Games mostly on Saturday night, with only five mid-week matches? We’ll take it!
D.C. United, like the rest of Major League Soccer’s 28 teams, today announced their 2022 regular season schedule. United’s 34-game MLS slate, which starts with a previously announced February 26 home game against expansion side Charlotte FC, includes breaks for the FIFA international window in late March, early June, and late September. The regular season runs through October 9, with MLS Cup scheduled for November 5.
United starts the season off with four straight games against teams that either did not exist last year, or that did not make the playoffs. After two years with virtually no meetings with Western Conference opposition due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Black-and-Red will have eight games against teams from the West, including a first-ever clash with Austin FC. They will also feature on national television four times, a slight boost over last year, with two games on ESPN and one each on TUDN/UniMas and Univision.
After years of fan complaints from both sides of the Atlantic Cup about scheduling that made traveling for away fans difficult, United and their oldest rival the New York Red Bulls have for the first time in years been granted two Saturday evening games. D.C. will travel to Harrison, NJ on May 28 for a 7:00pm kickoff, while they will host the Red Bulls on August 6 at 7:30pm. Elsewhere, United will face the new MLS Cup champions NYCFC on April 9, though that game is currently set for Citi Field rather than Yankee Stadium.
The full schedule is as follows:
After a pandemic-compressed schedule resulted in an overwhelming number of mid-week games around the league, MLS stated last month that the 2022 schedule would limit each team to a maximum of five such fixtures. Still, for United there will be some difficulty, as two such games fall in a span that will see them play six games in 21 days in August. The other mid-week games come in May, June, and September.
On the other hand, the schedule is still favorable overall, with United playing on Saturday 23 times out of a total of 34 (including 11 straight such fixtures to start the season). Along with the aforementioned prospect of an easier start to the year, United’s final three games — two of which are at Audi Field — come against three teams that finished 10th or lower in the East in 2021. Between those games there is a distinct balance, with United never being home or away for more than two straight games, and with an even split of three two-game homestands and three two-game road swings.
The schedule is complete as far as league play goes, but still comes with questions. United has not officially stated its plans for its friendly invitational Capital Cup tournament, but last year positioned it as something they plan to establish as a recurring summertime event. Last year’s tournament took place during MLS’s Gold Cup break in early July, but with the Black-and-Red facing six games in July this year, the next Capital Cup may have to take place during the international breaks in June or September.
More importantly, the U.S. Open Cup is on course to return after being cancelled due to Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021. Per U.S. Soccer, “approximately half” of MLS’s American clubs will enter the tournament between April 19-21, with the rest entering in the next round in mid-May. United’s finish in 2021 seems to virtually guarantee that they’ll be part of the first group rather than the second.