Amidst all the drama with the Ireland vs France match and earlier the Egypt vs Algeria showdown, the USA played a friendly with Denmark. Bob Bradley started Jeff Cunningham and I am happy to say, it turned out well because he scored his first international goal and nearly set up Altidore with another.

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I thought this deserved its own post. The full MLS awards list and announcement schedule is in the article, listed below are the glamour prizes, with my balloted winner marked by an asterisk:Goalkeeper of the Year FinalistsKasey Keller – Seattle Sounders FCDonovan Ricketts – Los Angeles Galaxy*Zach Thornton – Chivas USAComeback Player of the Year FinalistsBrian McBride – Chicago FireBen Olsen – Click to continue reading...

Contrary to popular belief, I don't give player ratings each game just for fun. I also use these ratings to formulate the yearly Annual DCUMD Ratings, or ADRs. Each Top Shelf is worth 5 points, each Call is worth 3, and each Rail is worth 1.
Soehn C R C C R T T R T R C R R R T R R (2. Click to continue reading...

A resourceful, gritty victory for the US, which should shut up the critics including myself for the foreseeable future. Again all odds, and an infamous referee known for favoring Latin teams over the US or Caribbean based sides, the Americans rallied for three second half goals in a match the US basically controlled from minute twenty five onward.

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LES ÉQUIPES PROBABLES

FRANCE: Mandanda - Sagna, Gallas, Abidal, Evra - Govou, L. Diarra, Toulalan, Henry (cap.) - Anelka, Gignac
ILES FÉROÉ: Mikkelsen - Danielsen, Gregersen, Eliasen, Davidsen - A. Olsen, S. Olsen, Benjaminsen, Loekin - Jakobsen - Hansen

I was willing to bet my house yesterday that we'd be playing two DMs, and guess what?

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D.C. United lost their third consecutive home match and are watching their 2009 MLS campaign circle the drain. Chivas USA came into RFK and bossed around United and earned a 2-0 win to improve their playoff standing while crippling United's at the same time. Click to continue reading...

Never before that I can think of has DC United made so many roster moves so late in the season. It's obvious that the team is trying to make a strong push for the playoffs, and trying to put together the best roster possible before the acquisition window closes for the season.
Since we last spoke, the team has made a couple new moves, including the signing of Lawson Vaughn. Click to continue reading...

We win trophies. But not all the time.

Great atmosphere at the stadium. My section was in between the Barra Brava and the Seattle supporters, and it was cool listening to the fans trying to out-sing each other. The fans in the sections who don't normally stand and sing were all standing and singing a lot more than usual.

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Tonight's US Open Cup final showed yet again that DC United is quite simply a club in decline. An organization that once prided itself on winning MLSCups and succeeding abroad now pounds its chest about consolation trophies and about its increasingly distant successful past.
Tonight, United looked like a team that both was not as good as its opposition and one that simply is not listening to its coach anymore. Click to continue reading...

Were you able to stay up for the incredible finish to tonight's game?

D.C. United advances to the group stage of CONCACAF Champions League after a thrilling penalty kick win over Luis Angel Firpo in El Salvador. I'd describe the exciting scene, but all you need to know is that Christian Gomez was the man.

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Disappointing news from Denmark, with the announcement that Rohan Ricketts will not be offered a contract by Odense BK of the Danish Superliga. The right-winger, who was on trial late last week, impressed club management but Lars Olsen, the OB coach, felt that his team already had sufficient strength in midfield. Click to continue reading...

I got in trouble that last time I posted something unconfirmed, but under my new charter of "being unofficial, being irresponsible, and being the first to report stuff", I'll give it a go anyway.

I just heard from my source (the same one that said the Real Madrid was confirmed, and then it was later on in the week he said it would happen), that Ben communicated to a confidant that he was done playing due to the pain he was experiencing.

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I suppose the major debate is whether United lost this match or Colorado won it, and the easy answer is both. Fatigue was a factor, altitude was a factor. It showed up in obvious ways like tired legs and players running out of gas. It showed more poignantly mentally: United could not execute this match at all.

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With United at the precipice of the halfway point of the 2009 MLS Season, it's time UnitedMania takes a look at what has gone right and what needs improving. Click to continue reading...

Ed beat me to the punch of most of my thoughts on tonight's debacle, but let me add a few thoughts.

• This is the first time where I really thought Bob Bradley was outcoached entirely. Playing in that environment, on this field, you don't get experimental, and you don't thin out your midfield.

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Sandefjord 2 - 2 Rosenborg

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Newly promoted Sandefjord's super start to the season is causing much anxiety amongst the Norwegian football intelligentisa, simply because no one can explain it. One can only write stuff like "well organized", "plucky", "disciplined" and "being underrated by opponents" for so long before people pick you up on the fact that these are merely half-hearted descriptions of how they are playing, rather than a proper explanation to why this unfancied and unfashionable team is proving so bloody hard to beat.

