Photo by Jose L. Argueta/ISIphotos.com

By THOMAS FLOYD

After D.C. United and the Chicago Fire had their fair share of defensive struggles throughout the 2011 MLS campaign, the two teams both had a notable silver lining to take away from their friendly Sunday: no goals allowed.

Photo by Patricia Giobetti/ISIphotos.com

D.C. United's wing options got a little more intriguing on Friday.

The club acquired midfielder Danny Cruz from the Houston Dynamo in exchange for a partial allocation, adding an up-and-coming player to the team's already up-and-coming nucleus.

Photo by Jose L. Argueta/ISIphotos.com

By AVI CREDITOR

The majority of D.C. United's offseason roster questions have not fully been answered, and as the club's preseason got underway with the first day of training on Wednesday, it is clear that there is plenty to be done before the team takes its final shape.

There is an excitement offered to watching a rough diamond polished, in tracking and follow their progress. When Seattle Sounders FC picked Tim Pontius, Jason Banton, Abdul Aman and Wes Feighner four more potential diamonds were picked. One of these may make the squad ala Mike Fucito and Josh Ford.

Yes, Brucio is still away. Sources say he's exploring restaurant franchise opportunities in Newfoundland. Please be patient with me. I am an amateur.
So how did everybody fare in Thursday's MLS SuperDraft?
Over at No Short Corners, Will Parchman is apoplectic that Enzo Martinez fell all the way to 17th, where Salt Lake scooped him up.

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.

DC United has a very young roster that Ben Olsen will try to save. (Getty Images)

Moving on today in the expansion draft lists, I really wanted to get to this one yesterday but ran out of time.

DC United just missed out on the playoffs this season. Injuries and poor form down the stretch really hurt them when it mattered most.

The Cosmopolitan 2011 Bachelor of The Year Awards are after happy hour this evening and unfortunately, we're sitting this one out. We and are livers feel shameful disgust so please don't verbally lash out on us. We feel terrible enough thanks to our internal free booze demons.

If you recall, last year D.

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, [.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

On the outside looking in for a playoff spot to begin the night, the climb toward the MLS postseason got a little steeper for D.C. United.

The Vancouver Whitecaps played spoiler Wednesday night at B.C. Place Stadium, holding on for a 2-1 victory thanks to strong defensive play for 56 minutes, another goal for leading scorer Camilo and the first career MLS goal for forward Long Tan.

Time is running short for D.C. United and the Chicago Fire, and an accelerated level of stress is put on each of the remaining regular season games for two teams with postseason aspirations.

As two of the three teams on the outside of the current playoff picture but within striking range, United and the Fire need to pile on the results beginning with tonight's matches against the Vancouver Whitecaps and FC Dallas, respectively.

It's catch-up time. In both games in hand and playoff positioning. In the shadow of the CONCACAF Champions League matches six MLS clubs will take the pitch tonight in critical games for playoff positioning. One of the matches is a ...
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Neither the Seattle Sounders nor DC United will be going into the Saturday 6PM match will have their preferred XI. DC lost DP Branko Boscovic early in the year and Chris Pontius just last week. For the Sounders Sigi Schmid isn't used to picking his first choice. With significant injuries marring most of the year, intermittent injuries popping up and the packed schedule the lineup shifts are so frequent they aren't surprising.

The Seattle Sounders are sitting pretty good going into the weekend. The Sounders put in a yeoman's performance after traveling down to Costa Rica. They remain perfect in the CONCACAF Champions League with their 2-1 win over Herediano. This weekend D.C. United arrive in Seattle looking to bolster their record in the less than competitive Eastern Conference.

If the Seattle Sounders have an East Coast rival it would be DC United. The origins are from the strong words that the two front offices made leading up to the 2009 US Open Cup Final. The interaction between the two blogs on the network have been nearly as vicious as the games on the pitch. Although the crew at Black and Red United have never stomped on my stomach.

Today, at 5:00 PM EST each MLS team's roster will be officially locked. That means no trading with other MLS teams, no signing free agents. Nothing. The squad club's have after this evening will be the ones they take to the play-offs (if they make it). It's actually kind of interesting that we haven't seen more movements.

When it comes to accolades, goal scorers are usually the player who walk away with most of the awards and notoriety, but this week one player stood out above the rest despite not scoring a goal himself.

D.C. United midfielder Chris Pontius has been one of the biggest bright spots for D.

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 has been here for months. Unfortunately, Chris Pontius likely will not be. Game of the Week DC United 3, Chivas USA 0 Please excuse me if my commentary is more biting tonight than usual. Watching the Dallas Cowboys choke away wins has become a rite of fall in the Parchman household, but it never makes them any easier to digest.

The Portland Timbers did the bare minimum to help their case in the wildcard race with their scoreless draw against the Philadelphia Union. While they started the week tied for tenth with the New York Red Bulls, the boys in green are now definitely on the outside looking in, but their hopes are still alive and well.

BY JONATHAN VERA

CARSON, Calif.--D.C. United received a very encouraging sign from striker Charlie Davies that he was ready to take on a bigger role as the club hits the playoff stretch drive, but also faced the devastating news that they lost one of their best performers of the 2011 season.

