You would never expect a club as proud as DC United or a leader as successful as Kevin Payne to admit that a year ago they made a horrible mistake. But yesterday's actions prove they don't have to. One year after being traded to Colorado, thus ripping the soul of a back to back Supporters [...]

DC United comes off its 2-1 loss to San Jose to win 5-1 against San Juan Jabloteh. And what do you know...the youth played a huge factor in this with the help of Christian Gomez and Fred. Scoring for UNited was Gomez (13′,68′), Fred (30′), Khumalo (43′, 92+'). They key in this match was how well the youth wokred together for this win.

Good morning folks. It is the day before the 2009 MLS Draft, which generally goes down as the busiest day of the year for transactions. With draft pick trades, and deals for veterans flying, the chances are very good that your team will look very different two days from now.

This is what we have been hearing in the past day or so:

Seattle is openly courting offers for the No.

Well, there's your definitive evidence that Gomez was onside. Now, let the debate begin about whether Gomez got the final touch or not. Wouldn't it suck for Tino to win Goal of the Week only to have the goal credited to Gomez later in the week?

By definition, the Freddy Award goes to the biggest story for DC United this year. This award should go to the individual who has created the biggest stir around DC this season. The award's namesake Freddy Adu wasn't only the biggest story in DC when he was on the team, he was also the biggest story in MLS.

We've covered the forwards, and we've covered the front office. Heck, our front office results actually have been 100% correct so far, with Tom Soehn leaving the team and Kasper and Payne set to return. We'll have to wait a while to find out if our forward results are correct, but in the meantime, let's see what everyone has to say about our attacking midfielders.

In a sparsely attended game (which may be the worst to take your Dad to as his first professional soccer experience), DCU beat out FCD 2-0, with goals by Fred and Brandon Barklage, who dazzled. Chances were easy to come by, as DC had Dallas goal under siege from the get go.

Fred missed a sitter early in the first half, and Quaranta was not playing his best, despite what Goff's ratings may tell you.

This is the fourth in a recurring series where we look at the DC United season, five games at a time.
Results: 1-2-2. 9 GF, 11 GA
Standings: Third place in the Eastern Conference
Statistical Leaders: Christian Gomez (3 goals, 2 assists), Luciano Emilio (3 goals), Bryan Namoff, Jaime Moreno, and Fred (1 goal, 1 assist each)
Most frequent lineup:

What we liked:

• The Christian Gomez of 2007 - In the first half of the season, there was a wide variety of candidates for DC United's MVP: Quaranta, Pontius, Moreno, Gomez, maybe even Wicks or Jakovic.

Hope you United fans did not get rid of your Christian Gomez Wall Clocks for the time is now ticking on a deal.The following was received via email from a HIGHLY credible source known to us but wanting to remain anonymous:

Good Morning,This is the first time I have sent any information to you, but I can assure you that this information comes from credible sources within D.

Ok folks, the games finally start counting for something. We'll start to see less of players like Brandon Barklage, and more of the Jaime Moreno's of the world. And that makes me excited. This Sunday, United travels to the Home Depot Center to visit one of the sadder cases in MLS in the last [...]

pspan class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"img alt="Gomez_1.jpg" width="535" height="335" class="mt-image-center" style="text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;" src="http://www.behindthebadge.com/Gomez_1.jpg" //span/p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.

This is the best our team has looked in quite a while. DC United just worked harder in this match, which is great to see. We won most of the 50-50 balls tonight, which has been rare the past few months. The team's first win against an MLS opponent since 7/18 couldn't have come at a better time.
The only thing I didn't like about our performance was the number of fouls given in close range.

Last week I made a big mistake in reading too much into the results of a win against a weak opponent. Learning my lesson, let's just say that this match was a pleasure to watch. This is the second time this season United has scored five goals, and it looked like the boys were having fun out there.
Does that mean though that they will carry this momentum into the match Saturday against Chivas?

After dropping three straight matches at home to MLS opponents, and with our most consistent defender and our two most dynamic attackers out, most fans didn't really expect DC United to win this match. Especially not against the soon-to-be back-to-back Supporters' Shield winners. And it may not have been an attractive victory, but it was a victory none the less.

