Still no left back, but the slight defensive midfield depth issue has been addressed with the signing of Brazilian journeyman Marcelo Saragosa. Given that Kitchen will surely miss time for Olympic qualifiers (and the big show in London if we qualify) and isn't exactly a sure thing as he steps into his first year in the role for which he's being groomed, depth was a concern.

Could this Kiwi have clipped United's Canuck quotient?

Between trips to sunnier climes, United did a little trialist-pruning, releasing journeyman veterans Zayner and Svard along with the Suppie pickup Charles Rodriguez (conveniently just after the last Roster Reset...sigh). Kasper promises more trialists for the Arizona jaunt, but what I really want to see are (a) game time for Salihi against the MLS opposition on offer there and (b) a left back, any left back.

Does this man have your goals?

So are they done?

United ticked one of the two big "need" boxes by acquiring Albanian international striker Hamdi Salihi as a designated player (wait, I thought Uncle Will wasn't going to splash the cash?). Given his impressive rate of return wherever he's played, he certainly seems to fit the poacher's bill, though he also has decent size.

Photo by Jose L. Argueta/ISIphotos.com

By THOMAS FLOYD

After D.C. United and the Chicago Fire had their fair share of defensive struggles throughout the 2011 MLS campaign, the two teams both had a notable silver lining to take away from their friendly Sunday: no goals allowed.

The boxes are being ticked, slowly but surely. With the addition of central defender Emiliano Dudar, the depth acquisition project seems all but complete. Still, the two biggest needs, left back and finisher the ones we've been pointing to all offseason, remain frustratingly unfilled. Stefan Jerome, recently arrived on trial, would be a nice project up top (can't believe he's only 19 my memories of him as a U 17 seem distant), but isn't the finished product.

D.C. United's preseason personnel surge continued on Wednesday with the acquisition of Argentine centerback Emiliano Dudar from BSC Young Boys in Switzerland.

The 6-foot-4, 30-year-old Dudar is a player with experience on a number of levels and is a one-time Swiss league Defender of the Year (2009-2010).

Not a striker.

The fight is on for roster spots as half of last Reset's trialists are gone and new faces arrive for the Florida camp. I'm still not seeing the potential for significant improvement in the weakest areas (finisher, left back), but at least we're no longer stuck in stasis-land and the depth issues look like being addressed.

Missile Swap: Out with the Clydewinder, in with the Cruz?

Don't look now, but the glacial pace of United's roster assembly is starting to pick up. Hot on the heels of the Maicon Santos acquisition comes the signing of former Dynamo right mid Danny Cruz1, leaving the current roster + trialists looking like this.

Praying for goals.

Movement at last! Maicon Santos makes it 15 for Salary Budget players, and United drops a 14-trialist bomb as pre-season camp gets underway. Of course, the majority of the trialists are guys with limited to no MLS experience, but such was always going to be the major source to roster depth1.

Nick DeLeon, courtesy dcunited.com

Hey, look, finally an addition to the roster! United picked up versatile attacker (is he a winger, a forward, an attacking midfielder?...Hmm, I'm sensing a pattern here) Nick DeLeon1 in the SuperDraft. I don't watch much collegiate ball, so I'm not going to pass any judgement on the pick.

Based on the current roster list on United's web site and the little scraps of information we have to go on, I thought I'd begin the Roster Reset in advance of the SuperDraft and the absolute rafts of new signings the United brain trust are just waiting to announce (hello, sarcasm, you insufferable trollop).

In the first part of this series, we ran the rule over the current United roster. In this second part, we'll compile a list of wants by position, setting us up for the grand finale, where we put those wants in order...

Would you trust this man with your roster?

GOALKEEPER

Needs: Hamid and Willis are solid in the first two spots on the depth chart, so there shouldn't be much work to do here.

The list for the Re-Entry Draft is out. Any interesting targets for United?

Ante Jazic: To old (36 before 2012 season starts) and too expensive ($115k salary), but plays a position of need. This would be an extreme reach, even at a reduced salary in Stage 2.

Bobby Boswell: Way too expensive ($210k salary) and we're probably set with McDonald and Jakovic in the middle of defense, but .

Photo by Tony Quinn/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

Andres Mendoza may have scored 13 goals in his first full season in MLS, but that didn't stop him from being let go by the Columbus Crew.

At times the subject of controversy due to his behavior, Mendoza was among the players whose options were declined by Columbus on Tuesday.

