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.
This will be the first in a series of posts this offseason with trade suggestions for DC United.
I'll try to post one every other week or so. It's your chance to act as the GM and voice your
opinion about what roster moves the team should make this offseason. All the trade proposals will
be fairly balanced in a way that could conceivably help both teams.
In my last post, I claimed that Tom Soehn had an ADR this year of 3.11. What does that mean? Is
that good or bad?
Well as readers of this blog know, I've been passing down player ratings of either "Top
Shelf", "Call", or "Rail" to players after every match. I've also been
tracking those ratings over the course of the year, and displayed all of them here.
Remember how our trusted front office brought in all these talented foreign players with the hope
of giving us a better chance to advance in international competitions this year? With United
finishing the Champions League with just 1 point in 6 matches, that seems like a distant memory.
This was more like the team we've all grown used to after watching the Champions Cup and Superliga
earlier in the year.
By definition, the Donnety award goes to the player who has been the biggest disappointment this
year. Yes, harsh, I know. But this award's definition could probably be interpreted in a couple
different ways. And because I love controversy, of course I will leave that interpretation up to
you. Do you give the award to a guy who has played well at times, but hasn't lived up to the hype
or to his high salary?
For the record, here are my player ratings from the two matches I missed while on vacation, based
only on descriptions of the games given by Fullback, BDR, and Goff.
8/10/08: 4-1 loss at NYRB
Top shelf: Jaime Moreno
Call: Fred
Rail: Zach Wells, Pat Carroll, Marc Burch, Devon McTavish
8/12/08: 3-1 win in USOC Semi-finals vs NE:
Top shelf: Jaime Moreno, Luciano Emilio, Santino Quaranta
Call: Brian Namoff, Zach Wells, Ivan Guerrero
Rail: None
The other big thing that I missed while I was out was the formal acquisition of new starting
goalkeeper Louis Crayton, and the other transactions surrounding that move.
How's that for a confidence booster? With only 7 of our normal starting 11 in the lineup, and only
6 guys starting who started against KC in the season opener, United somehow came together to
produce a big win and their first shutout of the year. With a first look at the starting lineups
and the revelation that Ryan Pore was starting at forward, I kind of had a feeling that this could
finally be THE ONE, and the team did not disappoint.
In the third installment of our MSR series, we discuss the trades that United has made since the
end of last season. Besides the Gomez move, there were two other fairly significant trades for the
team, and I think I actually come out opposed to the popular opinion on both of them. Maybe this
can generate an argument or two in the comments?
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.
Just got finished watching the match immediately following my three hour drive home from Virginia
Beach. At least I should say I just got finished watching 81 minutes of the match. I missed the
rest thanks to the lights at RFK delaying the match past 10:00 pm. What's with that anyway? That's
just embarassing.
I missed the match entirely. Wound up going shopping with Mrs. Shatz in advance of our Ocean City
trip. First full-team match that I've missed all year.
But we did get some answers to the questions that I posed yesterday:
Does [Soehn] choose to start the highly paid Quavas Kirk in this match, or keep using him only in
the safety of the Reserve division?
After a couple of underwhelming victories the past few weeks, this win was just what United needed
to not only continue their unbeaten streak, but also gain some confidence going into Superliga.
Recently, United has been beating lesser opponents while giving up too many goalscoring
opportunities. But in this match, against inarguably one of the most talented offensive teams in
the league, DC dominated possession, dominated the scoreline, and performed admirably well on
defense.
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.
Who would have thought that United's first road victory of the year wouldn't come until June,
against the Alpha Dog of the league Chicago? In the first half, this match felt like a couple
earlier in the year, where DC dominated possession and had probably double the scoring
opportunities, but failed to finish.
Good game. But then again, games between these two rivals usually are.
I think I lost a bit of respect for New England tonight though. It was as if Nicol told a couple
chumps like Larentowicz, Cristman, and Smith at half time: "Just throw your bodies around.
Hack some dudes! The ref won't call it.
I'm not concerned with the fact that DC United finds themselves in last place in the Eastern
Conference after 5 weeks. Because as others have pointed out, the MLS Regular Season is long and
forgiving. Nor am I concerned with the team being in the bottom third of the league in goals
against, despite having played against some pretty weak opponents.
So I spent a week away on business, and cruising the college bars at IU (Has anyone else played
"Sink the Biz"? Great fun. And probably the easiest way to get random girls to come over
and drink with you.) In anticipation of tonight's home leg of the Ben Cup against RSL, I figured
I'd take a quick chance to review what I missed while I was away.
Overall, a great game from United. I don't understand why so many of the Insiders are complaining
that this game didn't inspire confidence against a weak opponent. 4-1 is a good result, and its
really poor karma to be upset that the game wasn't 6-0.
Ben Olsen gave an interview on Elliot in the Morning yesterday. Not quite as many juicy tidbits as
Burch's interview, but still totally quality stuff:
On his ankles: "The right one turned out alright and the left one I had to go in again. And
we're trying not to go in again, we're trying to look at other options, see what's going on.
Someone must have forgotten to tell the DC United players that last night's match against Kansas
City was actually the season opener, and not just another scrimmage. Really though, I can see why
they would make that mistake. Maybe it was that the stadium reminded them of the high school field
that they played in in Texas.
Last night's match saw the debut of my new player ratings system. And tonight: the debut of my
player rating icons...
1. Marc Burch - So energetic in both halves of the field. I see a theme developing this year with
the Burch/Fred combo. More on that later.
2. Clyde Simms - Looked like the best player on the field at times.
With all the excitement surrounding the international signings of Gonzalo Martinez, Franco Niell,
and Jose Carvallo, it would be easy for us to overlook the drafts that United has participated in
the past couple of weeks. So this will be the first in a series of posts taking a look at the
players selected by our beloved DCU in the Super Draft and the Supplemental Draft.
If there was ever a guy that you knew would keep in touch with the club and its fans after his
departure, it's good old Bobby Boswell. I'm sad to see him go, because he was certainly a character
and made the team a little bit more fun to follow, but at the same time, I don't begrudge him at
all for wanting to leave, and I don't begrudge the club for moving him.
Looks as though the league's best blogger is on the move and as of a little bit ago it is official.
Bobby Boswell, the 2006 MLS Defender of the Year is on his way to Houston in exchange for keeper
Zach Wells and a future draft pick. With this it looks as though Houston has found [...]
Arsene Wenger will not put his strongest possible Arsenal side out tonight against Bradford in the Capital One cup, but there will be a good few first teamers involved, and the players will know that they cannot afford to take the League two side lightly if we are to progress to the semi-final stage.
