After a disappointing exit to Tigres in the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals on Tuesday, Nashville SC are right back to it, taking on DC United at Geodis Park on Saturday night and looking to avoid a post-CCC slump.
For the latest on the Black & Red, we checked in with Matt Hilliard, who recently launched the excellent All-Points Bulletin. Make sure to follow him for the latest on all things DC United.
Coverage of DC United games where they win or tie
Ben Wright (SixOneFive Soccer): A lot of change for DC United this offseason, both on and off the field. What's your read on how things stack up with the club now? Are the changes positive?
Matt Hilliard (All-Points Bulletin): Everyone knew change was necessary after the team fell apart in the middle of last season, but most DC fans were disappointed by the hire of Dr. Erkut Sogut to run the front office, given his lack of qualifications, LinkedIn slop hustleposting, and some really embarrassing comments by ownership about him being the smartest guy they'd ever met.
But so far, I think the early returns have been very good. The new coach, René Weiler, got better results even at the end of last year, and while he's been very blunt in press conferences, he seems to have held the team together through a recent rough patch. And despite Sogut being new to MLS, he's used every possible mechanism to improve the team: SuperDraft, reentry draft, cashfers, MLS free agency, free transfers, and transfer fees. There are five new starters this year, and four of them I think everyone agrees are big improvements (the fullbacks, Keisuke Kurokawa and Silvan Hefti, the DP forward from Philly Tai Baribo, and veteran goalkeeper Sean Johnson). The question mark has been the expensive Romanian DP forward, Louis Munteanu. He definitely hasn't put those doubts to rest yet, but it sure helps that he's scored three goals in the last two games.
Sogut said it will take three transfer windows to rebuild the roster. That got some scowls from fans because Ally Mackay said the same thing and it didn't work out (the former Nashville assistant GM was fired in September). But there was clearly a lot of work to do.
DC had the worst offense and second-worst defense in the league last year. So far in 2026, the offense is still well below average and really struggling with chance creation, but the defense has been good. That's led to some 0-0 games, but after two years of constantly giving opponents big chances, it's been a relief to see DC field a team that's tough to break down.
