AC-DC in RFK
Last year it was Real Madrid to grace Washington DC with their presence, but this time around for the first time ever, DC United will take on the famed Italian superclub, AC Milan, in a summer friendly. In what could be a dramatic mismatch, the Rossoneri (literally “red-blacks” for their famous red and black striped jerseys) with a roster full of world superstars, take on the Black and Red, who are mired in their worst stretch of form in the club’s history.
Although United has enjoyed a startling record of success in friendlies in the past against some of the biggest names in world football, and even recent losses to Real Madrid and Chelsea were pretty competitive affairs. But with United struggling to even score, much less win in MLS, it seems likely it would take a miracle for DC to keep this game close for any length of time.
AC Milan is expected to play former Europe and World player of the year, Ronaldinho, among a host of other European and South American stars, including quite a few Italian veterans of their World Cup triumph in 2006. Literally a who’s who of world football, AC Milan’s lineup is expected to include Brazilians Pato, Mancini, and Dida, as well as Dutchman Clarence Seedorf, and Italians such as Inzaghi, Nesta, Ambrosini, and Oddo, who lifted the World Cup trophy four years ago, but were left this year’s deep Italian squad heading to South Africa to defend their title.
United on the other hand, will be playing for pride and some redemption for a hideously bad season to date, with a roster that is banged up and demoralized at 1-8 on the season and facing a brutal stretch of MLS and Open Cup matches leading up to the World Cup break in mid June. For sure, United’s best payers will want to play against one of the storied teams in world football, but Onalfo will almost certainly have to juggle his roster somewhat with an eye to the future fixtures looming ominously.
Still, you never know how these things turn out and United has had some stunning successes in friendlies with major clubs over the years. In fact, United’s record against some of the most well known teams around the world is a surprising 6-3-3. United has beaten the likes of Tottenham (twice), Blackburn, Nottingham Forrest, and Celtic, while tying Boca, Leeds, and even Real Madrid in 2006. DC has only lost to Chelsea and Real Madrid as mentioned, as well as to Leverkusen in a wild 4-3 match in 2001, but all those matches were very competitive affairs, even the 3-0 loss to Real last year that was 0-0 for almost an hour before Madrid finally broke United with three goals in 12 minutes to cruise to victory.
Milan’s state of mind is also open to question as some of their players have been quoted as being a bit unmotivated for a friendly after a disappointing league season that saw them finish third in the Serie A and busted out of the Champion’s League by ManU in the round of 16. All of Milan’s national team caliber players are also only available due to them being left off the recently announced World Cup rosters for their respective countries, too. So, they have that crushing disappointment to set aside as well, as they attempt to put on a show in a relatively meaningless match just before their summer vacation.
Still, Milan is one of the most successful teams in the world having collected 29 major trophies over the years. Founded in 1899, by a few ex-pat British cricketeers (hence the English spelling of the Italian city of Milano) and quickly won the first of its third best 17 Italian league titles in 1901. The Club also has collected five Italian Cup titles and won the Italian SuperCup five times as well.
Internationally, Milan is tied with Boca as having won the most FIFA sanctioned competitions in history. Milan won the FIFA World Club Cup title in 2006, as well as seven Champion’s League titles (second only to Real Madrid’s nine titles), five more UEFA Super Cups and two Cup Winner’s Cups. Milan has also won the Intercontinental Cup, a forerunner of the World Club Cup contested between the best teams in Europe and South America, three times as well.
Owned by Italy’s third richest man, media mogul and current Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, since 1986, AC Milan’s success has not been without controversy over the years. In 2006, when they won the World Club Cup, the team was almost stripped of its various titles as they were involved in the famous match fixing fiasco of that year where the top teams in Italy all were found to have fixed matches by using favorable referees. Similarly, the team spent one of its only two years out of Serie A due to being relegated as punishment for match fixing in 1980 by bribing players and referees then too.
