While I'm relatively certain that most dedicated followers of MLS will know what United are getting with the likes of Maicon Santos and Danny Cruz, there's still an element of mystery surrounding the acquisitions from the mid-tier Euro-leagues. Most of us see precious little from Swiss or Austrian clubs outside of perhaps the odd Europa League highlight.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Happy New Year from all of us at the Philly Soccer Page. The Union's first kick is only 70 days away.

Some New Year Tweets

Philadelphia Union: Happy New Year everyone! Thanks for a memorable 2011...see you in 2012! #DOOP

Philadelphia Independence: Have a safe and wonderful New Year Independence fans, WPS fans, Soccer fans!

All of us at PSP hope you had a Happy Christmas and are recovering well from the excitements of the day. Here's a brief news roundup to look at in between naps and one of the Boxing Day games from England on Fox Soccer Channel.

Philadelphia Union

The Goalkeeper projects various Union starting XI's depending on different scenarios (attacking formation, defensive formation, departures for the Olympics), starting with the basic assumption that most (if not all) of the recent signings will automatically start, and looks at what this could mean to players who were on the 2011 roster.

There was only one thing DC United fans knew for sure going into the 2011 season, and that was this season couldn't be any worse than the previous one. After setting the standard for futility, the team not only climbed ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.

Philadelphia Union

Here's the skinny on new signing Josue Martinez from Kenneth Hernandez, soccer writer for Costa Rican daily Al Dia:

• "Martínez is a player for the future. He's still young and he has a lot to give. But he's just 21 and he needs to establish himself as a forward who responds with goals.

In the past few weeks we've two impressive stories of professional soccer players battling off field problems. The first was David Testo who made public the fact that he is gay. That is challenging in and of itself, but it takes that much more courage to come out when you're a professional athlete. As impressive as that story was, I was struck by another.

Photo of Taylor Twellman at Union's 2011 home opener by Earl Gardner.

Philadelphia Union

Deportivo Saprissa president Juan Carlos Rojas has confirmed in an interview with a Costa Rican radio station that the Union has been in contact with the club about Josue Martinez, saying "I would not go into much detail but there has been interest from Philadelphia [in Martinez].

Leave it to MLS to miss a slam dunk. As part of their daily unveiling of award winners leading up to the MLS Cup (an idea that I like that they do), the league announced the winners of the Comeback ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.

By Puck With the MLS playoffs underway, our domestic league will be getting a lot of attention over the next few weeks. Will a squad with a designated player finally lift the MLS Cup? Can a disappointing season from the New York Red Bulls, made only palatable by a late, solid run of form, be [...

The difference between MLS and most other major American sports leagues is that two teams with losing records can play a low scoring game in the rain and have it be one of the most exciting games of the year. ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Union

In this week's power rankings roundup, the Union fall two spots to fifth at MLS Soccer.com. At ESPN, they move up one spot to fifth. They drop one spot to fourth at the Seattle Times. At Goal.com, the Union fall two spots to eighth.

Sheanon Williams, profiled on the Union website, was named to Goal.

By Andrew Villegas Yeoman Dwayne De Rosario has one goal every 173 minutes this year. Sebastien Le Toux has one every 270. Rising Star Brek Shea? One every 241 minutes. And Charlie Davies, that death-defying, on-loan, one-time USMNT'er? He's scored one goal every 137 minutes, better than them all. Yet, there Davies is every week, [.

On September 24th D.C. United had an impressive showing against a somewhat second team squad of Real Salt Lake but the result was exactly what United needed - 3 points.
The Black and Red seemed poised to make a strong playoff push down the stretch of the 2011 MLS season however the ensuing road trip saw United lose to Eastern Conference and I-95 rivals Philadelphia Union and Columbus Crew just three days later failing to collect a single point.

Needing every point the team can muster from hear on out we are hopeful that goalkeeper Bill Hamid will be in net for tonights match agians Chivas USA.
We elected to have Charlie Davies as the lone striker and put the always danderous playmaker, Dwayne De Rosario directly behind Davies in the hope that the two can find some much needed offensive spark working together.

DC United hasn't been to the playoffs since 2007, and Charlie Davies (pictured) was brought in to rectify that and certainly helped the cause with a hat trick against Chivas last week. But, if he and United harbor any hopes of actually breaking ...

Happy Friday to you. Several thoughts have been floating through my head as we move into the weekend. The first is the magic number ten that several coaches have placed on getting to the playoffs. Ten points and we're in seems to be the vibe. I think I was most encouraged by the recent comments of Jason Kreis regarding Real Salt Lake's chances.

Apparently Office Joe is some sort of soothsayer as he predicted D.C. United would win (although he had the score wrong) and he somehow new that United forward Charlie Davies would return to his early season goal scoring form, predicting Davies would have a "break out game".
The hat-trick from Davies and the much needed 3 points where obvious positives from Saturday night in L.

Charlie Davies broke out of his own personal goal scoring drought in a big with way with all three goals tonight in D.C. United's 3-0 win over Chivas USA at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. With the win ...

By Andrew Villegas Take a second to look at the up-to-the-moment playoff standings for MLS. What strikes you? If you're anything like most people, it's that the New York Red Bulls – is it wrong that I automatically think to add "machine" to the end of NYRB whenever I refer to them? – find themselves teetering precariously [.

Photo by Daveblog

In the land of draws, the Chicago Fire are kings.

Last night, La Maquina Roja looked well on their way to their third win of the season after dominating DC United at home for about 70 minutes. Sebastian Grazzini had given the home side the lead early in the second half and United's attack looked spent.

