Goff revealed yesterday several changes for 2009 that were unveiled in the Board of Governors meeting yesterday prior to MLS Cup. In summation of the most important change, the league has added senior roster slots, but trimmed the total roster size. Instead of 18 senior roster slots and 10 developmental roster slots as we had in 2008, we will have 20 senior roster slots and 4 developmental roster slots in 2009. Click to continue reading...

Our first recipient in the inaugural Benny Awards is Clyde Simms, who won the Richie Award with 53% of the vote. I thought this award would be much closer with heavy competition from Bryan Namoff early on, but Simmsy eventually pulled away for the victory.

In a bit of a surprise, the Nelly Award for the biggest contribution from a newcomer went to Louis Crayton. Click to continue reading...

In my last post, I claimed that Tom Soehn had an ADR this year of 3.11. What does that mean? Is that good or bad?

Well as readers of this blog know, I've been passing down player ratings of either "Top Shelf", "Call", or "Rail" to players after every match. I've also been tracking those ratings over the course of the year, and displayed all of them here. Click to continue reading...

By definition the Convey award goes to the team's Rookie of the Year. But there's a couple of different ways you could interpret that. Do you give the award to the young player who has made the biggest contribution so far this season? Or do you give it to the guy who has the best chance of being a star in the MLS? Click to continue reading...

A tie at home against a lesser Western Conference opponent certainly should feel like a loss. Somehow for me though, this one doesn't. Maybe it's because we outplayed Dallas, to the point where I think we really deserved the win. This felt like it should have ended at 2-1. Oh well. I guess we'll just have to steal back those extra two points when we play them again on the road in two weeks. Click to continue reading...

In a match where we were missing Emilio, Moreno, Namoff, Fred, Vide, and Peralta, a loss wasn't necessarily surprising. I guess the bright side is that we escaped without any more injuries! Also, I saw tonight that we've got some young players with a lot of heart, and that's got to count for something, even if it didn't earn us any points. Click to continue reading...

Greetings from RFK Stadium, home of D.C. United. The stadium is old but comfy for the home side usually, but they've struggled recently at home.

Will Daniel is in town for this match again. If you don't recall a story from earlier this year, check it out here. Daniel first met Jimmy Conrad back in 1997 when Conrad was a member of UCLA's NCAA Final 4 team. Click to continue reading...

We bring you this brief interruption to the MSR with the news that DC United has acquired Ivan Guerrero from the Earthquakes. The best endorsement of Guerrero has to be this one (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/2008/07/greetings_from_rfk_1.html) from Bryan Namoff: "He took us apart in the playoffs [with Chicago].

Click to continue reading...

Given the focus that this blog has given to United's roster this year, I thought it would be appropriate to base our Mid-Season Review specifically on the roster moves that the team has made. In part 1, we will look at United's acquisitions, meaning the players that the team added since the end of last season that they didn't have to give up anything for. Click to continue reading...

To finish in last place in the tournament that we all had charted as our lowest priority this year isn't exactly a tragedy. It's a little bit disheartening, but not discouraging. Because I think the team played quite well, considering our current injury status and packed schedule. And I also think we showed more and maybe deserved better than the 3-1 loss last night and zero overall points in Superliga. Click to continue reading...

Surrender.

I hate to say it, but some people are right, we're done with Superliga, regardless of the result of the Houston-Chivas match. Yes, I know there might be a mathematical chance, but we don't deserve to advance. Run up the flag, play the subs, we're done like a Five Guys burger. Sometimes you need to know when you're throwing good money after bad, and so it is with Superliga this year.

Click to continue reading...

Since I didn't witness the match myself, the following player ratings are based on excerpts taken from comments written about the game on the Soccer Insider:


1. "For me, Marc Burch was by far the player of the match, and not just because of the 2 goals. Through much of the game, he was among the most active player on the field. Click to continue reading...

With United's Open Cup debut scheduled for tomorrow evening at the Maryland SoccerPlex, the coaching staff has some really interesting roster decisions to make. Last year, United took a Harrisburg Islanders squad way too lightly, and supposedly have learned their lesson. Even though the Rochester Rhinos are currently struggling in USL, DC should take this opportunity to earn a Champions League birth seriously. Click to continue reading...

With the July 1st salary guarantee date looming just a week away, that is the question that we ask about two players: Jose Carvallo and Franco Niell. Both were brought to this country in the offseason that saw the additions of five new South American players. Three of those players (Gallardo and los Gonzalos) have earned regular roles in the starting XI. Click to continue reading...

Who would have thought that United's first road victory of the year wouldn't come until June, against the Alpha Dog of the league Chicago? In the first half, this match felt like a couple earlier in the year, where DC dominated possession and had probably double the scoring opportunities, but failed to finish. Click to continue reading...

On an ugly rainy day, the DC United reserves suffered their first loss of the season to a Chicago team that was able to keep the ball in United's half for probably about 65% of what I saw. I only caught the last 30 minutes or so. Better turn out of fans than I was expecting with all the rain and the lack of confidence in the first team. Click to continue reading...

How come this year we had two draft picks from the Big East (Cordeiro-UConn, Stratford-WVU) and two from the Pac-10 (Jacobson-Cal, Owens-UCLA), but not a single player from the ACC? So Maryland and Virginia aren't good enough for DCU anymore? I see how it is.

I know I probably just sound bitter, given my blog's namesake, but how do you pick Ryan Cordeiro when Stephen King of Maryland is available? Click to continue reading...