By definition, the Convey Award goes to DC United's rookie of the year. The award's namesake is Bobby Convey, who coincidentally is on the other side today. Convey was very promising in his short time here in DC, and started 18 matches his rookie season, which sounded like a lot until this year.
Last year's Convey Award went to Ryan Cordeiro with a huge 76% margin. Click to continue reading...

This is our second of four posts in review of the moves DC United has made since the end of last season. Last week we looked at their acquisitions, today we'll look at the players who departed, and then later we'll look at their trades.
1. It's hard to imagine how different DC United's season would be had they retained Marcelo Gallardo in 2009. Click to continue reading...

What a meh week following a meh result, that I couldn't see. Gotta love when a game isn't on, and you have to catch whatever you can online. So, we all know now that DC lost 2-1 off of a goal by Javier Morales. Before that, United-Slayer Beckerman smacked the crossbar. So, after the first goal by RSL, you really felt that the field tilted their way.

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Coming to you live from Dallas, er, Frisco... actually, I'm in D.C. and my esteemed colleague, Boris Flores, is at Pizza Hut Park today. Regardless, here's the starting lineup the coaches have decided on today.

Louis Crayton; Bryan Namoff, Gonzalo Peralta, Devon McTavish, Ivan Guerrero; Fred, Clyde Simms, Santino Quaranta, Boyzzz Khumalo; Jaime Moreno, Luciano Emilio.

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D.C. United 0 : 2 Saprissa
Six Word Novel Recap

Pity those sent out to fail.

Media, Traditional and OtherwiseThe Washington Times, John Haydon: "Undermanned because of injuries and playing with only 10 men for 50 minutes, D.C. United fell 2-0 to Costa Rican champion Deportivo Saprissa at RFK Stadium on Tuesday night. Click to continue reading...

And here.. we... go..

Zach Wells; Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch, Gonzalo Martinez; Boyzzz Khumalo, Clyde Simms, Santino Quaranta, Craig Thompson; Luciano Emilio, Ryan Cordeiro

Bench: Louis Crayton, Rod Dyachenko, Francis Doe, Quavas Kirk, Jaime Moreno, Fred, Greg Janicki

And here's what the 4-4-2 will look like:

-----------Cordeiro------------Emilio------------- --------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------Quaranta----------------------- Thompson------------------------------Khumalo ----------------------Simms------------------------- Martinez-----------------------------------Namoff -------------Burch---------McTavish------------- -------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------Wells-------------------------- Click to continue reading...

We're about an hour from kick-off and Tom Soehn has named his starters for this evening's match. Most notable are Boyzzz Khumalo getting the start up top with Jaime Moreno and Quavas Kirk getting his first League start at right mid. Here's the full squad:

Louis Crayton; Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch, Gonzalo Martinez; Quavas Kirk, Clyde Simms, Santino Quaranta, Ivan Guerrero; Boyzzz Khumalo, Jaime Moreno.

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So Moreno is hanging out with Butch and Sundance, and Emilio's hurt, and I'm thinking, "Well, with Crayton in goal and the steadying presence of Bryan Namoff, Peralta and the new infusion of energy from Joe Vide, perhaps we can eek out a goal on a counter while keeping San Jose at nil." Except, of course, we have neither Namoff nor Vide nor Peralta, and Martinez was clearly watching his "Best of Facundo Erpen" highlight reel.

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In a match where we were missing Emilio, Moreno, Namoff, Fred, Vide, and Peralta, a loss wasn't necessarily surprising. I guess the bright side is that we escaped without any more injuries! Also, I saw tonight that we've got some young players with a lot of heart, and that's got to count for something, even if it didn't earn us any points. 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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Tom Soehn has named his starting lineup for tonight's championship battle against the Battery. The same players who started Saturday's game against New York will take the field, with the only change being Santino Quaranta moving to the middle of thte park and Joe Vide pushing out wide (where they played the second half).

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WASHINGTON, DC (Aug. 31, 2008) – The D.C. United reserves defeated the New York Red Bulls reserves 2-1 Sunday morning at the RFK Training Complex on the strength of two goals by Ryan Cordeiro. With the win, United moves to 5-4-1 (16 pts.) while the Red Bulls dropped to 2-5-0 (6 pts.) in the MLS Reserve Division.

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Prior to D.C. United's victory over the Colorado Rapids I honestly predicted the final score to be, D.C. United 3 – Colorado 0. Now, it's true that I always predict that D.C. United will win 3-0, but for the first time since August 5th of last season I was correct. I owe it all to Quavas Kirk.

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Head Coach Tom Soehn continues to have to deal with player injuries and absences heading into tonight's match with the Revolution. Ivan Guerrero is with the Honduran National Team for their World Cup qualifier in Mexico this evening, while Gonzalo Martinez is serving a one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation.

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We're about an hour from kickoff now, and Head Coach Tom Soehn has named his lineup. The big change is that newcomer Louis Crayton - who was officially signed yesterday - will get the start in goal ahead of Zach Wells.

Here's the full squad: Louis Crayton; Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch, Gonzalo Martinez; Fred, Clyde Simms, Santino Quaranta, Ivan Guerrero; Jaime Moreno, Luciano Emilio.

