Quick post - I need to get this in before Kanye West interrupts me. ...
... So the news broke today that Arsenal player Eduardo's (no relation) ban in UEFA Champions League play for an alleged dive against Celtic will not be punished with a two-game ban, after all.
And while I'm all for getting diving out of football - in a moment of honesty, I have to think this is the right decision. Click to continue reading...

A couple of MLS alums have found new teams. After regaining his scoring touch in Paraguay, Carlos Ruiz has moved from Apertura champs Olimpia to Mexican club Puebla. One of the best strikers in league history, Ruiz still ranks 8th on the all-time MLS goal scoring list.
Puebla recently lost another former FC Dallas player when Ramon Nunez moved to Cruz Azul. Click to continue reading...

With the sudden flurry of activities reported by Goff from the RFK grounds, after a long and uneventful offseason to this point, this seems like as good a time as any to reset the roster. This was my bit before it was Fullback's! Changes from last month are in bold:
Senior roster (20 slots): 1 Emilio, 2 Moreno, 3 Doe, 4 Pontius, 5 Fred, 6 Quaranta, 7 Khumalo, 8 Guerrero, 9 Simms, 10 Vide, 11 Olsen, 12 Jacobson, 13 Burch, 14 McTavish, 15 Janicki, 16 Roger, 17 Crayton, 18 Wells Namoff. Click to continue reading...

With 3 preseason games behind us (the 4-1 loss to Vejle Boldklub, the 2-1 win over Columbus, and the 2-1 win over Puerto Rico) and 3 more to go, let's take a look at what we've learned.
Here's what I care about in the preseason:
1. Who played well
2. Who played where
Here's what I don't care about:
1. Click to continue reading...

I'm having a real hard time figuring out how to feel about this tie. The ending kind of makes it feel like a win. I can tell you with certainty that that was the loudest I've yelled at my tv this year with Benny scoring a goal in extra time. But apparently the recurring theme of the season to date is earning ties against teams that we are better than. Click to continue reading...

D.C. United have announced that the club has signed veteran defender Avery John. D.C. waived forward Francis Doe in order to make a roster spot available for the Trinidad and Tobago international. John's rights were acquired from the New England Revolution in exchange for a conditional draft pick in either the 2010 or 2011 MLS SuperDraft.

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Open Cup victory aside, 2008 was not a very memorable year for DC United. Surely there's something that the front office and coaching staff can learn from their mistakes during that forgettable year. So in stealing a page from Fullback's playbook, here's a little holiday themed post. The following are my recommendations for new year's resolutions for 2009:
1. Click to continue reading...

I feel like a disgrace for neglecting my wonderful but few readers during this time of year when there is so little else to read in MLS circles. With this blog's constant focus on United roster developments, this should be my Super Bowl! But instead I've been wasting away on the pine. A few life changes have revised my priorities slightly (I'm a new father! Click to continue reading...

...I would select:
Defense:
From Colorado: Facundo Erpen. He's a proven commodity with a lot of experience. Erpen was my last defensive selection, and you could take Jim Curtin instead.
From New England: Gabriel Badilla. His previous club was Saprissa, and would start for most MLS teams. Click to continue reading...

I meant to do this before the official protection list was revealed yesterday for the upcoming Expansion Draft. Anyway, here is the list of players I would have protected had I received a promotion from "Irrelevant Blogger" to "General Manager":
My List
Actual List
Luciano Emilio
Jaime Moreno
Francis Doe
Santino Quaranta
Fred
Clyde Simms
Bryan Namoff
Marc Burch
Devon McTavish
Gonzalo Peralta
Ivan Guerrero
Luciano Emilio
Jaime Moreno
Thabiso Khumalo
Santino Quaranta
Fred
Clyde Simms
Bryan Namoff
Marc Burch
Devon McTavish
Greg Janicki
Ivan Guerrero
A couple of obvious differences. Click to continue reading...

In my last post, I claimed that Tom Soehn had an ADR this year of 3.11. What does that mean? Is that good or bad?
Well as readers of this blog know, I've been passing down player ratings of either "Top Shelf", "Call", or "Rail" to players after every match. I've also been tracking those ratings over the course of the year, and displayed all of them here. Click to continue reading...

