Following their 1-0 win at San Juan Jabloteh on Sept 15th, the guys have been resting up, practicing, and hopefully getting some tactical and finishing work in before their next game on Thursday, against Marathon. I've been doing much of the same, save for the practicing or working on my finishing.

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From the Colorado Rapids Front Office, the team announced two roster moves today, as the team has signed Scottish midfielder Jamie Smith. Per club and league policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. In another roster move, Colorado waived midfielder Terry Cooke. Click to continue reading...

Around the league the last couple days we've seen a number of roster moves. Below is a current list of what's gone on over the last few days. I'll have the in-season player movement page updated with this information shortly.

Mostly these are moves where clubs are releasing or waiving players to make room on their roster for the upcoming transfer window this summer.

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May seem a bit far-fetched and have no basis in truth but there is a rumor going around that former Real Madrid and Liverpool striker, Fernando Morientes, may be making his way to Colorado. A fomer European Footballer of the Year, no less. I don't know about that but I do know that there will be another striker on his way to DSG Park in the not too distant future and it does appear that he will be from outside the MLS. Click to continue reading...

Not sure I want to go there. Where all those rods are going, I dunno.
How about some links:

• The Bundesliga was the highest attended league. [The Offside]
  
• The Kaka move was blasted by the Barca boss. Surprise. [ESPN]
  
• The top 10 t-shirt messages. Post goal-scoring, of course.

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Steve Goff at the Soccer Insider Blog is reporting that DC United have signed the 24 year old defender as a developmental player. He becomes the latest in a series of recent signings and roster moves thought to bolster United's depth ahead of the CONCACAF Champions League group stage next week. Click to continue reading...

In the course of being engrossed by the game to game mentality and analysis, it is easy for me to lose perspective of an entire season. At times like this, it is useful to look back on previous posts to remind myself of what I was thinking earlier, and to reapply that perspective to where we are now.

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LET'S ENUMERATE THE SUCK: The news of Perralta and Gallardo needing to go out for hernia surgery does suck, as that injury seems to plague this team somehow. The news that Carvallo has been released moderately sucks, in that it indicates our lack of depth not just in defense but in the keeper position as well.

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Word in both the Examiner and WaPo suggest the Niell will be on his way out soon, at the latest by July 1st when player contracts are guaranteed. At $150k a year, he has not produced as expected, and may be having trouble adjusting to the league and new playing demands. Unless he goes on a scoring streak of titanic proportions, I think the club will find it hard to rationalize keeping him. Click to continue reading...

So it is done, and Santino Quaranta returns to United. I stand by my previous comments, but let me make this clear. I will not root against, or not support Tino. I support the shirt, and if Tino is in that shirt then I shall support him. Yet there will be some detachment, a sense of judgement at all times.

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Yes, I am trying to fit in as many business trips as I can before the resumption of the season, which has put me out of the writing business for a bit. Now, I do not flatter myself as the greatest soccer polemicist of our time, but I do find it interesting that as soon as this site goes momentarily silent, United brings Santino Quaranta into camp.

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RANDOM POLITICAL RANT: Yes, it is cold this morning, but I still managed to drag myself to my local polling place and vote. Now, frankly, I'm not sure that one individual vote matters, but I'm pretty sure that politicians care about the types of people who vote. Old people vote, so politicians care about them.

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I'm working on putting together an something I hope you might find interesting, but let's spend at least one post dedicated to the most important player that D.C. United had from 2004 to 2007: Christian Gomez. He is arguably the reason we won the MLS Cup in 2004. He was critical to the 2006 and 2007 Supporter's Shield runs.

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...see, because I waited 'til Tuesday for this post responding to reader comments. I know! You were expecting some cheesy Super Tuesday joke, not an Aimee Mann 1980s anti domestic violence sub reference. I shall leave the Super Tuesday type posts to those more fit to make them.

I like to highlight disagreements with me, or at least perceived disagreements with me, in this post, simply because I enjoy the lack of group-think.

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Or, why I don't give a damn about Nationalism when thinking about United's starting XI.

Emphasize your strengths, minimize your weaknesses. It is one of the most fundamental rules of achieving success in any endeavor, and it is true of soccer as well. It is true in terms of how an individual plays his game, how a team adopts tactics for another team, how a manager plans for a season, and how a front office establishes a long-term plan.

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Marcelo Gallardo makes DC history today just for being the team's first Designated Player. There's still an MLS season to play and determine if he'll go down as a Denilson or Reyna DP, or turn out to have it like Blanco or Angel.
What do we know about him?
He's 5'6"", and thus nicknamed "El Muñeco" - "The Doll". Click to continue reading...

It was a decently warm game when D.C. United opened the home season in 2006 against the New York Red Bulls. Despite the previous years ignominious defeat to Chicago, the mood was somewhat optimistic. Several prognosticators picked United to finish first in the East for the upcoming year. With Christian Gomez serving a red card suspension, and Nick Rimando injured from preseason, the line-up was perhaps not the entire first string.

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Lest I become a complete cheerleader for all things Kasper and Payne, let me suggest that the idea of Gallardo becoming a Designated Player selection, as hinted in this morning's writings from the Goffather, strikes me as a bit troubling.

... it is uncertain whether Gallardo will participate right away or wait until camp moves to Bradenton, Fla.

