When posting the 2009 ADRs earlier this week, I asked what jumped out at you. Well here's some questions that jumped out at me:
1. Is Dejan Jakovic really all that good? The biggest surprise for me on the whole was Jakovic's even 3.00 rating. After winning three Benny Awards, you would have thought his rating would be among the best on the team. Click to continue reading...

The 6th Annual United Awards Reception isn't the only United Awards Reception going on tonight. Because it's also time to announce the winners of the 2009 Benny Awards!

1. The Richie Award for the most underrated player goes to Bryan Namoff
2. The Nelly Award for the best newcomer goes to Dejan Jakovic
3. The Convey Award for the best rookies goes to Chris Pontius
4. The Donnety Award for the biggest disappointment goes to Danny Szetela
5. The Grosy Award for the ballsiest player goes to Ben Olsen
6. The Freddy Award for the biggest story goes to Chris Pontius and Rodney Wallace
7. The Harkesy Award for the greatest leader goes to Ben Olsen
8. The Popie Award for the best defender goes to Dejan Jakovic
9. The Etchy Award for the team's MVP goes to Dejan Jakovic
10. The Benny Award for the highest ADR rating goes to Chris Pontius

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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. Click to continue reading...

By definition, the Popie award goes to United's best defensive player in 2009. The award's namesake is former national team defender Eddie Pope. Not only is Pope widely recognized as the best defender in United's history, but he is also responsible for the most important goal in United's history.
Last year's winner was Bryan Namoff with over 50% of the vote. Click to continue reading...

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. Click to continue reading...

Before we get to the award, an announcement...
Over the next two and a half weeks, we'll be running a contest here with some pretty cool prizes to give away. And to win them, all you have to do is vote for the Benny Awards! The team's hooked me up with the following prizes: a DC United/Volkswagen team scarf, the 2009 DC United media guide, and a Gatorade/MLS towel. Click to continue reading...

D.C. United has turned its focus back to League play with the San Jose Earthquakes visiting RFK Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Ben Olsen and Dejan Jakovic discuss the game, and the playoff race, below..

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By definition, the Nelly Award goes to the United player who has made the most significant positive impact in his first year with the club. The award's namesake Ryan Nelsen became a starter shortly into his first season with United, and would go on to guide the team to an MLS Cup in 2004.
It's a testament to the total failure of our 2008 acquisitions that not one of last year's nominees is still on the team.

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Just a couple of completely unrelated bits to pass on... Back to the Future? The always excellent Jonathan Wilson (a review of his latest book is coming soon!) looks at the possibility of the return of the libero given the trend towards... Click to continue reading...

Following their 1-0 win at San Juan Jabloteh on Sept 15th, the guys have been resting up, practicing, and hopefully getting some tactical and finishing work in before their next game on Thursday, against Marathon. I've been doing much of the same, save for the practicing or working on my finishing.

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I started writing this as a reply to the comments in the last match reaction, but I figured this discussion worthy of its own posting, and what better format to use than my infamous Versus feature.
The theory here is that one of these two players will be starting next to Dejan Jakovic when the Canadian returns from hernia surgery. Click to continue reading...

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. Click to continue reading...

Thomas Rongen said early in the match that since both teams were playing with a 3-5-2 formation, it was likely that the team with the most individual talent would win. If you add up all the talent on United's roster and all the talent on Toronto's roster, United might prevail. But unfortunately games aren't actually won and lost that way. Click to continue reading...

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.

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Two main points learned from this match: 1) Houston is really good. 2) The DC defense isn't.
Can you imagine how great this team would be if Dwayne De Rosario was still on the roster? This is already an all-star midfield, with Stuart Holden, Brad Davis, and Ricardo Clark all playing the best of their careers. Click to continue reading...

A Sportnset story today about the injury situation among MNT players ahead of Saturday's quarter-final Gold Cup draw against Honduras has me feeling a bit on edge.