This is the third in a recurring series where we look at the DC United season, five games at a time.
Results: 2-1-2. 8 GF, 6 GA
Standings: First place in the Eastern Conference
Statistical Leaders: Christian Gomez (2 goals), Jaime Moreno (2 goals), Fred(1 goal, 1 assists), Santino Quaranta (1 goal, 1 assist), Luciano Emilio (2 assists),
Most frequent lineup:

What we liked:

• Goalkeeper controversy resolved - The only low point that I wrote about in both of my first two posts in this series is an issue no longer.

Picture by Saed Hindash from the Star Ledger

And those words are: Don't get cocky.

That's 4 wins in a row for the Galaxy, which is not the longest win streak since 2006. (The dismal 2007 season featured a 5 game winning streak from September through October.) All of a sudden the team is tied for third in the West and sitting pretty in a playoff spot (granted it has still played a game more than most of the West) and it is surging rather than falling.

Random ideas and obersvations from the Rapids' 3-1 loss to D.C. United on Saturday at RFK Stadium:

PASSION AND DESIRE: Colorado coach Gary Smith often attributes his team's victories and losses to the level of passion and desire the Rapids bring to the field. Saturday's two-goal loss was a good example of this.

After a first half consisting of two major mistakes (Namoff's own goal and Khumalo's terrible chip shot miss), United was a bit unfortunate to be down a goal. The teams looked very evenly matched. But from the moment that the whistle blew to open up the second half, one team was clearly better than the other.

2009 was a rough season for Ben Olsen and DC United. (Getty Images)

We knew going into 2009 that the calendar for DC United could be a fairly packed one. Possibly Champions League matches, US Open Cup title to defend, summer friendlies, and of course the regular season slate. It turned out to be just the case as DC United played a schedule so packed this year it definitely raised some eyebrows about how little depth MLS clubs really do have.

Tradition
Ah, the annual trip to the concrete jungle, the armpit of america, RFK North. With Red Bull Arena under construction and supposed to open for the 2010 season, this could be the last time United plays the metroscum/pink cows in the spectacularly horrid Giant Stadium.

"What an advertisement this has been for Major League Soccer here tonight". I heard Glenn Davis speak that line twice during the broadcast, once in the 68th minute on ESPN2, and once before the game was being shown on television (thanks atdhe.net). At first I was thinking that that was a terribly hypocritical thing to say.

A 1-1 tie would have been a pretty good prediction going in, and isn't a bad result for us. But it feels good to say that this team deserved better. DC United dominated in scoring opportunities, with 11 shots on goal to Columbus's 3. But they were a bit more effective at converting their few opportunities, as we let the Crew off the hook far too often with failed chances and weak shots straight at the keeper.

Just like I never left...

This season is past half over, and DC United is tied for second in the Eastern Conference. With a record of 5-3-9, this United team has not blown the doors off, and has shown the ever maddening "flashes of brilliance" followed by the defensive meltdowns reminiscent of 2008.

This 1-0 win reminded me a bit of another 1-0 win less than a week ago against the Wizards. United was clearly the better team, and our defense did well in shutting down some opportunities, but a big part of the victory can also be attributed to a weaker team failing to get any quality shots on target.

Let's see...United had a horrible defense last year. They re-signed Bryan Namoff, a consensus good idea. They get rid of the Gonzalo Brothers, also good ideas, although some were willing to give Peralta more time. This leaves Devon McTavish and Marc Burch, neither of whom have proven themselves to be everyday players in MLS.

I'm usually very reluctant to make a story out of a mild rumor but Gary Smith's words on today's From The Pitch show about Christian Gomez were very revealing. When asked about a possible deal involving Gomez and draft picks and other things, the Colorado Rapids' coach hedged his reponse somewhat, saying that he hoped the Argentinian would be involved with the team next season but, should anything come up in the interim that may suggest Gomez didn't really want to come back, then things were back on the table.

