Okay, so first things first...the MLS HQ troglodytes should be ashamed of themselves. Fining Payne $5k for criticizing other teams' style of play? Shameful...and predictable. Also predictable? Payne's apology. But what to make of this bit of... 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...

By definition, the Freddy Award goes to the biggest story for DC United this year. This award should go to the individual who has created the biggest stir around DC this season. The award's namesake Freddy Adu wasn't only the biggest story in DC when he was on the team, he was also the biggest story in MLS. Click to continue reading...

Eric Brunner trade turned into a solid deal for Columbus. (Getty Images)

Since we are nearly done with the 2009 regular season I figured it was high time we started looking back at the best deals that were made that shaped this season into what it has become. I say going into every year that there will pretty much be a trade that shakes up things a bit when it happens and really helps push a club towards the playoffs instead of an early start to winter.

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The suspension of Josh Wicks came down as fairly hefty (5 Open Cup games, play in don't count). Considering what the USSF determined were his total offenses it seems fair. He was violent when he stomped on Fredy Montero, berated an official and honestly I won't miss him in next year's tourney. I will [. Click to continue reading...

That's what I heard at the end of the DC United vs Chivas USA match. I made the trip up to RFK Stadium and took in the 2-0 loss in person. It is time to give up on this season and start to look at changes for next season. The first 2 changes are find a new goalkeeper and a new head coach. Josh Wicks is looking at a suspension by the US Soccer Federation from his actions during the US Open Cup final.

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ABOVE: University of Colorado goalkeeper Kara Linder clears the ball on Friday against Nebraska. Linder was named defensive player of the week for the second time this season. (Photo by George Tanner/ColoradoSoccerNow.com) BELOW: CU defender Quinn Krier was named the Big 12's newcomer of the week.

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As some have heard at this point, Josh Wicks is going to be out 4-6 weeks because of a dislocated shoulder and torn MCL. Milos Kocic is the next in line for goalkeeper. Bill Hamid is not available for league matches, only CONCACAF Champions League.

With Kocic in goal, how does DC work with this?

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The team got some bad news today when it learned that goalkeeper Josh Wicks will be out 4-6 weeks after suffering a dislocated shoulder and MCL sprain in Sunday's 2-1 loss to the San Jose Earthquakes. Wicks' injuries came on the same play in the second half.

The injury to Wicks leaves United with one active goalkeeper in Milos Kocic.

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This win was exactly what we needed. Nothing will inspire confidence in a team fighting for playoff position like a multiple goal victory in which we were clearly the better team.
The offense is clicking, and oh yeah, that's 3 shutouts in our last 4 matches. With a makeshift backline at that. Click to continue reading...

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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Feels like I just wrote that same headline 2 weeks ago. I don't mean to try to use this as an excuse, but it's worth pointing out that the last match Seattle played was here in DC on 9/2. In the mean time, United played two other matches during that week and a half that the Sounders were resting.
After a terrible start from United, I felt similar to the way that BDR felt earlier this week - like this match could have easily gotten out of hand. Click to continue reading...

This is the fifth in a recurring series where we look at the DC United season, five games at a time.
Results: 2-1-2. 4 GF, 4 GA
Standings: Third place in the Eastern Conference
Statistical Leaders: Josh Wicks (3 clean sheets); Namoff, Burch, Moreno, Emilio (1 goal each), Gomez (1 assist)
Most frequent lineup:
What we liked:

• Discovering our starting XI – I've often wondered during this season if we're ever going to have a single consistent lineup that can be used every week.

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"Hey! Fredy! C'mon, Dude, I need you to get up and act like I didn't just stomp you on the chest. C'mon, man. Please? I know I used to play for your Portland and you guys hate Portland, but Prus is talking with the 4th official and they look pissed. [...] Click to continue reading...

¡La Noche de Copa... Campeones! SIMMS 89´                           MONTERO 67´ WICKS-Tarjeta Roja 69´               [...] Click to continue reading...