Remember how our trusted front office brought in all these talented foreign players with the hope of giving us a better chance to advance in international competitions this year? With United finishing the Champions League with just 1 point in 6 matches, that seems like a distant memory. This was more like the team we've all grown used to after watching the Champions Cup and Superliga earlier in the year. Click to continue reading...

As United's season draws to a disappointing but not unexpected completion, you can't help but wonder about what could have been. There are plenty of "what ifs" we could discuss for the entire year, but there's no point in going back and mentioning Moreno's missed penalty in August against the Red Bulls. Click to continue reading...

What a wild ride. How is it possible that after all the injuries, all the mistakes, all the questionable decisions, and all the unlucky breaks, I can still go to mlsnet.com right now and see United currently in the playoffs? Pretty strange turn of events. It just seemed so fitting for this season to officially end on a stupid individual mistake that cost us a goal to a team that didn't deserve one. Click to continue reading...

And here.. we... go..

Zach Wells; Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch, Gonzalo Martinez; Boyzzz Khumalo, Clyde Simms, Santino Quaranta, Craig Thompson; Luciano Emilio, Ryan Cordeiro

Bench: Louis Crayton, Rod Dyachenko, Francis Doe, Quavas Kirk, Jaime Moreno, Fred, Greg Janicki

And here's what the 4-4-2 will look like:

-----------Cordeiro------------Emilio------------- --------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------Quaranta----------------------- Thompson------------------------------Khumalo ----------------------Simms------------------------- Martinez-----------------------------------Namoff -------------Burch---------McTavish------------- -------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------Wells-------------------------- Click to continue reading...

And here.. we... go..

Zach Wells; Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch, Gonzalo Martinez; Boyzzz Khumalo, Clyde Simms, Santino Quaranta, Craig Thompson; Luciano Emilio, Ryan Cordeiro

Bench: Louis Crayton, Rod Dyachenko, Francis Doe, Quavas Kirk, Jaime Moreno, Fred, Greg Janicki

And here's what the 4-4-2 will look like:

-----------Cordeiro------------Emilio-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Quaranta-----------------------Thompson------------------------------Khumalo----------------------Simms-------------------------Martinez-----------------------------------Namoff-------------Burch---------McTavish--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Wells-------------------------- Click to continue reading...

This is a frustrating way to drop two points that were well within grasp. United had a 2-1 lead, and looked marginally the better side. Still, Dallas was finding moments of slicing through the defense, and so it was that Eric Avila slipped down the left side of the defense and send the ball outside of the diving Crayton to Rocha, and United found themselves settling for one point instead of taking all three.

Click to continue reading...

We're about an hour from kick-off and Tom Soehn has named his starters for this evening's match. Most notable are Boyzzz Khumalo getting the start up top with Jaime Moreno and Quavas Kirk getting his first League start at right mid. Here's the full squad:

Louis Crayton; Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch, Gonzalo Martinez; Quavas Kirk, Clyde Simms, Santino Quaranta, Ivan Guerrero; Boyzzz Khumalo, Jaime Moreno.

Click to continue reading...

DC United is going to Africa. Instead of their usual shopping in Latin America, the club has gone in a different direction as of late. At the start of the season they signed Francis Doe (Libria) and a month ago they signed keeper Louis Crayton (Liberia). Now they are set to bring on two more Africans [. Click to continue reading...

I'm a bit behind at halftime on TiVo. But what can Coach say to the team at halftime that is down 1-0 with no offense on the field?? What good is defense at this point?
I'm brainstorming:
1. "Martinez - push forward at will." Thompson for Doe is confusing me.
2. "Simms - shoot from anywhere. Click to continue reading...

Who ever said that 0-0 matches aren't exciting? That had to be the most competitive match between these two clubs in a couple years. Usually we dominate these matches, and the last one against the Red Bulls should be thrown out, but I can't think of a time we've ever played them to a scoreless draw. Click to continue reading...

Here's what MLSNET is showing as our current injuries: MF Ben Olsen OUT - ankle surgery DF Domenic Mediate OUT - concussion FW Francis Doe OUT - foot infection DF Gonzalo Peralta QUESTIONABLE - hamstring MF Marcelo Gallardo PROBABLE - hernia surgery Of course we need to add: GK Zach Wells OUT - sesamoiditis MF Fred OUT - hamstring Let's go down the list; Ben Olsen. Click to continue reading...