Photo by Connor Turner

Those who know my writing know that I have an affinity for DC United and have followed the team, with varying levels of intensity, since its inception. So it should surprise no one that I have been closely following the Black-and-Red this season, not just because of rooting interest but because this has shaped up to be an intriguing season for a number of reasons.

The U.S. v. Mexico rematch friendly is less than a week away, and today Jurgen Klinsmann unveiled his first list of call-ups as the head coach for the national team. The Mexico friendly comes at a tricky time for the U.S., as the bigger European leagues are kicking off this month and Klinsmann might have hesitated to call-up players overseas in these leagues.

Stephen McCarthy's headed goal in the 73rd minute and Matt Reis' fantastic goalkeeping allowed the visiting New England Revolution to waltz into RFK Stadium and steal three points in their 1-0 win over D.C. United. United controlled play throughout the ...

A missed penalty shot from leading D.C. United goal scorer Charlie Davies was a clear sign that the game against the bottom dwelling New England Revolution would not end well. Davies has scored 8...
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DC United's poor home form continued as New England snapped a nine match winless streak and shocked DC 1-0 in front of Sunil Gulati and 15,000 plus at RFK. Matt Reis made six saves and kept New England in the match long enough for a late go-ahead goal from Stephen McCarthy.

The first half saw a different DC United team than the one that lost to New England 2-1 in March.

Img: Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Returning to the site of their worst 2010 performance, the Philadelphia Union meet a mercurial DC United team looking for their first win in over a month.

Trouble in the back

To call DC United the opposite of the Union is a bit of a stretch.

Where's Carlos?

The Brotherly Game links to Mexican website Elgolfo.info reporting Carlos Ruiz is in Mexico City training with second division side Veracruz. Their translation reads, "the back and forth search for a third foreign signing continues in Mexico City, where the Guatemalan Carlos Ruiz trains with an eye to soon joining the Red Sharks.

Union

From a first half that deserved the boos to a second half that we all hope is a harbinger of the future—what was the difference? Said Carlos Ruiz, "The difference between the first half and the second half was we were more compact in the second half. That was the key to win the game."

Or was it something else?

DC United coach Ben Olsen reacts to Brian Ching's 89th minute header off the leg of D.C. United defender Perry Kitchen ending United's bid for their first home win since May 4th. Photo: Martin Fernandez.

Celebrating his 25th birthday tomorrow, D.C. United forward Charlie Davies has much to be thankful for. Less than two years removed from a life-threatening car accident that almost derailed his professional career, the U.S. National Team striker is back to doing what he does best in Major League Soccer.

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Union

Marc Narducci writes on the fact that teams seem content to come to PPL to play for a draw given the effectiveness of the Union's backline. "It's a tactic and the way they chose to play, and you have to respect that," Faryd Mondragon told Narducci. "Our job is to try to get the solution and find a way to break all these defensive tactics.

Man of the Match?
For shame, United "fans." For shame.
Embellishment? Selling it? Unrepentant.
I, for one, am not buying, and not solely as a card-carrying member of the Fullbacks Union.
For shame.

What is it with feel-good stories and their propensity for swaying public opinion back closer to indifference with their diving antics? Eduardo dove three steps back in the court of public opinion after his catastrophic leg break and now Charlie Davies, the nature of his accident far more substantial, seems to be doing what he can to remove good will from the equation with some this-is-the-internet-age-and-you-can't-get-away-with-jack-Jack Olympic-class diving.

- Ethan Gomberg SANDY, UT – A night of counter attacks and penalty kicks, probably overshadowed by DC United forward Charlie Davies and a controversial decision, ended in Utah tonight 1-1. The announced attendance of 16, 841 were on hand for important match for both teams. The match began as a rather tense affair with DC United, surprisingly, with more of the chances.

No, it's not a new J.K. Rowling book, it's from the DC United v. Real Salt Lake match on Saturday night and it cost RSL the full three points. Bad Charlie...and dumb referee Terry Vaughn who had yet another terrible match, making mistakes and dumb decision all over the field.
This is the second bad dive executed by Davies this year who is falling like a rock in the eyes of American soccer fans for his blatant and honestly disgraceful cheating.

- Jason Davis Charlie Davies took a dive last night, and the referee bought it. It wasn't pretty, but not everyone agrees that it wasn't right. Charlie either shamed himself or saved a point for this club, depending on one's view point. I bet you can guess which group of fans make up the majority of those ascribing to the latter.

Charlie Davies' 85th minute penalty kick conversion afforded D.C. United a 1-1 draw against undermanned Real Salt Lake in Sandy, Utah this evening. Plenty of discussion will come post game on the merits of United earning the draw as Charlie ...

It wasn't too long ago that there seemed no hope for D.C. United's short-term future. That includes on the field problems as well as off. We'll leave the off the field issues for another day, instead looking at what the ...

All effort and no ball sums up the entire Galaxy-United match.

We always miss players when they are away, but we could have won the game at the end of the day. I don't think we didn't play well because of missing Landon. – David Beckham

The only one good thing about tonight is that we lost these games at home last year.

Beckham vs DC
A game of missed chances and lost opportunities. United arrived in their third kits, the all-red. The Galaxy threatened early on however it appeared that through and through United was more threatening. 20,036 fans were on hand to witness the match at the Home Depot Center.
Bruce Arena compensated for his missing players by pushing Beckham in centrally to compensate for their depleted roster.