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Look, I could write a supplemental draft write-up. Or wait for Kinney or Oscar or Bob to do it. And they still may, I don't know. We're pretty independent here. But frankly, if just for the distance they work for the joke, I'm just gonna refer you to The Fullback Files' post on the matter, and commend to your attention the following:

Round 2 - Dan Stratford (midfielder, West Virginia, Fulham academy).

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I am not without pettiness. Part of me reads the story of the falling-out between Christian Gomez and D.C. United, and I want to be incensed at Christian for not showing enough loyalty to come back at the terms United offered. The terms offered were decent -- $300K to $350K per year in cap space.

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HELLO:...And the parade continues. United has now added Gonzalo Martinez from Millonarios, and Dave Kasper provides us the resume:

Martìnez began his professional career in the Colombian First Division with Deportes Tolima in 1996 before moving to Italian Serie A side Udinese in 2001.

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With the formal announcement that United now has Franco Niell (Post, Times) on loan for the 2008 campaign, United has a decent sense of what they look like up-top and in front of the nets. Midfield and Defense are now the concerns, and training starts in less than a week. As Haydon says in the Times:

United is expected to make other key signings this week — possibly bringing in Peruvian goalie Jose Carvallo and Colombian defender Gonzalo Martinez — to replace goalie Troy Perkins and defender Bobby Boswell, both of whom recently left the team.

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I'm hearing that Arguez's transfer is gummed up in MLS Headquarters because their attention through this week was on the draft in Baltimore. Hertha wants him ASAP and expect him to be challenging for first team minutes immediately. Did DCU let him languish on the field, or was he really motivated to impress and jump overseas? Click to continue reading...

Andrew Jacobson
With the 24th pick in the 2008 Superdraft, DC United picked Andrew Jacobson from California. Buzz had him ranked 8th out of the midfielders. Most mock drafts had him going much earlier. This is a guy that fell into United's lap. It looks like he will slot in behind Simms, which basically ensures that Arguez really is going to Berlin. Click to continue reading...

I can't really must much enthusiasm for the MLS Superdraft this year. Maybe it is the lack of a first round draft pick, our analysis which has indicated (though not conclusively proven) that DC is not particularly performing well in the draft the last few years. Although, here we may be confusing causes and effects.

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Before I get into the main point of this post, I recommend that you check out Kinney's draft thoughts below, as well as the comments from Nick. Good Stuff. Also, a quick note that I am having technical problems at the moment, so my posting may be decreased until we fix it... Okay.

There are several interesting forces at work, but first, two key paragraphs from Soccer America that mirror my thoughts:

One can sympathize with Twellman, to a point, especially in the light of New England's obstructionist history regarding players going overseas.

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So, here's what we know of. United is looking at an Argentinean forward with Franco Niell, a potential Peruvian keeper with Jose Carvallo (with a green card, which short circuits one planned rant), and a Columbian defender with Gonzalo Martinez. If all three deals go forward (and let's assume that they will, since we all know the caveats that come with anticipating international transfers) then we'll have a new center back to replace Bobby Boswell, a speedy forward to supplement the attack up top, and a keeper to pair with Mr.

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In general, I'm trying to wait on player announcements until there is something formal said by the club. That's why we kept Troy Perkins out of the Goodbye list for so long. And, sadly, my knowledge of the Argentine first division is not extensive, so other than the links to Clarin that have been posted in the comments (and my thanks for those) and today's story in the Post, there's not much insight I can add other than saying "how do you pronounce his name properly?

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It's hard for me to get excited about any transfer news. Part of this is because after the Veron drama, anything is anti-climactic. Part of it is also a sense that the vaunted Argentine connection just may not be all-that. Yes, we have gotten several excellent players from South America, but from Argentina only Christian Gomez remains.

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JOSH GROS, AU REVOIR: We start with the news of a qualified good-bye to Josh Gros, who is taking a year off and will then re-evaluate his health. We're going to put Josh in the good-bye column on the right, and note that we may say "hello" to him next year. I honestly have no basis to speculate, but we're all agreed that Josh's health must come first, and I would rather he retire permanently than come back in 2009 and put himself at risk for a more permanent injury.

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Obviously, everyone took the Christmas break off around here, but now we're back, and we're about three months from the start of United competitive soccer action. First things first, a belated farewell to Troy Perkins. When Nick Rimando injured his ankle, I wasn't sure what we'd get with Perkins.

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I'd like to take this moment to wrap up the entire Veron story. The DCenters was pretty neutral on the signing of Juan Sebastian Veron, and to the extent that we're disappointed he's not signing it's because it was clear that this was the guy the Front Office wanted. We never believed, and I'm sure you never believed, that Veron was the magic bullet to take us to the next level.

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SI.COM is now retracting their earlier comments:

On the day Juan Sebastian Veron was to tell his teammates of his plans to leave Estudiantes de la Plata and play for D.C. United he realized he couldn't do it...Veron had agreed in principal to a multiyear contract with D.C. United that would have paid him close to $4 million annually.

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...and then the female part of the chorus would sing "La Brujita" as a coutnerpoint...

...and if we could get him to do that, would it still be overrated kitsch? (Yes.)

Regardless, the first major US media report that Veron has been signed is out from Sports Illustrated:

Juan Sebastian Veron and D.

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One of the recurring tropes heard during the transfer season is "Trust in Payne." And while there have certainly been great acquisitions in our history masterminded by the Front Office, exactly how good is United when it comes to making trades? As a game to test the theory, let's put together a starting line-up of players that United have either traded to another MLS team or outright released but then played for an MLS team, and see how good a team we can create.

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