"Yes we do (have a lot of injuries)," (Stephen) Hart told Sportsnet.ca on Tuesday. "I am going to have to wait on the medical staff.

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United's two representatives at the CONCACAF Gold Cup - Santino Quaranta for the U.S. and Dejan Jakovic for Canada - have both moved on to the knockout stage of the tournament following this past weekend's results.

Canada finished atop Group A with a 2-0-1 record, with Jakovic starting and playing 90 minutes in each of the first two games.

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Canada defeated Guatemala 3-0 Tuesday evening in its final Gold Cup tuneup match. The game was the culmination of a six-day mini-camp in Oxnard, CA. United's Dejan Jakovic joined the squad late last week and hopes to be in the starting eleven when Canada faces Jamaica on Friday in its first Gold Cup game.

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16 games in to the season, with a two week break from MLS action, I can think of no better time to deliver to you the second annual installment of the Mid-Season Review. In this space over the next 10 or so days, we will take a look at the Acquisitions, Departures, and Trades that United has made since the end of the 2008 season, and then wrap it all up with a Summary. Click to continue reading...

Omar Cummings slips an attempted tackle by D.C. United defender Greg Janicki en route to his first goal of the game Saturday night in Commerce City. (photo by Tom Auclair/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

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The Rapids made an opponent pay.

Omar Cummings collected two goals and an assist, and goalkeeper Matt Pickens and the Colorado defense played a nearly flawless game in a 3-0 victory over D.

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I can't remember the last time I've said this, but this Colorado Rapids team is actually pretty good. And they deserved this win.
Also, I think this might be the first team we've played this year where I'm actually jealous of their defense. Very underrated. And with Colin Clark and Omar Cummings, Colorado has two brewing stars. Click to continue reading...

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.

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"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. Click to continue reading...

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. Click to continue reading...

Like kissing your sister, as long as your sister isn't hot, or a good kisser.

The thing you'll hear most from any reports you're bound to read about this match is that Josh Wicks did well, and RSL bunkered. Honestly, that's about all I could tell you about it, too. DC started out bad, and finished bad.

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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. Click to continue reading...

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. Click to continue reading...

Before this match, Bretos and Sullivan were discussing that this might be a potential MLS Cup matchup. And this game didn't really disappoint. You just hate to see such a good match decided by some poor officiating. How come we don't ever see poor officiating in our favor anyway?
DC United showed some heart once again here to be able to come back in the final minutes. Click to continue reading...

You know how I keep arguing for Jakovic over Janicki in the center of a back three? Well, here comes Clyde Simms to get my back, making my point admirably in Goffster's story on the Serbo-Canuckian defender... "He never really panics and allows us... Click to continue reading...

Apologies for the late posting, but my daughter's party ran long last night, so I had to catch this one on the MLSNet feed this morning. So what do we take away from this? Are we pleased that this team has the guts to fight back for results,... Click to continue reading...

D.C. United 2 : 1 F.C. Dallas
Six Word Novel Recap

Ponce de Leon should check Bolivia.

Media, Traditional and OtherwiseThe Dallas Morning News, Frank Servalli: "Despite being outshot, outmuscled and outplayed, FC Dallas somehow managed to escape the first half Saturday night against D. Click to continue reading...

March 2009: 0-0-2 (2pts, 1p/g, 3GF, 3GA, 0GD, 1.5 gf/g, 1.5ga/g)
April 2009: 2-1-1 (7pts, 1.75p/g, 6GF, 5GA, +1GD, 1.5 gf/g, 1.25ga/g)

We're going to chunk every month of the MLS Season, to see what, if any, insight we can derive from examining a series of games rather than focusing on an individual game.

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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.

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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.

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New England Revolution 1 : 1 D.C. United
Six Word Novel Recap

Olsen's head(er) backs up his mouth.

Media, Traditional and OtherwiseUnitedMania, Chris Webb: "The statistics are there for all to see. D.C. United out shot the visitors 20-4, including 8 shots on goal to just 2 for the Revs. Click to continue reading...