Before I get into the main point of this post, I recommend that you check out Kinney's draft thoughts below, as well as the comments from Nick. Good Stuff. Also, a quick note that I am having technical problems at the moment, so my posting may be decreased until we fix it... Okay.

There are several interesting forces at work, but first, two key paragraphs from Soccer America that mirror my thoughts:

One can sympathize with Twellman, to a point, especially in the light of New England's obstructionist history regarding players going overseas.

Look, I could write a supplemental draft write-up. Or wait for Kinney or Oscar or Bob to do it. And they still may, I don't know. We're pretty independent here. But frankly, if just for the distance they work for the joke, I'm just gonna refer you to The Fullback Files' post on the matter, and commend to your attention the following:

Round 2 - Dan Stratford (midfielder, West Virginia, Fulham academy).

What are the stages of grief? Anger, denial, bargaining, depression, acceptance, right?

I'm not at "acceptance" yet. (And to make my life even worse, my newly beloved team, the scrappy, bankrupt little Luton Town, are currently getting slaughtered by Liverpool. And I have a ferocious headache.

HELLO:...And the parade continues. United has now added Gonzalo Martinez from Millonarios, and Dave Kasper provides us the resume:

Martìnez began his professional career in the Colombian First Division with Deportes Tolima in 1996 before moving to Italian Serie A side Udinese in 2001.

JOSH GROS, AU REVOIR: We start with the news of a qualified good-bye to Josh Gros, who is taking a year off and will then re-evaluate his health. We're going to put Josh in the good-bye column on the right, and note that we may say "hello" to him next year. I honestly have no basis to speculate, but we're all agreed that Josh's health must come first, and I would rather he retire permanently than come back in 2009 and put himself at risk for a more permanent injury.

In general, I'm trying to wait on player announcements until there is something formal said by the club. That's why we kept Troy Perkins out of the Goodbye list for so long. And, sadly, my knowledge of the Argentine first division is not extensive, so other than the links to Clarin that have been posted in the comments (and my thanks for those) and today's story in the Post, there's not much insight I can add other than saying "how do you pronounce his name properly?

With the formal announcement that United now has Franco Niell (Post, Times) on loan for the 2008 campaign, United has a decent sense of what they look like up-top and in front of the nets. Midfield and Defense are now the concerns, and training starts in less than a week. As Haydon says in the Times:

United is expected to make other key signings this week — possibly bringing in Peruvian goalie Jose Carvallo and Colombian defender Gonzalo Martinez — to replace goalie Troy Perkins and defender Bobby Boswell, both of whom recently left the team.

Lest I become a complete cheerleader for all things Kasper and Payne, let me suggest that the idea of Gallardo becoming a Designated Player selection, as hinted in this morning's writings from the Goffather, strikes me as a bit troubling.

... it is uncertain whether Gallardo will participate right away or wait until camp moves to Bradenton, Fla.

So, here's what we know of. United is looking at an Argentinean forward with Franco Niell, a potential Peruvian keeper with Jose Carvallo (with a green card, which short circuits one planned rant), and a Columbian defender with Gonzalo Martinez. If all three deals go forward (and let's assume that they will, since we all know the caveats that come with anticipating international transfers) then we'll have a new center back to replace Bobby Boswell, a speedy forward to supplement the attack up top, and a keeper to pair with Mr.

No, don't worry. I'm not gonna try to talk politics here. I just want to know if now that Fred Thompson has dropped his bid to be the Republican candidate for president, can we have his campaign's domain?
Fred for Honda MVP in 2008!

I am not without pettiness. Part of me reads the story of the falling-out between Christian Gomez and D.C. United, and I want to be incensed at Christian for not showing enough loyalty to come back at the terms United offered. The terms offered were decent -- $300K to $350K per year in cap space.

It was a decently warm game when D.C. United opened the home season in 2006 against the New York Red Bulls. Despite the previous years ignominious defeat to Chicago, the mood was somewhat optimistic. Several prognosticators picked United to finish first in the East for the upcoming year. With Christian Gomez serving a red card suspension, and Nick Rimando injured from preseason, the line-up was perhaps not the entire first string.

Hey! Galaxy fans! Guess what time it is?!?! It's time to start dusting off all of your hopeful thoughts from last year!

You know. Like,

We can SO win the Cup this year!

or We CAN overcome our salary cap issues!!

or Beckham is the answer to ALL of our problems!