With their 2-1 loss at RFK Stadium to Houston Dynamo, DC United set or tied several dubious MLS records, including fewest wins (3) and fewest points per game (PPG) (0.4705 PPG) (0.000 PPG = 0-0-34 (W-D-L) with 3.000 PPG = 34-0-0), fewest away wins (0), most away losses (14), and most losses overall (22). The team had more own goals (4), than any individual player had goals (3).
When DC United finished its 2012 campaign, more people expected DC United to continue to build to an MLS Cup or Supporters' Shield than expected to have one of the worst seasons in MLS history. But then, DC United sold Andy Najar to Anderlecht and allowed Montenegrin-international playmaker Branko Boskovic and Albanian-international striker Hamdi Salihi to both leave on costless transfers, and failed to replace or upgrade on those players during the offseason. They may have had Panamanian international Marcos Sanchez and Fluminese loanee Raphael Augusto to help the fill the void Boskovic and Najar left, and Rafael (signed from EC Bahia) to help fill the striker void left by Hamdi Salihi. No signing proved to replace of the departed players--and the signings of Sainey Nyassi, Conor Doyle, and Jared Jeffery, and the blooding of academy players Collin Martin and Michael Seaton onto the first team did not help to produce more goals.
Nor did they do anything to address a defense that was both riddled with injuries and could not handle the pace, size, and technical ability of many MLS wingers, playmakers, and pure forwards particularly on counter-attacks. If goals were not going in off of DC United players or because of lack of communication, defensive positioning (not letting the line sag to force attackers offside, not being in the right position to be able to recover the ball when one man is beaten) and communication by the entire group was often poor enough to force keeper Bill Hamid into action more often than he needed to be.
But in some ways, the defensive organization, particularly the lack of a proper defensive organizer like an Alessandro Nesta to could position the less experienced/poorer technically members of the back line to improve their positioning, is something that was covered up in 2012 but was exposed in 2013. Teams could attack wide or inside with pace and beat DC United defenders 1v1, or count on DC United losing their markers on set piece opportunities. It was something that was masked when DC United were scoring goals on their way to the playoffs in 2012 (or parking the bus when they didn't have the ball) but could not bail DC United once the goals did not pile in on the offensive side and once teams did not have to worry about Andy Najar's 1v1 trickery.
This might come down to head coach Ben Olsen and technical director/GM Dave Kasper not using the resources they have to find players that could defend against the emerging (and new) playmaking talent--and more teams utilizing one and two-touch passing to set up goal-scoring opportunities. The owners might use the excuse of "not having a new stadium" to hold back spending on the team, but if the owners do not find a way to improve the team from this edition in 2013 (and the false hope of the 2012 campaign), the new DC stadium opponents may succeed on blocking the stadium simply on grounds that the owners are putting a terrible product on a field (rather than the arguments they eloquently list here). After all, if the ownership is not willing to improve the product on the field, why should DC commit the funds to acquiring the land for the new stadium when that money could be used for other longstanding projects that were put off to build Nationals Park, like renovating a rundown high school, or affordable housing? After all, all the owners have stakes in other teams, and the majority owner just took over Inter Milan. Why would they commit to a team they have no local ties to--if they could have bigger aspirations on the global and national stage? (They have to do more in the 2014 offseason and 2014 season to convince not only present DC United supporters, but also not-yet DC United supporters that DC United will not end up like the Tampa Bay Mutiny--disbanded after their worst season in recent memory.)
But why could 2012 be a "bubble year"? Outside of a few US Open Cup runs as in this season, DC United has only made the MLS Cup playoffs (in a league where at least 50% of the teams make it to the MLS cup playoffs) ONCE since 2007. That season was 2012--the "bubble year".
Like with the rundown high school, the defensive unit must be replenished with better talent that can not only communicate better with Perry Kitchen (and secondary holding mid Jared Jeffery) to prevent goals from being conceded when under pressure, but also be able to remain positionally savvy/disciplined even when pushing forward into the attack. If they cannot fix that, even if they add better playmakers and attacking players (attacking mids, strikers (first and second), trequaristas, enganches, mezz'allas, wingers, etc.) to push the ball forward, and a sense of belief that the team can attack with the kind of swagger and killer instinct that should be expected out of team with 13 competitive trophies in 17 years of existence.
If they don't do that (or change how they scout or manage the team they have or the personnel that do so, it may derail more than just their 2014 season and 2014-15 CONCACAF Champions League campaign (via their unexpected U.S. Open Cup run). How much more? What they do this offseason, and how the stadium hearings proceed will tell.
To the fans. What do you make of DC United's fall from grace in 2013? Do you think the fall is a harbinger of things to come, or be the first step on a path out of persistent mediocrity for a once proud soccer club?
(Thanks to Pablo Maurer of DCist and Soccer By Ives for keeping track of these dubious records. I highly recommend you follow him on Twitter if you can @MLSist. The article linking to these dubious stats can be found here.)