DC United Decade in Review

It's the end of the decade, and with just 1 day left in the first decade of the 21st century, it's time to look back at DC United's successes and failures. Over the next few weeks, we will be reviewing DC United season-by-season, from 2000 to 2009, and we will also have a few polls to help choose the best players and greatest stories of the past decade.

I think I've got the players down pretty well, but I'm certainly open to suggestions for the best stories/moments of the decade. Please email me your suggestions at dcu.umd[at]gmail.com and I will include them in my lists.

Note: Apologies to DC Sports Bog for "borrowing" Dan's ideas.

Curt Onalfo to DC United

DC United has announced Curt Onalfo as the team's new head coach, and I'm having a hard time getting excited about it.

Actually the emotion I'm feeling would be better described as "relief".

I don't know if the team is necessarily "settling" for Onalfo, but I'm relieved to have the coaching search done and behind us.  Exciting or not, Curt Onalfo is certainly well qualified, and should be a capable coach for our immediate future.

What worries me a little is that Kevin Payne is citing Onalfo's "fluency in Spanish" and "familiarity with our community" as two of his positive traits.  Sure, those things are nice, but neither was necessarily a box that needed to be checked during the decision process.  Curt Onalfo's resume might be impressive (he's been a player, a national team assistant, an MLS assistant, and an MLS head coach), but I'm still waiting for someone to point out something good about Onalfo that wouldn't be found on his resume.  Something intangible.  Like how he's a great motivator, or how he has innovative drills focused on developing certain abilities.  Anything!

Still, I've got my fingers crossed.  And I'm confident that Curt Onalfo will be able to return DC United to the playoffs where they belong.

We demand more than that though.  We demand cups.  Time will tell soon enough if Curt Onalfo will be the man to help deliver them.

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas and happy Chanukah to all you friends and fans. Hopefully the holidays will bring all of us lots of gifts, and the new year will bring success to us all.

Cristian Castillo

Once every offseason, one MLS team brings aboard a young promising attacking player from CONCACAF. In 2008 it was Marco Pappa. In 2009 it was Freddy Montero. And in 2010, it will be Cristian Castillo.

DC United finalized a loan last week to bring Salvadoran left midfielder Castillo to DC. In various different highlights, including the one below, it's clear that Castillo has excellent ball skills. Even more impressive though was his header over Frankie Hejduk during World Cup Qualifying. Not only does Castillo give us a new element of speed in our attack, which is something that has been long missing for United, but he also gives us another target for Santino Quaranta's crosses.

Cristian Castillo's defensive abilities and crossing skills are not obviously evident from the highlight reels, but that could just be because those aren't exactly as sexy as his dribbling. Castillo is certainly quick, and he's good on the ball. Which actually makes me think of another midfielder who came here highly regarded and with a similar skill set: Fred. Hopefully Castillo adjusts better to our style of play, but if he requests his jersey to say "CRISTIAN", I'll really be nervous.

Castillo's speed will undoubtedly be a great asset for DC United, and his Salvadoran heritage is sure to put fans in the seats. I'm just hoping his sometimes over-the-top dribbling doesn't hold us back.

Here's a prediction though:
If Cristian Castillo plays in almost every game for DCU this season, he will be one of the top 5 fouled players in MLS.

Caleb Porter to remain at Akron

The University of Akron announced today that they have agreed to a five-year contract extension with head coach Caleb Porter, elminating him from DC United's search for a new coach.

Frankly I'm surprised. While Akron offers substantially more job security than a position in MLS, it is likely less pay, less prestige, and less potential for advancement. When fans mentioned Sasho Cirovski of Maryland as a candidate for United's coaching position, it was easy to dismiss the idea because after 17 years, Cirovski seems content to remain at UMD for the duration of his career. But at age 34, you would think that Porter would want more.

Where does that leave DC United? The obvious next move would be to sign Curt Onalfo to a three-year deal. But does anyone else get the feeling that there is still more going on behind the scenes?

I sure hope so.

If Onalfo interviewed with Payne and Kasper and has some great progressive ideas about the future of the club, then sign him up. But if that was the case, then wouldn't we have already signed him by now?

I just don't think this story is over yet. Because this isn't the ending that any of us had envisioned.

Impressions from the College Cup

I don't claim to be much of an expert on college soccer. In fact, I only really became interested in the College Cup to learn more about Caleb Porter to see if he would be a good fit with DC United. But after watching most of Akron's Semi-final win over North Carolina and their loss to Virginia in the Final, a few individuals left me particularly impressed.

Here's who I'm expecting to see at the next level:

A lot has been made in the media about Diego Restrepo and his 1,176 minute scoreless streak, which is obviously very impressive. But I've got to think a lot of the credit for that streak should also go to Virginia's outstanding backs Shawn Barry and Mike Volk. Thanks to these two, Restrepo wasn't tested all that much by Akron. Barry's hustle on one play stopped a sure scoring opportunity from Bunbury.

In UVA's midfield, its #10 Jonathan Villanueva that gets the most attention for his excellent service, but it was Neil Barlow who stood out the most to me. Barlow's constant energy and aggressive nature showed on both sides of the field. Hopefully Neil will make more of an impact in MLS in the future than his older brother Jeremy did.

I had a harder time singling out as many players on the runner-up Zips. Obviously the MAC player of the year Teal Bunbury would be a good candidate to play professionally. He looked like the most likely Akron player to score, if not for UVA's defensive strength. Also, aside from the unfortunate missed penalty, Blair Gavin was very impressive. The leader of Akron's midfield really came alive when Ampaipitakwong went down, and was making plays all over the field.

