In the first part of our FM scouting series, we looked at United's new DP forward Hamdi Salihi. Now it's time to turn our attention to central defender Emiliano Dudar...

click to enlarge

What jumps out immediately is Dudar's marking ability and aerial power, the later of which, given his size, was to be expected.

D.C. United v Toronto FC
8/6/2011, Saturday, 7:30 PM
RFK Stadium

Last Four Head-to-Head:

4/16/11 3-0 D.C. United (a) (Pontius x2, Davies)
3/12/11 2-2 Draw (n) (Davies, Ngwenya; De Rosario, Santos) (Carolina Challenge Cup)
10/23/10 2-3 Toronto (h) (Quaranta, Moreno; De Rosario x2, Santos)
9/11/10 1-0 D.

via Goff

D.C. United defender Dejan Jakovic injured a hamstring in the first half of the Canada's 2-2 draw with Ecuador on Wednesday night in Toronto, the team's final tuneup for the Gold Cup.

Looks like the Bum Hammy Hammer doesn't respect national borders.
Hmmm.

Apologies for the long silence. The dust is beginning to settle1, so I'm just going to try to get back into the routine swing of things by making a few observations...

1. Okay, okay. I hear your digital consensus: Pontius has been playing quite well of late. Still, every so often, I'm tempted to throw something at the screen when his ambitions outstrip his talent.

That's an aspirational headline, not an outright prediction. But, having hedged my professional prognostication reputation with that disclaimer, let's just put it right out there: despite the rigors of cross-country travel and lurking parity, the Los Angeles Galaxy is the better team in each of the three match-ups that start tonight with the contest at RFK Stadium against DC United (then Toronto FC and Chicago Fire).

To say New England's 2-1 win this afternoon over D.C. United was touched with controversy is akin to saying the recently departed Elizabeth Taylor was fond of marriage. Zach Schilawski and Shalrie Joseph both scored goals touched with question marks ...