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 ...

The USA will continue it's phoenix-like reformation this afternoon against what will be a very good Belgium side. USA fans are not only hoping for a win to wipe the taste of defeat against Costa Rica out of their mouths, but they are also looking for the Americans to continue their integration of the Klinsmann system and jettisoning the Bradley system.

Comin' atcha with a special early post due to the game time here in the USA. 1:30pm CT kickoff
TEAM USA - EL EQUIPO DE TODOS
International friendly.
Match & Score:
-Tue Sep 6
Belgium v USA - 1:30pm CT on ESPN and ESPN3.com
Venue: King Baudouin Stadium - Brussels
US Soccer with a detailed preview of today's game in Belgium.

Still looking for their first win under Coach Klinsmann the US Men's National Team will take on Belgium Tuesday in Brussels. This will be the first games the American's will play away from home since November of last year. Once again Klinsmann will have to work with an incomplete roster. Teal Bunbury and Chris Pontius [.

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

The U.S. men's national team has taken the lengthy journey from California to Brussels for Tuesday's friendly against Belgium, not giving the team much time to dwell on Friday's loss to Costa Rica. The focus is instead on a Belgian opponent that will prove to be a much tougher opponent.

Steve Cherundolo will join the team in Brussels
It was a long day of travel but the U.S. MNT is on the ground in Belgium. The team flew overnight from Los Angeles to Frankfurt before getting on the short transfer to Brussels. A long night on the plane to be sure but the team is settled in the hotel and looking forward to the next day and a half leading into Tuesday's game.

The United States National Team is taking 20 players to Belgium for Tuesday's game (2:30pm ET - ESPN). Major League Soccer players Landon Donovan, Teal Bunbury, and Chris Pontius have returned to their clubs along with ineligible player Fabian Johnson. Clint Dempsey, Steve Cherundolo, and Real Salt Lake's Kyle Beckerman will join the squad in Belgium.

The second match of the Jurgen Klinsmann era with the U.S. national team is set to take place Friday night at the Home Depot Center with the United States taking on Costa Rica, and while it is the less intriguing of the U.S. team's two upcoming friendlies, it should still help shed light on Klinsmann's work with the team.

Friday night's game for the United States men's national team provides a perfect test for Jurgen Klinsmann to see what several US players who typically don't get much playing time can do against a strong Costa Rica side (11pm ET, ESPN2).

The game, which will be played at Home Depot Center, will give Klinsmann a chance to see what players can do on the international stage such as Jeff Larentowicz, Chris Pontius and Tommy Chandler.

Union

What happens when you have an unexpected week off and all of the teams above you lose? Your power ranking improves. At MLSsoccer.com and SBI, the Union moves from ninth to eighth place while at Soccer America they move two spots from tenth to eighth. At Goal.com, they hold steady at seventh.

STARTERS
For one of the 1st times ever MLS is complying with FIFA international dates and only 2 games will be played this weekend, one of them a make up game. We are getting there.
dN
Michael Bradley has completed his transfer to Chievo in Italy from Gladbach in Germany.

Yeah, I though the city of Carson logo was apt for this blog post.

The U.S. Men's National Team camp is under way in Carson although Clint Dempsey is absent for Friday's game, Jonathan Spector and Chris Pontius have replaced the injured Zach Loyd and Heath Pearce and newcomer Fabian Johnson is as yet ineligible to play for the U.

Sporting Kansas City's Kei Kamara and Teal Bunbury have been called up by their respective national teams. (Getty Images)

It will be a fairly slow week around these parts, seeing how MLS is pretty much off this weekend (except for two games). With a FIFA fixture on the calendar this weekend there are a full slew of MLSers involved in friendlies and even some World Cup qualifiers.

Add yet another D.C. United player to the growing list of the members of the Black and Red that have been called into action for their national teams. U.S. Soccer announced today that D.C. United...
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US national team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann today added Chris Pontius and Jonathan Spector to roster for the upcoming friendlies as Heath Pearce and Zach Lloyd were forced to withdrawn for injuries.

The United States Soccer Federation announced on Monday that DC United's Chris Pontius and Birmingham City's Jonathan Spector will join the National Team for the September 2nd and 6th friendlies. The two replace Zach Lloyd and Heath Pearce who were injured over the weekend in MLS play. Clint Dempsey will be joining the squad in Europe for the September 6th game after undergoing treatment for back spasms.

D.C. United midfielder Chris Pontius and Birmingham City defender/midfielder Jonathan Spector have been called into the U.S. men's national team training camp as injury replacements for Heath Pearce and Zach Loyd, U.S. Soccer announced on Friday.

Pontius is enjoy a stellar season for D.

D.C. United midfielder Chris Pontius and Birmingham City defender/midfielder Jonathan Spector have been called into the U.S. men's national team training camp as injury replacements for Heath Pearce and Zach Loyd, U.S. Soccer announced on Friday.

Pontius is enjoy a stellar season for D.

Spector gets his first call up since joining Birmingham City this summer
As the MNT arrives in Southern California, the MNT Blog has a few roster moves to report. Birmingham City defender Jonathan Spector has been added to the squad, as has DC United midfielder Chris Pontius.