As was previously stated here (okay, I was off by a little bit), it looks like Ben Olsen is going to hang up his boots. Although it could have been easily guessed that his time was running out, Olsen has decided that either pain or other considerations have made it undesirable to continue his career.

Little tidbit: Shipalane will be with DCU next year, says the man himself on Pennlive.com. So, that's one name you can pencil in for next year.

Just coming out at Behind the Badge, Tom Soehn will not be back next year as DC United's manager. This was the move you knew would happen, as two years out of the playoffs is just not acceptable to anyone involved.

The harder decisions (roster) are forthcoming, and hopefully, a good search can be conducted and the best possible candidate can be hired.

As always, Mr. Unprecedented Access, Steve Goff, has a sit down with Kevin Payne and Tom Soehn over on his blog. Some big quotes...

"We don't want to play like Colorado or New England, which most of the season sat with eight or nine guys behind the ball. How many people go to watch Colorado or New England play?

I won't write what I wanted to write after watching the Kansas City game, because the more I kicked it around, it was a trite and cliche angle. The game was exciting, and the team fought as hard as they could (in the second half). Reckless desperation is always pretty fun to watch, but as DCUMD noted, a lack of defensive concentration (which is not a skill but an effort) ended our season.

Well, the long winding MLS season has come down to this: needing 6 points from 2 games and needing a host of other things to go our way in MLS play for the chance to advance into the playoffs. Last year around this time, Columbus was eliminating us at Crew Stadium, and I was happy that the elimination might lead to sweeping changes in the team.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time discussing a game we should of won big that we did win big. I saw some good things. And here we go...
Good Stuff!
- Christian Gomez. Every time I think that DC should cut ties with Gomez, he'll play like he dad last night. He definitely elevates his game in tournament play, and teams need players that can do that.

There is a caveat to this post: we don't have it near as bad as Red Bull fans have it. True, they have a new stadium coming, but that team is a disaster from top to bottom, with little hope of immediate recovery. Now that I've cleared that up, this is a bad time to be a United fan.

The breadth of this experience was on display Sunday afternoon.

Following their 1-0 win at San Juan Jabloteh on Sept 15th, the guys have been resting up, practicing, and hopefully getting some tactical and finishing work in before their next game on Thursday, against Marathon. I've been doing much of the same, save for the practicing or working on my finishing.

Were there regulation in MLS, this would be called a relegation 6 pointer. DC United stinks on the road, but FC Dallas stinks everywhere. Dallas sits second to last in the Western Conference with 23 points, and DCU has 32 points which puts them in 4th in the East. Rapidly losing ground in the playoff race, with teams above them with games in hand, DC United needs to take care of business on the road and come back with all three points.

Take it for what it's worth, but Yahoo has Bryan Namoff on the way out (I'd imagine after the season's over) to the Greek league. As Namoff has become the absolute stalwart of the defense, the team would have a hard time replacing him. However, for Bryan, you'd have to understand the move to make one real payday.

As originally reported here (in The Offside's First official scoop), Bill Hamid, Annandale native and academy product, has signed with MLS and will be on DCU's roster as the third goalkeeper. As a result of this and other additions like Shipalane, Habarugira, and James, someone on the current roster will have to be cut.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the last CONCACAF Champions League game my fiance and I will be attending until things change. The lineup put on the field to start was a sham. That backline had no prayer of stopping goals, as they had never played together, and one of the worst defenders I have ever seen, Avery John, was at center back.

In the sprinkling rain at RFK, DC United attacked the Galaxy goal, strung together passes in the midfield, and played strong enough in the back to not concede. Unfortunately, United's finishing and final third passing let them down, and the 22k in attendance had to settle for a goalless draw.

This team has been nothing this season if not frustrating.

Tomorrow marks the third inaugural "Beckham invades DC Tour". I've been to the two before, and I'll be to the third. In the two previous meetings, we saw two wins for DC, and the win last year in decisive fashion. The circumstances leading up to tomorrow's match are starkly different, with DC United on a steep decline and LA Galaxy as hot as fire.