It’s amazing what a few pints of beer will do.

What started as a pub conversation among soccer coaches turned into the Carolina Challenge Cup, a preseason tournament co-hosted by the Wilmington Hammerheads and the Charleston Battery.

The Hammerheads, coming off last year’s PSL national championship (American soccer’s equivalent to AA baseball) and its surprising run to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup (a national championship tournament involving clubs from Major League Soccer down to club squads), will host games against MLS’s Columbus Crew on Saturday, March 20 and D.C. United on Wednesday, March 24 at Legion Stadium with 7:30 kickoffs.

The round-robin event ends with a March 27 doubleheader. The Hammerheads take on the Battery in a 6 p.m. match, followed by United and the Crew.

D.C. United boasts 14-year-old phenomena Freddy Adu. Adu, the words most heralded youth player, could make his professional debut in the Port City. Adu will join United the night before its first game against Charleston on March 20 after he finishes school.

“We may get the better deal, he may play the whole game,” Hammerheads coach David Irving said. “It’s good because I want to see how good this 14-year-old boy is. There’s nothing like seeing the real thing, is there?”

“They know we can play. We’ve played against the Dallas Burn. We’ve played against the Metrostars. We’ve played against D.C. United,” Hammerheads coach David Irving said at a press conference. “And now someone picks up the phone and hears do you want to go to Wilmington and play, it’s not ‘Who?’ it’s ‘Yeah’. We’re on the map now.”

Initially the creators saw the event as a national championship event featuring the Hammerheads, A-League champs (the equivalent of AAA) Charleston, MLS Cup winners San Jose and U.S. Open Cup titleholders and MLS members Chicago. But the governing body of North American and Caribbean soccer, CONCACAF, pulled the MLS squads for its Champions Cup leaving the Hammerheads and Battery scrambling for new teams.

The event’s organizers were pleased to get United and Adu.

Other D.C. United standouts include three-World Cup veteran U.S. National Team player Earnie Stewart, along with two other members of the U.S. player pool midfielder Bobby Convey and Ben Olsen.

Columbus lost long-time leader Brian McBride to Fulham of England’s Premier League but features national team defender Frankie Hejduk along with standout newcomers Manny Lagos and Simon Elliott on its roster.