Paul Tenorio has a great story in the Post today about the friendship between Louis Crayton and Francis Doe that began nearly 10 years ago in a refugee camp in Ghana. You should check it out. Click to continue reading...

A couple of quick updates from Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium...

Francis Doe has been dealing with a pretty severe toe infection for the last few weeks and yesterday went to have it checked out. Doe went through a process called debridement, which removes the infected tissue. It's tough to say immediately how long he'll be out, but he'll likely miss at least a couple of weeks while healing.

Click to continue reading...

Given the focus that this blog has given to United's roster this year, I thought it would be appropriate to base our Mid-Season Review specifically on the roster moves that the team has made. In part 1, we will look at United's acquisitions, meaning the players that the team added since the end of last season that they didn't have to give up anything for. Click to continue reading...

Tonight, United and Houston will make-up its June 4 cancelation and resume MLS play after taking almost three weeks off for SuperLiga play. Though United lost three in a row in the second-year tournament, the team has a six game unbeaten streak in League matches and will look to extend it this evening.

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D.C. United eliminated from Superliga 2008

I suppose that there should be some feeling of grief, but really there isn't. Tom Soehn did the right thing and sacrificed this match, and I imagine most of us had already gritted out teeth and pulled the bandage off that hairy bit of the arm. It hurts, but not as bad as you might think.

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Doe scores
Originally uploaded by BehindTheBadge.com Todos los resultados del SuperLiga
Houston Dynamo 3 - DC United 1 (SuperLiga, Julio 19, 2008) Brad Davis anoto los dos primeros goles en el primer tiempo, Ricardo Clark se mantuvo activo. Un tiro libre Boswell llego directamente a la red al 28. Click to continue reading...

To finish in last place in the tournament that we all had charted as our lowest priority this year isn't exactly a tragedy. It's a little bit disheartening, but not discouraging. Because I think the team played quite well, considering our current injury status and packed schedule. And I also think we showed more and maybe deserved better than the 3-1 loss last night and zero overall points in Superliga. Click to continue reading...

Kickoff is just around the corner and Tom Soehn has named his starting lineup. With a few tired players after a bunch of games during the last month, the coaching staff has decided to rest a few key players. Here's the eleven that will take the field to start against Houston:

Zach Wells; Bryan Namoff, Pat Carroll, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch; Craig Thompson, Clyde Simms, Fred, Ryan Cordeiro; Luciano Emilio, Francis Doe.

Click to continue reading...

DC United 2 v Atlante 3
* Well so much for Atlante not taking this competition seriously. No shape in the back at all for DC United and Wells was going to be beaten 1 v 1. A minute later, it should have been 2-0 to Atlante but Wells was right there to catch it. At least United players tracked back this time.

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Due to a limited budget, I haven't made it to too many United games this year, but this was a game that I feel was probably much better to watch in person than on tv. Good atmosphere at RFK as always (and the lights stayed on!), but it seemed like less attendance than usual. All in all, a pretty exciting game, including a frantic final 10 minutes that had my usually quiet section standing throughout. Click to continue reading...

With a host of injuries, Coach Tom Soehn has had to make a few adjustments to his usual starting lineup. The team will be sticking to the 4-4-2 it has recently been running out - here's how they'll start this evening:

Zach Wells; Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch, Gonzalo Martinez; Craig Thompson, Clyde Simms, Rod Dyachenko, Fred; Luciano Emilio, Jaime Moreno

Subs: James Thorpe, Pat Carroll, Mike Zaher, Ryan Cordeiro, Quavas Kirk, Dane Murphy, Francis Doe.

Click to continue reading...

Wow. Nothing like a little controversy to help egg on what has become the biggest rivalry in MLS. What I do like though is that several DC fans have invaded the Fire's big-media blog, but no intelligible Fire fans have dared to opine on a similar post in the Insider.
I'm not going to write too much about the game itself because I once again did not witness it like some bloggers, nor did I tune into the radio like others. Click to continue reading...

Sounds like I missed a thriller last night at the Soccerplex. Conference calls at work that go for 3 hours, 57 minutes tend to ruin well-laid plans, as so happened last night with me. I've already commented on the Blanco's alleged misbehavior, so let's focus on the match. Great to see Namoff and Doe find their [. Click to continue reading...