Editor’s Note: This piece was written Thursday morning at 06:45
It was a remarkable late-season run for D.C. United. After stumbling out the blocks severely, leading to many fans calling for Ben Olsen’s head, they recovered in the latter half of the year, reeling off 11 wins in their final 17 games.
The summer arrival of Wayne Rooney obviously had a lot to do with that. He is a brilliant footballer and automatically became one of the best strikers in MLS. He was not nominated for league MVP on a whim.
But there were others who played a key part in D.