D.C. United began training camp this week in the high-end environs of the new St. James sports complex in Springfield, a fitting facility for an organization that raised standards on and off the field last year and will carry heightened expectations into a new season.
The core of a new-look team that took MLS by storm late last season, led by Wayne Rooney at the front and anchored by Bill Hamid in the back, has returned. And during the offseason, the front office signed another Argentine attacker and bolstered depth through the college pipeline.
But the group that has gathered at the vast indoor facility in a discreet suburban industrial park remains incomplete.