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So the main question posed throughout our series in review of the player acquisitions, departures, and trades made by DC United since the end of last season is whether or not the club is actually better off now than they were last year. Let's review, position by position.
Goalkeepers:
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To finish in last place in the tournament that we all had charted as our lowest priority this year isn't exactly a tragedy. It's a little bit disheartening, but not discouraging. Because I think the team played quite well, considering our current injury status and packed schedule. And I also think we showed more and maybe deserved better than the 3-1 loss last night and zero overall points in Superliga. Click to continue reading...

Kickoff is just around the corner and Tom Soehn has named his starting lineup. With a few tired players after a bunch of games during the last month, the coaching staff has decided to rest a few key players. Here's the eleven that will take the field to start against Houston:

Zach Wells; Bryan Namoff, Pat Carroll, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch; Craig Thompson, Clyde Simms, Fred, Ryan Cordeiro; Luciano Emilio, Francis Doe.

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The big addition to today's 18-man roster is the inclusion of Santino Quaranta to the substitute's bench. Tino hasn't played since the team's 4-1 win over the Galaxy on June 29, when he left the game after just 27 minutes with a hamstring strain.

Here's tonight's starting lineup:

Zach Wells; Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch, Gonzalo Martinez; Craig Thompson, Clyde Simms, Jaime Moreno, Fred; Luciano Emilio, Francis Doe.

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With a host of injuries, Coach Tom Soehn has had to make a few adjustments to his usual starting lineup. The team will be sticking to the 4-4-2 it has recently been running out - here's how they'll start this evening:

Zach Wells; Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch, Gonzalo Martinez; Craig Thompson, Clyde Simms, Rod Dyachenko, Fred; Luciano Emilio, Jaime Moreno

Subs: James Thorpe, Pat Carroll, Mike Zaher, Ryan Cordeiro, Quavas Kirk, Dane Murphy, Francis Doe.

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We're about an hour from kickoff and both teams are getting ready for tonight's match. With Santino Quaranta, Marcelo Gallardo, Dan Stratford and Domenic Mediate all nursing injuries or getting rest, Tom Soehn has made a few changes to tonight's lineup. The guys will run out in a 4-5-1 in the following set-up:

Zach Wells; Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch, Gonzalo Martinez; Pat Carroll, Clyde Simms, Rod Dyachenko, Fred, Ryan Cordeiro; Luciano Emilio.

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Since I didn't witness the match myself, the following player ratings are based on excerpts taken from comments written about the game on the Soccer Insider:
1. "For me, Marc Burch was by far the player of the match, and not just because of the 2 goals. Through much of the game, he was among the most active player on the field. Click to continue reading...

D.C. United 2 : 0 Rochester Rhinos
Six Word Novel Recap

Dewar! What's it good for? CONCACAF.

Media, Traditional and OtherwiseThe Washington Times, Harlan Goode: "It took a while for Marc Burch to get going Tuesday night, but once the D.C. United defender did, he was hard to stop. Burch scored goals on two late free kicks, lifting United to a 2-0 win over the USL first-division Rochester Rhinos in the third round of the U. Click to continue reading...

An hour from kick-off and United coach Tommy Soehn has announced his line-up. Playing for the second time in three days, the Black-and-Red will field some reserves tonight, but there are some big names in the line-up as well. United is clearly taking this competition seriously. Here are the guys charged with advancing the Black-and-Red to the quarterfinals of the U.

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Big day.

United will look to extend its five game unbeaten streak (4-0-1) against the Western Conference's best team today as the Black-and-Red take on the LA Galaxy in a rare noon kickoff. Today's game will be broadcast nationally on ABC and is the warm-up for the Euro 2008 final between Germany and Spain.

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DC United can now boast of a 4 game unbeaten streak. But how about a streak of 2 underwelming wins at home against weaker opponents? Makes you wonder how this team will fare against a much better team in the Galaxy next week.
1. Clyde Simms extends his goal scoring streak to 2 games, and has another solid performance in the midfield. Click to continue reading...

Just about an hour from kickoff here at RFK Stadium and lineups have been submitted for tonight's game. With Marcelo Gallardo and Bryan Namoff unavailable due to their red cards last weekend, here's the squad the coaches have settled on...

D.C. United starters: Zach Wells; Gonzalo Martinez, Gonzalo Peralta, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch; Santino Quaranta, Clyde Simms, Rod Dyachenko, Fred; Jaime Moreno, Luciano Emilio.

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United General Manager Dave Kasper just informed us that Ryan Cordeiro has been upgraded from the developmental roster to a senior developmental spot.

The rookie midfielder was selected by the Black-and-Red in the third round (33rd overall) of the 2008 MLS SuperDraft. He made his MLS first team debut in United's 3-1 loss to Chivas USA on May 17, starting and playing the full 90 minutes at left mid.

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DC United Tickle - My, oh my, but there seems to be Much Ado about Stratford. Measure for Measure he seems to be making quite an impression on the United braintrust--enough to earn a spot in the 18-man squad traveling to the islands in the face of a Tempest of competition for places. After the Comedy of Errors surrounding the Jacobson Affair, this Winter's Tale seems to have come to a Click to continue reading...

So the SuperDraft has come and gone, trailing a string of head-scratching decisions and a certain Galactic SuperClub pregnant with allocation money in its wake. So lets gargle with the tepid salt-water of half-baked pseudo-analysis and attempt to rinse the SuperBitter aftertaste of Lalas and his incessant limelight-grabbing time-out usage, the nattering inanity that is SuperStoner, and one-track Click to continue reading...