Dwayne DeRosario scored the only goal for United (1-8-1), which lost a franchise-record seventh straight contest by a combined margin of 18-4.
Five years ago, Kyle Porter's anonymity evaporated. That tends to happen when a soccer player takes his career to a top-flight club in Germany — even an 18-year-old prospect whose only action would come in reserve matches.
After starting 21 games as a rookie in 2011, the University of Maryland product didn't see a second of playing time all season. That could change as soon as Saturday, when United host the Columbus Crew at RFK Stadium.
United, who open the 2013 season with a conference final rematch at the Houston Dynamo on Saturday, began pursuing Ruiz after he scored for Guatemala in a 3-1 loss to the United States in October.
Townsend, who scored 43 goals during his four years at Maryland, will be asked in coach Ben Olsen's system to wreak havoc by applying high pressure to opposing back lines.
In what has been an unassuming offseason for D.C. United thus far, it seemed only appropriate that when their biggest splash came, the news wasn't the identity of their marquee signing but rather the means of acquiring him.
When D.C. United take the field to kick off a new season in March, the club for the first time will do so without Kevin Payne pulling the strings from the front office.
This past February, D.C. United coach Ben Olsen spoke of his club's arduous quest to bring in a true goal-scorer, then looked to prized signing Hamdi Salihi and declared, "We think we've found him."
As Dwayne De Rosario fought back tears, the D.C. United captain could hardly speak. It was a stunning sight, really, to see such raw emotion out of a figure celebrated as a commanding presence on the pitch. Vulnerability is not a trait one associates with the 34-year-old.