I will update the list as I get the protected lists and any other news related to the Expansion draft here:

The lists are after the jump:

PROTECTED UNPROTECTED

• Anibaba, Jalil
• Barouch, Orr
• Gibbs, Cory
• Grazzini, Sebastian
• Johnson, Sean (GK)
• Nyarko, Patrick
• Oduro, Dominic
• Pardo, Pavel
• Pause, Logan
• Pappa, Marco
• Segares, Gonzalo

• Banner, Mike
• Chaves, Diego
• Conway, Jon (GK)
• Cuesta, Yamith
• Dufty, Alec (GK)
• Ferrari, Gabriel
• Gargan, Dan
• Husidic, Baggio
• Kinney, Steven
• Mikulic, Josip
• Nazarit, Cristian
• Paladini, Daniel
• Pantazopoulos, Pari
• Videira, Michael
• Watson-Siriboe, Kwame

• Angel, Juan Pablo
• Braun, Justin
• Flores, Jorge
• Kennedy, Dan (GK)
• LaBrocca, Nick
• Moreno, Alejandro
• Nagamura, Paulo
• Pearce, Heath
• Smith, Ryan
• Umana, Michael
• Zemanski, Ben

• Arias, Sergio (GK)
• Boyens, Andrew
• Chijindu, Chukwudi
• Cortez, Chris
• Courtois, Laurent
• Elliot, Simon
• Estupinan, Victor
• Gavin, Blair
• Jazic, Ante
• Junior Lopes, David
• Lahoud, Michael
• Mayen, Gerson
• Mondaini, Marcos
• Thornton, Zach (GK)
• Trujillo, Mariano
• Valentin, Zarek

• Casey, Conor
• Cummings, Omar
• Larentowicz, Jeff
• Mastroeni, Pablo
• Moor, Drew
• Mullan, Brian
• Pickens, Matt (GK)
• Smith, Jamie
• Wynne, Marvell
• Earls, Danny
• Nane, Joseph

• Ababio, Eddie
• Akpan, Andre
• Ceus, Steward (GK)
• Amarikwa, Quincy
• Comminges, Miguel
• Emory, Stephen
• Folan, Caleb
• Holody, Mike
• Joyce, Ian (GK)
• Kandji, Macoumba
• Kimura, Kosuke
• LaBeaux, Ross
• Marshall, Tyrone
• Nyassi, Sanna
• Palguta, Scott
• Thompson, Wells
• Wallace, Anthony

• Balchan, Rich
• Duka, Dilly
• Gaven, Eddie
• Hesmer, Will (GK)
• James, Julius
• Marshall, Chad
• Miranda, Sebastian
• Renteria, Emilio
• Rogers, Robbie
• Tchani, Tony
• Anor, Bernardo

• Burns, Kevin
• Cunningham, Jeff
• Ekpo, Emmanuel
• Francis, Shaun
• Gardner, Josh
• Gehrig,Eric
• Grossman, Cole
• Gruenebaum, Andy (GK)
• Heinemann, Tommy
• Meram, Justin
• Mendoza, Andres
• O'Rourke, Danny
• Owoeri, John
• Prim, Santiago
• Riggs, Alex (GK)
• Rusmir, Dejan
• Sippola, Ben
• Veeder, Corey
• Williams, Joshua

• Davies, Charlie
• DeRosario, Dwayne
• Jakovic, Dejan
• Kitchen, Perry
• McDonald, Brandon
• Pontius, Chris
• Simms, Clyde
• Willis, Joe (GK)
• Wolff, Josh
• Woolard, Daniel
• Korb, Christopher

• Barklage, Brandon
• Boskovic, Branko
• Brettschneider, Blake
• Burch, Marc
• Cronin, Steve (GK)
• Da Luz, Austin
• King, Stephen
• McTavish, Devon
• Morsink, Kurt
• Ngwenya, Joseph
• Quaranta, Santino
• Zayner, Jed

• Benitez, Jair
• Castillo, Fabian
• Chavez, Marvin
• Ferreira, David
• Hartman, Kevin (GK)
• Ihemelu, Ugo
• Jackson
• Jacobson, Andrew
• John, George
• Loyd, Zach
• Shea, Brek

• Cruz, Daniel
• Edward, Edson
• Galindo, Maykel
• Guarda, Bruno
• Hall, Jeremy
• Hernandez, Daniel
• Lambo, Josh (GK)
• Maicon Santos
• Seitz, Chris (GK)
• Stewart, Jack
• Villar, Ricardo
• Warshaw, Bobby

