[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 2]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 1785]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



            SALUTE TO D.C. UNITED, ``AMERICA'S SOCCER TEAM''

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 29, 2000

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate and applaud 
D.C. United as ``America's Soccer Team,'' which won its third Major 
League Soccer (MLS) championship while Congress was in recess. It is a 
well-deserved title, not only because the team is located in the 
nation's capital, but especially because D.C. United has won three of 
the four MLS championships offered by the league. Rarely, if ever, has 
an American team so dominated its sport or displayed greater skill and 
sportsmanship. Both were in full view last November, when United snared 
its latest championship in a two-to-nothing victory over Los Angeles.
  We, who live in the District of Columbia, are proud that D.C. United 
took our hometown name. Our hometown soccer team has become the 
District's version of a triple crown champion that does not know how to 
lose. D.C. United's victories over the past several years have 
paralleled the continuing revitalization of the team's hometown. After 
what our city went through in the 1990s, the team's championship means 
much more to D.C. than it would to Baltimore or New York, or Atlanta or 
Los Angeles. D.C. United has taught this town that we, too, can be 
winners. Now, when Americans and people from around the world visit the 
nation's capital, they come not only to see our monuments. They want 
also to see our monumental team.
  Our team reflects the nations of the world in a sport that is played 
by virtually every country in the world. Across the nation and 
throughout the soccer world, D.C. United fans applaud the team's 
determination to fight and to win. Today, we salute D.C. United for a 
job well done and send best wishes to ``America's Soccer Team.''

                          ____________________