See, here's the thing with being dirty. If you are going to try to get away with something you shouldn't --armed robbery, sexual congress with Paris Hilton, booting a Colombian in the chest, whatever your nefarious act of choice is-- you have to keep in mind that in the digital age there are cameras everywhere and that someone is going to see you do it. Click to continue reading...

No clean sheet and dirty temperament No goalkeeper likes to concede a goal, but most take a more philosophical view of the situation than DC United's Josh Wicks. The keeper was not best pleased at conceding the opening goal in the US Open Cup final against Seattle Sounders. As the ball nestled in the back of the [. Click to continue reading...

I had my doubts about this lineup going in because it just seemed way too defensive. I'm in favor of continuing with the 4-4-2 formation for the duration of this tournament, but my vision of a 4-4-2 involves attacking wingers, and maybe a creative attacking central midfielder. McTavish and Allen aren't really what you think of in terms of attacking wingers, and Andrew Jacobson isn't really the most creative CAM either. Click to continue reading...

If I was going to look at our remaining schedule and pick one match that would probably end scoreless, this would not have been it. You know the league has got to hate when two of its marquee teams finish with a scoreless draw. I certainly expected a couple of goals once the match seemed to open up late in the first half, but some good defending combined with quality performances from two of the lesser known goalkeepers in the league preserved clean sheets for each team. 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...

It almost seemed as if Real Madrid were human when they failed to plant any goals into DC United's net during the first half of the match last night. DC goal tender Josh Wicks made some amazing saves that stunned both fans and Real Madrid strikers alike.

Real Madrid's Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo (L) vies with DC United's Chris Pontius (2nd L), Christian Gomez (2nd R) and Ben Olsen (R) during a friendly match on August 9, 2009 at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, as part of Real's pre-season tour of Canada and the US.

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Real Madrid gave 72,000 fans a bit of a show Sunday afternoon in a 3 - 0 victory over DC United. Click to continue reading...

Well, you kind of knew it was going to happen. For 45 minutes, United was able to frustrate Madrid, keeping compact and with great goalkeeping. Unfortunately, you can't hold back the ocean. There is a reason they've spent so much money this offseason. The attacking weapons that Real Madrid have, even in reserve, are an embarrassment of riches.

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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...

This match exhibited nothing but a lowly underperforming team working harder than a much more talented team. DC came out to a quick 2-0 lead, and apparently they thought they didn't need to do anything else for the next 70 minutes. That wasn't true.
There was also some definite bad luck for San Jose. Click to continue reading...

Well, the whole two half things has never been more apt. I don't know what Tommy said to the team in the locker room, but it worked something special.

The first half was honestly the worst 45 minutes of soccer I've ever seen. I'm counting Screaming Eagles pickup games in that assertion.

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So now that we've already reviewed and analyzed DC United's acquisitions and departures since the close of the 2008 season, let's take a look at the trades. Basically just one big one, and a couple players swapped for late-round draft picks.
1. The biggest offseason move was DC United trading Ivan Guerrero, Colorado's own designated player slot, and a 2010 2nd round draft pick to the Rapids for Christian Gomez and goalkeeper Mike Graczyk.

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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...

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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...

The DC United goalkeeping situation is something which has been in flux for quite some time. Ever since the departure of 2006 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, Troy Perkins, the club has been searching for an answer between the pipes. After the 2007 season, Perkins decided to test his mettle in European soccer, signing with Valerenga of Norway.

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According to Wikipedia, roughly 76% of penalty kicks result in goals. Then how come so many of us standing in front of our seats at RFK Stadium on Saturday night had a good feeling that Josh Wicks was going to make a save against Brian McBride? It really defied logic, but I absolutely felt like there was better than a 50% chance that Wicks would come up with the stop, and reading some of the comments on the Insider, I wasn't alone with that feeling. Click to continue reading...