we have seen, anything can happen in the playoffs. We remember just a couple seasons ago when Atlanta snuck into the playoffs and then won the wildcard game, setting themselves up to upset the Supporters’ Shield-winning Inter Miami squad that many thought was destined to win it all. You can only feel the magic of the MLS Cup Playoffs if you’re in it. And D.C.’s goal should be to get back in it for the first time since 2019.