In an incredibly close race, the dynamic dud duo of Zach Wells and Jose Carvallo wins the Donnety Award for biggest disappointment. These two heralded acquisitions were supposed to have a heated competition for the starting goalkeeper job, but instead they were only in competition with Rod Dyachenko for this unpopular award. Click to continue reading...

By definition, the Donnety award goes to the player who has been the biggest disappointment this year. Yes, harsh, I know. But this award's definition could probably be interpreted in a couple different ways. And because I love controversy, of course I will leave that interpretation up to you. Do you give the award to a guy who has played well at times, but hasn't lived up to the hype or to his high salary? 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...

LET'S ENUMERATE THE SUCK: The news of Perralta and Gallardo needing to go out for hernia surgery does suck, as that injury seems to plague this team somehow. The news that Carvallo has been released moderately sucks, in that it indicates our lack of depth not just in defense but in the keeper position as well.

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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...

After such a tiring and emotionally draining match just three days earlier, I guess it was pretty easy to see this coming. Especially once you saw the starting lineup. Gallardo, Martinez, and Wells deserved the rest, so I won't complain about the lineup, especially since I don't think that starting our true top XI would have even really made a big difference in this game. Click to continue reading...

Gasp! And here we were thinking that MLS only made rule changes in order to benefit the Galaxy!
Maybe this was announced earlier and I missed it, but a change to the MLS roster rules has come up today only because of Goff's latest post announcing the signing of Justin Moose to a Developmental contract, and the news that Kpene and Dyachenko are still eligible for Developmental contracts. Click to continue reading...

I came up with most of this while standing in line outside in 20 degree weather for two hours to see Barack Obama speak in College Park yesterday (well worth it).
Major League Soccer is probably unlike any other league in the world that I can think of in its limitation of foreign players and players over the age of 25. Click to continue reading...

Early candidate for blog post of the year goes to the DCenters, with this lengthy and incredibly well-written (we're talking Sports Illustrated material) piece on the club's role in developing American talent versus using any means necessary to pursue championships. I started writing this as a comment to D's post, and then just decided to move it here, because I stray from the main topic a bit. Click to continue reading...

With all the excitement surrounding the international signings of Gonzalo Martinez, Franco Niell, and Jose Carvallo, it would be easy for us to overlook the drafts that United has participated in the past couple of weeks. So this will be the first in a series of posts taking a look at the players selected by our beloved DCU in the Super Draft and the Supplemental Draft. Click to continue reading...

Looks like our acquisition of Gonzalo Martinez is just about official, and that Said Godinez is probably not heading to the nation's capitol. Nothing further yet on Carvallo. But this is developing quite nicely. Assuming we re-sign Vanney, we might see a rotation of three guys at center back again with Martinez, Vanney, and McTavish. Click to continue reading...

Wow. What a crazy week this has been.
Today we've got THREE new rumors about Spanish-speaking players possibly coming to DC United. I said in a previous post that we can take advantage of the new/revised foreign player rules by acquiring 3 or 4 mid-salary foreign talents. We've got the cap space, and we've got the extra foreign player slots. Click to continue reading...