Goff is saying the deal could be done, or just in talks.
I don't really have anything to say at this point. Cannon is an amazing keeper, and I've seen him stand on his head in numerous games. Perkins is pretty steady, if not prone to an occasional mental lapse, or a second delay getting off his line.

So Veron is close to signing, and Gomez and DC are far apart in contract negotiations. Both Goff and Spanish language news sources report that Veron will sign for United The latter actually says that Veron "would be preparing his suitcases to join DC United in the United States" and more importantly, that the player has applied for a visa to come up north.

After the Chicago Fire's 1-0 win at their home in Toyota Park they had to go to DC, one of the toughest places to play in all of MLS. Expectations were high for DC United even though they were coming into the game down by a goal.

Chad Barret and Chris Rolfe both scored for the Fire in the first half and the season appeared to be just about over for DC United being down 3-0 on aggregate.

Tickle Bobby Convey looks to have completed his long journey back from injury. Phew, just in time to step into the vacant left wing spot left open by DaMarcus Beasley's unfortunate long-term injury. US National Team left wingers - the new Spinal Tap drummers! Ohhhh, and the traditional left winger number is "11".

DC United Record (W-L-T): 16-7-7; 56 GF, 34 GA Source Material: Schedule/match reports; roster Overview Somewhere down in the mid-summer recesses of this blog, I dubbed DC United the best team in Major League Soccer (MLS). Just to suggest, at least, that I'm not a lazy sack, I tried to find that post.

A lot happened in the final 30 of the Chicago Fire's tighter-than-a-preacher's-butt win over DC United - as much as the game as I caught after getting home from work, picking up the kids, feeding the kids, etc. While that shortened viewing time limits my ability to speak to big concepts like Justice (upper-case? [...]

The MLS All Star game first 11 was announced today. This isn't necessairly the starting lineup, just the first 11 guys voted onto the team. 7 more will be added later. No representative from the Colombus Crew, Toronto FC, Chicago Fire, Colorado Rapids, LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake.

Juan Pablo Angel - Eddie Johnson
Chrisian Gomez - Dwayne De Rosario - Juan Toja
Sharlie Joseph - Ricardo Clark
Jonathan Borstein - Jimmy Conrad - Michael Parkhurst
Matt Reis

D.C. United 4 : 1 Toronto FC
Six Word Novel Recap

Five quality goals; only four enjoyable.

Media, Traditional and Otherwise The Washington Post, The Bog Man: "After being greeted with enthusiastic ovations from an announced crowd of 25,174 [coming on as subs in 2nd half], Moreno and Olsen immediately created a dangerous chance, with Olsen heading Moreno's cross back in front of the goal to Christian Gomez.

1. Nate Jaqua - it seems every time Luciano Emilio has a great week, someone has an even better one; Jaqua scoring a hat-trick was certainly not something I was expecting from the big man; he scored one in the first half and added a brace in the second to help Houston squeak by Real [...]

One of my compatriots will handle the debrief for the Toronto game. In short, my feelings were "Eh, nice enough but not good enough." So let's deal with some accusatory comments from the XI from XI post on Thursday...

Actually, comments like this one from an Anonymous poster make me happy:

My Respectometer on this blog has gone down about 50% or more.

1. Sacha Kljestan - a somewhat surprising first pick - I know - but his sophomore season has not been one of ups and downs; instead the Seton Hall product has already outdone his rookie season of 0 g, 7 a, by striking for 4 g this year and adding 7 assists; he put the [...]

At its worst, last night's Eastern Conference semifinal between DC United and the Chicago Fire looked like a pugnacious midfield scrum in which every ball seemed 50-50, not unlike an endless series of drop-balls put in play by an angry god. Think a lower-tier game in the English Premier League, but without the skill. [...]

From the Washington Post blog, we have an update on Christian Gomez and where he might end up in the near future:
According to the brief article, which I encourage you to read for yourself, it appears as if Gomez's future is all about the money. He has in fact drawn interest from clubs in Asia, Argentina and Mexico, yet Gomez has expressed his interest to remain in the MLS.

Yeah, this one is a little bit late getting out, for those of you who like your coffee in the afternoon as well.
Diablo Tribute: There is more information on the match planned to honor DC United great, Marco Antonio Etcheverry. Marco will captain the 1997 DC United team while they play a Hollywood United team reinforced with past MLS stars, including Carlos Valderrama, Mauricio Cienfuegos, Tab Ramos, Eric Wynalda and Alex Pineda Chacon.

In brief: United needed to create more chances in the box, find each other better on the ground, and talk to each other better on defense. These things are nothing unusual, but it's disappointing that we're still dealing with these kinds of problems well into the middle of the season.
Who had a good game? Carroll did well to slow DeRosario and showed himself to be a really intelligent defensive mid.

U-17 PROGRAM ROLLING: The DC United U17 program is in the SUM U17 Championship game after defeating the LA Galaxy U17s. There they face the Kansas City Wizards. Click on the link for a nice picture of Etch talking to the lads. the U17 program and Youth Academies are something we're trying to learn more about (we've asked for an interview with John Maessner, and will let you know if we ever get it.

If there's something we know, it's that United's front office thinks ahead. They kept tabs on Luciano Emilio for years before bringing him into the fold. No sooner had Piotr Nowak left the head coaching position than Tom Soehn was promoted. They replaced Freddy with Fred seamlessly, and things moved on.

I'm late on this one so there are plenty of recaps out already. DCenters, BDR, QuarterVolley, Fullback Files, and An American's View all have good stuff.
This game made me realize that we need depth up top more than we need it at back. Gros, McTavish, and espeically Burch showed very well considering how long they've been playing those positions.

Yesterday I stumbled upon the fact that Pete Grathoff, of the KC Star now has his own blog. He's joined the likes of Ives, Goff and numerous other writers who focus on MLS in the blogsphere.
In only his second entry, he adds some fun speculation and dreaming about what the Wizards could do. His focus is on the fact that DC United look like they are closing in on the signing of Juan Veron, which would likely leave current DC United midfielder, Christian Gomez pushed out of the team.