In late June, after a team function related to D.C. United’s future stadium, General Manager Dave Kasper joined Coach Ben Olsen and investors Erick Thohir and Jason Levien for an Italian feast at Ghibellina on 14th Street NW in Washington.
Thohir lives in Indonesia and doesn’t visit often, so the brain trust took advantage of the rare occasion for a face-to-face conversation about the direction of the wayward MLS team. Beyond the substandard match performances through four months, it was clear to everyone that United‘s frugal spending was setting the organization further and further behind in a league with a growing number of ambitious spenders.