The voting for attacking midfielders has gone pretty much as anticipated so far, with heavy support for three fan favorites in Quaranta, Pontius, and Barklage, and an obvious dissatisfaction with Fred and Allen. The only moderate surprise to me has been that Gomez and Szetela are not both closer to the 50/50 mark. Click to continue reading...

Finishing 1-1 against the leader of the Mexican Primera Division on the road is a better result than most of us expected, and probably a better result than we deserved. Still, thanks to some inspired play by a few individuals, and some poor shooting by Toluca, we emerged with a single point.
A win would have secured our spot in the Champions' League quarterfinals, but let's not count ourselves out yet. Click to continue reading...

DC United hosts Marathon on Sept 24 at RFK Stadium for CONCACAF Champions League. Last night Marathon took on Toluca. Toluca just helped United have a chance to go further in the Champions League by beating Marathon, by 7 goals! This could be the best opportunity DC has had since competing in the Champions League in the last 2 seasons.

Click to continue reading...

D.C. United midfielder Johnny DiRaimondo is set to play in the USL-2 final as a member of the Richmond Kickers. DiRaimondo will join the Kickers Saturday on loan as they face the Charlotte Eagles in the third division's championship match. The game will take place at University of Richmond Stadium at 7:30 p.

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...

Boyzzz Khumalo and John DiRaimondo discuss Tuesday night's Open Cup semifinal versus the Rochester Rhinos...

Click to continue reading...

DC United should be neither elated nor concerned after the team needed 75 minutes to beat a PDL squad consisting mostly of college players and a few amateurs. It wasn't pretty, but DC is one step closer to defending their US Open Cup title, which is more than you can say about the 4 MLS clubs who lost to USL clubs last night. Click to continue reading...

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...

United midfielder John DiRaimondo will once again join the Richmond Kickers on loan as they play the Western Mass Pioneers on Saturday. This is the third time DiRaimondo will suit up in the USL this season, after matches with the Harrisburg City Islanders and the Kickers earlier this month.

The Kickers currently sit in sixth place in the USL-2 with a 1-1-4 record, while Western Mass is at the bottom of the table with a 1-4-1 record.

Click to continue reading...

How often does one get to go to Bermuda? Not very, unless your name is either John DiRaimondo or Anthony Peters. After joining the Harrisburg City Islanders last weekend for its trip to take on the Bermuda Hogges, the two players are heading back this weekend on loan to the Richmond Kickers.

Richmond faces the Hogges on Friday evening and will then face the Bermuda U-23 National Team on Saturday.

Click to continue reading...

ESPN/Soccernet has a nice article on former Missouri State Bear's goalkeeper, Matt Pickens. It covers his professional experience, and there's a great quote by Diego Gutierrez (a long time favorite of mine at Chicago, and a KC native) that every player should consider:

"Often times when young players get the opportunity to step in and contribute, they fail because the moment gets to them, put too much pressure on themselves, or perhaps they have a run of bad luck.

Click to continue reading...

ESPN/Soccernet has a nice article on former Missouri State Bear's goalkeeper, Matt Pickens. It covers his professional experience, and there's a great quote by Diego Gutierrez (a long time favorite of mine at Chicago, and a KC native) that every player should consider:

"Often times when young players get the opportunity to step in and contribute, they fail because the moment gets to them, put too much pressure on themselves, or perhaps they have a run of bad luck.

Click to continue reading...

pWith the opening of the Major League Soccer season coming this weekend, it#8217;s time for me to get caught up with the comings and goings on the MLS rosters. In particular, what#8217;s up with the goalkeepers that strongMissouri State/strong has sent to the major leagues. But before I dive into those details, a quick updated on a new prospect. Click to continue reading...

With the opening of the Major League Soccer season coming this weekend, it's time for me to get caught up with the comings and goings on the MLS rosters. In particular, what's up with the goalkeepers that Missouri State has sent to the major leagues. But before I dive into those details, a quick update on a new prospect.

Click to continue reading...

The Colorado Rapids are in Frisco, Texas today to play FC Dallas. Dallas has 2 wins and 3 ties in their last 10 games. While they're struggled for points during this stretch they've only been shut out once, a 1-0 loss at New York. Can the Rapids shut them out this time around?

The only injuries with the Rapids worth noting at this time, sorry Justin, are Mike Petke, Tom McManus and all-star Christian Gomez.

Click to continue reading...

I had my nose in a book too long and had to make a stop before catching the game in the 28th minutes. Speaking of things after that, in general the Rapids didn't have a bad game. It wasn't a possesion oriented match for either team. Not that we've come to expect Clavijo's Rapids to do much when it comes to holding onto the ball and working it around the pitch. Click to continue reading...

I ran across Martin Roger's list of MLS underpaid / overpaid players from last week. I didn't mind that he cited John DiRaimondo over Nick LaBrocca despite LaBrocca appearing in every game for the Rapids this year. Nor was it his puzzling claim that Brad Guzan has "gone right back to work for Chivas". Click to continue reading...

The Rapids are coming off a big 4-0 win against a terrible Galaxy team. A couple things I haven't noticed mentioned on that are how many times last year the Rapids would've still found a way to struggle against such a team or at least mange to not put the ball in the back of the net. The other is that the Rapids weren't exactly at full strength either. Click to continue reading...

1. New England Revolution Introduce two U-20 Gambian players and succeed? Sure. Steve Nicol certainly knows what he's doing and his opener - without the services of Twellman - truly pays homage to his ability to man manage and bring along young talent. Let's not forget Adam Cristman who worked well with Nyassi and Mansally. Click to continue reading...