• Ashe, Corey
• Boswell, Bobby
• Camargo, Luis
• Cameron, Geoffrey
• Carr, Calen
• Clark, Colin
• Davis, Brad
• Hainault, Andrew
• Hall, Tally (GK)
• Moffat, Adam
• Taylor, Jermaine

• Ching, Brian
• Costly, Carlo
• Cruz, Daniel
• Freeman, Hunter
• Garey, Jason
• Newton, Evan (GK)
• Robinson, Eddie
• Watson, JeVaughn
• Weaver, Cam

• Beckham, David
• DeLaGarza, AJ
• Donovan, Landon
• Dunivant, Todd
• Franklin, Sean
• Gonzalez, Omar
• Keane, Robbie
• Magee, Mike
• Pereira, Vitor
• Ricketts, Donovan (GK)
• Saunders, Josh (GK)

• Alvarado, Sean
• Barrett, Chad
• Birchall, Chris
• Cardozo, Paolo
• Cristman, Adam
• Da Silva, Leonardo
• Hejduk, Frankie
• Jimenez, Hector
• Jordan, Bryan
• Keat, Daniel
• Lopez, Miguel
• McCarty, Dustin
• Perk, Brian (GK)
• Robinson, Dasan
• Stephens, Michael
• Thomas, Ryan

• Alston, Kevin
• Feilhaber, Benny
• Joseph, Shalrie
• Lekic, Rajko
• Nyassi, Sainey
• Reis, Matt (GK)
• Shuttleworth, Robert (GK)
• Tierney, Chris
• Zerka, Moncef
• McCarthy, Stephen
• Soares, AJ

• Barnes, Darrius
• Boggs, Zak
• Caraglio, Milton Joel
• Cochrane, Ryan
• Coria, Franco
• Dube, Mkhokheli
• Guy, Ryan
• Kinne, Ryan
• Koger, Alan
• Loewy, Otto
• Mansally, Abdoulie "Kenny"
• Murray, Tim (GK)
• Phelan, Pat
• Schilawski, Zack
• Sousa, Andrew

• Henry, Thierry
• Lindpere, Joel
• Marquez, Rafael
• McCarty, Dax
• Miller, Roy
• Ream, Tim
• Richards, Dane
• Rodgers, Luke
• Solli, Jan Gunnar
• Tainio, Teemu
• Keel, Stephen

• Albright, Chris
• Auvray, Stephane
• Ballouchy, Mehdi
• Coundoul, Bouna (GK)
• Horwath, Alex (GK)
• Jones, Mychel
• Lassiter, Tyler
• Mendes, Carlos
• Nielsen, Brian
• Paullo, Marcos
• Robinson, Carl
• Rooney, John
• Rost, Frank (GK)
• Schneider, Teddy
• Sutton, Greg (GK)

• Califf, Daniel
• Carroll, Brian
• Daniel, Keon
• Farfan, Gabriel
• Farfan, Michael
• LeToux, Sebastien
• Mwanga, Danny
• Mondragon, Faryd (GK)
• Torres, Roger
• Valdes, Carlos
• Williams, Sheanon

• Adu, Freddy
• Gonzalez, Juan Diego
• Harrison, Chase (GK)
• Holder, Hasley Thorne
• Houapeu, Levi
• Langley, Morgan
• Mapp, Justin
• Miglioranzi, Stefani
• Nakazawa, Kyle
• Paunovic, Veljko
• Richter, Ryan
• Tait, Joe

• Alhassan, Kalif
• Brunner, Eric
• Chara, Diego
• Cooper, Kenny
• Danso, Mamadou "Futty"
• Jewsbury, Jack
• Palmer, Lovel
• Perkins, Troy (GK)
• Perlaza, Jorge
• Wallace, Rodney
• Horst, David

• Alexander, Eric
• Braun, Freddie
• Brown, Adin (GK)
• Chabala, Michael
• Dike, Bright
• Gleeson, Jake (GK)
• Goldthwaite, Kevin
• Johnson, Eddie William
• Lopez, Rodrigo
• Lowry, Peter
• Marcelin, James
• Pore, Ryan
• Purdy, Steve
• Taylor, Chris
• Thompson, Spencer
• Umony, Brian
• Zizzo, Sal

• Beckerman, Kyle
• Beltran, Tony
• Borchers, Nat
• Espindola, Fabian
• Johnson, Will
• Morales, Javier
• Olave, Jamison
• Rimando, Nick (GK)
• Saborio, Alvaro
• Wingert, Chris
• Schuler, Chris

• Agorsor, Chris
• Alexandre, Jean
• Alvarez, Arturo
• Alvarez, Yordany
• Araujo, Paulo Jr.