Big news in the soccer world today. First, Chelsea sack Scolari as manager and then the Colorado Rapids not so surpisingly trade an unhappy Christian Gomez back to DC United. For Gomez, the Rapids will get experienced international player Ivan Guerrero (will this be the competition for Colin Clark?

C.D. Chivas USA 2 : 2 D.C. United
Six Word Novel Recap

"Way to avoid losing!" Now win.

Media, Traditional and OtherwiseThe Washington Post, Steve Goff: "United staged another stirring comeback Saturday night, scoring twice in the final 13 minutes to earn a 2-2 tie with Chivas USA and extend its unbeaten streak in league play to six.

Let's put this in a different perspective. It makes sense that eventually DC United was going to go a full match without scoring a goal. Wouldn't you rather that match happen when we also don't allow a goal? And so I don't feel terribly about this uninspiring match as we extend our unbeaten streak to 9 in all competitions.

The Rapids and Ivan Guerrero have decided to go their separate ways.

The team announced Wednesday that it has terminated the contract of the midfielder-defender, who was acquired in a trade with D.C. United for Christian Gomez.

Guerrero had not played for the Rapids this season, and the team said the move was by mutual consent.

This match exhibited nothing but a lowly underperforming team working harder than a much more talented team. DC came out to a quick 2-0 lead, and apparently they thought they didn't need to do anything else for the next 70 minutes. That wasn't true.
There was also some definite bad luck for San Jose.

That wasn't exactly how I wanted to see us play against one of the worst teams in the league, but a win is a win, and somehow I still feel like we earned this one. It definitely took this team 30 minutes or so to settle in, and gave up way too many chances during those first 30 minutes, but we looked like the better team in the second half, and ultimately we prevailed.

h3D.C. United 1 : 1 Chicago Firebr //h3h3Six Word Novel Recap/h3 pIs "Nyarko!" a Three Stooges exclamation?br //ph3Media, Traditional and Otherwisespan style="text-decoration: underline;"/span/h3a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/29/goalies-mistake-leaves-united-tied-up-again/"span style="font-style: italic;"The Washington Times/span, John Haydon/a: "After taking an early lead and playing a strong first half, D.

This was my first journey to RFK this season, and boy did I pick a good one. It sure did feel right for this to be a battle for first place, because United and the Fire did look like two of the best teams in MLS tonight. Great atmosphere in the stadium.
Just a shame for a really well-played competitive match between two good teams to be influenced so heavily by the officials.

So now that we've already reviewed and analyzed DC United's acquisitions and departures since the close of the 2008 season, let's take a look at the trades. Basically just one big one, and a couple players swapped for late-round draft picks.
1. The biggest offseason move was DC United trading Ivan Guerrero, Colorado's own designated player slot, and a 2010 2nd round draft pick to the Rapids for Christian Gomez and goalkeeper Mike Graczyk.

Sorry folks. At this point it may be too late... Consider this an open thread for your comments on Saturday night's impressive win over Colorado.
1. The At A Glance stats have been updated on the sidebar. Gomez has provided three goals and two assists in the past 5 MLS matches.
2.

Awwww yeahhhhh.

I finally get to see the Galaxy play live after years of having season tickets in LA. So I'll get to take photos (they won't be great, but I'll share the best ones) and report on the game as a fan in the stands.

The only "issue," I guess, is that I'm going to be smack dab in the middle of the Screaming Eagles/Barra Brava.

Needing a win to avoid falling completely out of touch in Group B of the CONCACAF Champions League, DC United rode an early Christian Gomez penalty kick to a crucial road victory against Trinidadian side San Juan Jabloteh on Tuesday evening. The result was especially encouraging, considering that DC was missing several regulars through injury or a decision to rest, including Jaime Moreno, Santino Quaranta, Fred and Josh Wicks.

By defintion, the Etchy Award goes to DC United's most valuable player. The winner of the award should be the player who United can least afford to live without, and who gives the team the best chance of winning. I'm going to present this award a bit differently because I want to give you more choices and less bias.

Christian Gomez is out of favor in Colorado and is clearly on the trading block.