D.C. United announced today that the club is returning to Charleston, S.C. for preseason training in 2012. For the seventh time in club history, United will compete in the Carolina Challenge Cup, hosted by the Charleston Battery of the United Soccer Leagues.
The Black-and-Red will face off against the home side and two other MLS clubs at Blackbaud Stadium in a round-robin competition. The tournament will be played between February 25 and March 3 of next year.
United has won the last two editions of the Carolina Challenge Cup, claiming the 2011 title by defeating Charleston and the Chicago Fire, followed by a draw with Toronto FC. With another title in 2012, United would become the first team to win three consecutive Challenge Cups in the tournament's nine-year history.
United has a regional rivalry with second division Charleston dating back to the 1999 U.S. Open Cup, when the Battery knocked the Black-and-Red out of the competition in a third round meeting. Most recently the two sides met in the 2008 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final, with United claiming that contest 2-1. Charleston finished the 2011 USL PRO season in fourth place in the America Division with a 10-9-5 record.
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