Goff's version of the protected list is out, so I thought I'd stir from my hibernation1 to do some comparisons. (Revisit my list in four parts by hitting the links highlighted in the sidebar.)

• On both lists: Willis, Jakovic, De Rosario, Kitchen, McDonald, Pontius, Quaranta, Wolff
• Goff also protects: Korb, Woolard, King
• I also protect: Boskovic, Brettschneider, da Luz

We're in alignment on a number of points beyond the obvious (De Rosario, Kitchen, Pontius).

In Part I of this series, I made my way though the first third of United's roster, tagging and releasing, identifying those to PROTECT, those to EXPOSE, those on the BUBBLE, and those N/As the FO didn't have to make a call on. Moving on to the second third of the roster.

Yeah, well, my Masters thesis is finished, just in time for another WCQ cycle, so I now have time to do some blogging (as if anyone is still listening to my mindless blather after 2 years of silence).

Well, so we got 3 points tonight against St. Lucia so I guess I should feel happy about that.

Sporting Kansas City's Kei Kamara and Teal Bunbury have been called up by their respective national teams. (Getty Images)

It will be a fairly slow week around these parts, seeing how MLS is pretty much off this weekend (except for two games). With a FIFA fixture on the calendar this weekend there are a full slew of MLSers involved in friendlies and even some World Cup qualifiers.

Photo by Jose L. Argueta/ISIphotos.com

By THOMAS FLOYD

If all goes according to plan in the nation's captial, the centerback pairing of Dejan Jakovic and Brandon McDonald could be in the early stages of a long, productive tenure.

Photo by Daveblog

In the land of draws, the Chicago Fire are kings.

Last night, La Maquina Roja looked well on their way to their third win of the season after dominating DC United at home for about 70 minutes. Sebastian Grazzini had given the home side the lead early in the second half and United's attack looked spent.

D.C. United comes into town on Thursday, August 18 to take on the Chicago Fire at 8:00 PM CST. In order to get some insider perspective on the current edition of this long-time rival, we exchanged three questions with Martin Shatzer of Black and Red United. His answer to my first question is below and the rest of the five questions in the exchange are after the break.

Owing to the fast-moving news cycle in U.S. Soccer over the last few days, stories at SI.com are stacked up like Tokyo subway riders at rush hour.

As such, there will be no "Five Things to Know" review at SI.com's soccer site this week.

So, while you lament the winding down of another summer friendly season here (just a couple of them babies left) and while I prep for a 1 p.

Photograph by Brad Smith/ISIphotos.com

By THOMAS FLOYD

WASHINGTON - Saturday's friendly between D.C. United and Everton at RFK Stadium wasn't exactly the match organizers may have envisioned when scheduling it several months ago.

The Youth Movement

As the DC United roster of last season was dismantled and retooled it became apparent we were amidst a rebuilding process focused around youth. The foundation of the team came from young players such as Najar, Pontius and Jakovic and was being complimented by Davies, Kitchen and McCarty.

If the Portland Timbers are to return their winning ways in their upcoming matches, they'll have to do so without centerback Futty Danso.

The Gambian defender has been ruled out for the next 2-to-4 weeks after injuring his shoulder in Saturday's loss to the Colorado Rapids.

Danso was hurt in the 23rd minute of the match when going for a header against Rapids forward Caleb Folan, and an MRI revealed that he escaped serious injury but will still need a spell on the sidelines.

No Landon Donovan or Donovan Ricketts tonight, but the LA Galaxy will look to continue their four-game winning streak against D.C. United.

United are dealing with the absence of Dejan Jakovic and an injury to Dax McCarty, but will be eager to pick up a win on the road against a very difficult Los Angeles side.

Photo by Tony Quinn/ISIphotos.com

By THOMAS FLOYD

When D.C. United travels to play the Los Angeles Galaxy on Friday, a vintage rivalry sparked by recent controversy will be renewed.

The two early MLS powers, who met in the 1996 and 1999 MLS Cup finals, will clash for FSC's "Soccer Night in America" showdown, nearly two months after the teams' 1-1 draw in D.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

The Portland Timbers are undefeated at home in MLS play no more.

DC United got goals from Perry Kitchen, Chris Pontius and Josh Wolff, overcoming two linesman calls that awarded an additional two penalty kick opportunities and resulted in a Timbers goal to walk out of Jeld-Wen Field with a hard-earned 3-2 victory.

(Note: Again, I've been trying to get this up for a while, but technical glitches have stopped me)

There's really two ways to look at the Gold Cup Callups: as an MLS fan, or as a USA fan.