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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...

It's so rare to have a trade that affects every single facet of the team: from goalkeeper to the attack to the draft. And you just get the feeling that this is one of those moments that we'll look back on and say whether it made or broke the season.
When Colorado and DC made a trade last offseason, you can't really say that either team won on that deal, because both missed the playoffs. Click to continue reading...

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but with Ownership's threats against Dave Kasper and Tom Soehn if the team fails to perform in 2009, it appears that they may have gone and sacrificed the future in favor of one last chance to shine. The truth is, I reckon there is greater than a 50% chance that Christian Gomez, Jaime Moreno, and Ben Olsen will all retire following this season. Click to continue reading...

For the second year in a row, Ben Olsen had an interview on Elliot in the Morning today promoting the home opener. Here are the highlights:
On his health: I don't think I'll make it to age 60. Elliot asks if Ben has had a conversation with his wife about what will happen if he's bound to a wheelchair: Yeah she said she's leaving me. Click to continue reading...

With all the lineup changes and the tinkering we've seen in the first four matches of the 2009 season, I figured this would be a good time to bring back an old favorite feature from 2008.
This matchup pits a grizzled veteran against a rookie for the withdrawn forward role, lining up next to Emilio. Click to continue reading...

As promised, this is the first of a new recurring feature here at the DCUMD blog. In the NFL, coaches and analysts often divide the season into four quarters when discussing how their team is doing. For example, the Redskins were a good 3-1 in the first quarter of their season, but finished 1-3 in their fourth quarter. Click to continue reading...

I guess MLS didn't spend much time upgrading the referees this offseason.
If this game is going to be representative of the entire season, then we could be in for another long one. Actually, the opening match wasn't much different from last year. We played hard, we fought, we had some missed chances, but ultimately it was some individual errors and some bad luck that cost us the match. Click to continue reading...

I missed this match in favor of a family function, so the notes below are purely based on highlight clips, news articles, blog posts, and fan comments. What's worse, my DVR inexplicably failed to record the USA WCQ match too.
When I opened up the laptop this morning and saw that the result was a 1-1 tie, I was satisfied. 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...

A great nugget of truth from Benny Olsen today...
Quote: "We have not had young talent here for a long time, and that's not to be disrespectful for the guys the last couple years, but this is how it should be" No disrespect? Umm, disrespect is quite acceptable considering we're talking about this guy. Click to continue reading...

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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D.C. United dominated play from start to finish but had to rely on a stoppage time goal from Ben Olsen to garner United a more than deserved 1-1 draw with the visiting New England Revolution. Click to continue reading...

A tale of two halves as both D.C. United and the Chicago Fire took turns dominating the action. United owned the first 45 minutes while Chicago owned the last 45. Naturally and deservedly, both teams left with a point in the 1-1 draw. 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...

In an incredibly close race, the dynamic dud duo of Zach Wells and Jose Carvallo wins the Donnety Award for biggest disappointment. These two heralded acquisitions were supposed to have a heated competition for the starting goalkeeper job, but instead they were only in competition with Rod Dyachenko for this unpopular award. Click to continue reading...

By definition, the Harkesy award goes to the United player who has demonstrated outstanding leadership ability. The award's namesake John Harkes is known as Captain For Life. Not only was he our team's first captain, but he was literally our team's first player.
1. United's captain this year is Jaime Moreno, and although Jaime is not the typical in-your-face Beckham style captain, I think he gets his point across. Click to continue reading...

By definition, the Freddy award goes to the player who created the biggest story this year. Not necessarily as a distraction, but just a story that created a lot of buzz and got people talking about the team. The award's namesake Freddy Adu was easily the biggest story for MLS as a whole in the 2004 season. Click to continue reading...

By definition, the Grosy Award goes to the player with the most cajones. In general, the nominees for this award are players who aren't afraid to play through injury and leave it all on the field. The award's namesake Josh Gros was famous for his work rate, and his career with DC United has seemingly ended way too soon, thanks to the numerous concussions he'd received throughout his time here. Click to continue reading...

No Namoff. No Peralta. No Olsen. No Fred. No Moreno. No Emilio. No matter.

Tom Soehn has named his starting lineup for tonight's match in San Jose. These are the men charged with bringing a result back to the Nation's Capital:

Louis Crayton; Gonzalo Martinez, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch, Mike Zaher; Santino Quaranta, Clyde Simms, Rod Dyachenko, Marcelo Gallardo, Ivan Guerrero; and Francis Doe.

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