For MLS fans, it's good and bad. The league saw 36 total callups, seven of which were for the US.

Here is a list of Major League Soccer players selected to participate in the 2011 Gold Cup. The Gold Cup begins on June 5th and ends on June 25th.

MLS Gold Cup Invites

Chicago Fire
Marco Pappa Guatemala

Colorado Rapids
Omar Cummings Jamaica
Tyrone Marshall -

Columbus Crew
Robbie Rogers USA

DC United
Dejan Jakovic Canada

Houston Dynamo
Andre Hainault Canada
Jermaine Taylor Jamaica
Je-Vaughn Watson Jamaica

New England Revolution
Shalrie Joseph Grenada
Benny Feilhaber USA

New York Red Bulls
Dwayne De Rosario Canada
Dane Richards Jamaica
Rafa Márquez Mexico
Juan Agudelo USA
Tim Ream USA

Los Angeles Galaxy
Donovan Ricketts Jamaica
Landon Donovan USA

Philadelphia Union
Carlos Ruiz Guatemala

Portland Timbers
Steve Purdy El Salvador

Real Salt Lake
Will Johnson Canada
Alvaro Saborio Costa Rica
Arturo Alvarez El Salvador
Nick Rimando USA

San Jose Earthquakes
Ryan Johnson Jamaica
Chris Wondolowski USA

Sporting Kansas City
Craig Rocastle Grenada
Stéphane Auvray Guadeloupe
Roger Espinoza Honduras
Shavar Thomas Jamaica

Toronro FC
Julian de Guzman Canada
Dicoy Williams Jamaica

Vancouver Whitecaps
Terry Dunfield Canada

The call-ups are done, and the rosters are known. Every team participating in this year's Gold Cup has unveiled their rosters, and as expected the U.S. and Mexico look the strongest but other teams look to have the talent to challenge the top two. After a day reading some quality analysis and thinking about the selections, there can be some definitive statements made about who are the big winners and losers in this round of international call-ups.

I saw this list over at MLSSoccer.com and felt it was worth re-posting here for you all. I know after yesterday's call-up news for the Gold Cup a few of you were wanting a list of all MLS players called into action this summer.

So far it looks like New York, Kansas City, Salt Lake and even New England getting hammered by the call-ups.

All 12 rosters for the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup have been released and there is plenty of star power set to be on display in the United States this summer.

Manchester United star Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez headlines the list of players who the United States will be trying to beat for the Gold Cup trophy.

CANADA GK: Lars Hirschfeld (Valerenga/NOR) , Milan Borjan (SK Rad/SVK), Haidar Al-Shaibani (Nimes Olympique/FRA) DEF: Nikolas Ledgerwood (SV Wehen Wiesbaden/GER), Michael Klukowski (Ankaragücü/TUR), Kevin McKenna (Koln/GER), Andre Hainault (Houston Dynamo/USA), , Terence Dunfield (Vancouver Whitecaps), Will Johnson (Real Salt Lake/USA), Dejan Jakovic (D.

You can win points through running yourself ragged. They don't often come in batches of three, though.
After the implosions of the not-so-distant past, Olsen choose to focus on consistency of effort as the major flaw in his side. Hard to fault the team for that tonight. Still, I would have thought maybe he might have addressed the inability to either defend or create from set pieces, the frustrating lack of fluidity between lines that are far too often static, and the woeful lack of defensive organization in transition and counter situations.

For the third team in the two plus month old 2011 MLS Season a player has suffered a broken bone as a result of a tackle. This weekend it was Javier Morales of Real Salt Lake who broke his ankle during this tackle by Chivas USA's Marcos Mondaini:
This tackle induced injury comes on the heels of two other high profile incidents where tackles resulted in broken bones.

by: Rick Allen
Quarter Volley
May 5, 2010
D.C. United took to the field at RFK Stadium last night looking to erase the memories of April, which saw the team win just one of its seven matches in all competitions, including a three-match overall losing streak to conclude the month.

Photo by Jose L. Argueta/ISIphotos.com

By AVI CREDITOR

WASHINGTON - Charlie Davies played provider to Josh Wolff in the first half, and Wolff returned the favor in the second as both forwards scored to lift D.C. United to a 2-1 victory over the Seattle Sounders Wednesday night.

Last season DC United were awful. Their -26 Goal Differential was the worst since 2005, when expansion teams Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA stunk up the place, and the worst for a non-expansion side since the 2003 Dallas Burn finished with a -29 differential. The problems were mostly on the offensive side.