And as for Coach Caleb Porter, he will certainly have plenty of new opportunities presented to him, whether in the MLS, for the national team, or with a more prestigious university. If DC United does happen to be his next stop, as has been rumored, Porter won't have to change too much about the style of play that he preaches. Scoring 0 goals in Cary doesn't exactly leave United fans salivating, but an organized defense that didn't concede a goal sure sounds mighty appealing.

Curt Onalfo versus Caleb Porter

The competition to be DC United's next head coach is heating up, and if Goff's hunches are correct, it may be nearing a close. With the list now narrowed down to just Curt Onalfo and Caleb Porter, with the possibility that other foreign coaches may also be considered, we will probably be hearing an official announcement early next week.

The choice between Onalfo and Porter is actually a pretty big one for the future of United. It's really sort of a philosophical choice. Hiring Onalfo could signal that the team wants to remain on the same track, because I don't think he will be much of a departure from our recent history. He's more of a safe bet, and a proven commodity. Hiring Porter though would be a signal that the club is willing to take on some risk. The 34-year old sensation could turn out to be the best thing to happen to DC United and US Soccer since Bruce Arena. Or he could turn out to be drastically unprepared for such a huge step to the next level.

Let's break it down. Curt Onalfo finished his stint in Kansas City with an overall record of 27-29-22, with two playoff appearances in three seasons. Not too shabby for a team that had not been to the playoffs the two years prior. Onalfo's first coaching experience was as an assistant in DC under Thomas Rongen, and then Ray Hudson, so he knows the club and what they stand for. You could say that he did moderately well with inferior talent in Kansas City, so he may do much better with the higher talent level that we currently have in DC.

But he really just seems like more of the same. And I don't think that's what the United fanbase is looking for after missing the playoffs the past two seasons. Sure, Onalfo could potentially get us into the playoffs. But even when he did manage to get KC into the playoffs, it was only as a 4 or 5 seed in the East. And his team only advanced to the Semi-finals once.

Curt Onalfo and Tom Soehn each coached from 2007-2009, and Kansas City did not have more wins than DC United in any of those seasons. This might not be much for proof that Onalfo will be any better or worse than Porter or any other coaching candidate. But I just don't see where Onalfo is really an improvement over Soehn. Which is kind of scary. I don't want to be battling for the last playoff spot the last weekend of the season for the third straight year. I want to be battling for home field advantage.

Does Caleb Porter give us that potential? Maybe. I really have no idea actually. What I do know is that whether as an assistant at Indiana or in the head spot at Akron since 2006, Porter has been a winner everywhere he's coached.

I watched a few Youtube videos of Akron soccer, and they seem to be a smart attack-oriented team. Quite a few of their goals may have been the result of poor goalkeeping or a few talented individual strikers, but many more were the result of quick passing, good positioning, and quality crosses.

One question that remains though for Porter is whether or not he can win the big one. Akron hasn't lost a game to a MAC opponent in over 3 years. Tomorrow night, Caleb Porter will be facing the biggest match of his young coaching career against UNC in Cary, NC in the College Cup Final Four. A win would prove that Porter has the ability to motivate his team to beat a historically superior opponent. His future might be riding on it.

Announcement coming

Sorry I haven't been posting much on here lately, but that's only because I have big things in the works for the blog. I dropped a subtle hint on here last month to anticipate some changes in the near future, and I've been dropping much less subtle hints on my Twitter for a couple weeks now.

I can't make the announcement quite yet because there's still a few details to finalize, but there will be a pretty big change to the blog very soon, and it should be seen as a positive change for all of us because it will involve a new format that is much more interactive. As soon as the techie stuff is worked out, I'll be posting about my thoughts on the USMNT draw, my thoughts on the DCU coaching search, and then writing my list of resolutions for the team in 2010. In the mean time though, hang tight.

RIVER or LIFE: Goalkeepers

As voting on the DC United defenders draws to a close, we seem to have finally found the most polarizing player on the United roster. No one should be surprised that that player would be Marc Burch, who is currently sitting at exactly 50% River and 50% Life at the time of this posting. Moving on now to our final edition of River or Life for DC United players, we turn to the goalkeepers, where there may be a few more difficult voting decisions to make. A reminder for those who are new, a vote for River means to send him down the river, and a vote for Life means to keep him around next year.

Joining the team in 2009 to very little fanfare, Josh Wicks was acquired via trade as what most of us thought would be a stopgap while Louis Crayton recovered from injury. As it turned out, Wicks did so well to impress the coaches and fans that he was named the team's regular starter. He made some big saves for us this year, but his occasional lack of discipline and mediocre 1.40 goals against average might not be enough to keep his job safe in 2010.

poll by twiigs.com

Milos Kocic was drafted by United in the second round of the 2009 MLS Superdraft to be the team's goalkeeper of the future. Apparently the future is not now, because DC didn't have enough confidence in him to give Kocic a starting role late in the season after Wicks' injury, turning instead to a USL player as a temporary replacement. Kocic did look good at times though when given a chance in early Open Cup and CCL matches.

poll by twiigs.com

United acquired Steve Cronin via loan from Portland in a last ditch effort to make the playoffs and advance in the CCL. While the USL Goalkeeper of the Year allowed only 3 goals in 3 matches, it still wasn't enough to do either. DCU might have a hard time retaining Cronin for the 2010 season since he is not under contract with the team and will surely garner interest from other clubs after a great year. Makes you wonder what our record would have looked like if he was in a United jersey from the start...

poll by twiigs.com

Signed late in September from the DCU Academy, Bill Hamid didn't see any action with the first team in 2009, but could be given a chance to compete for a spot on the gameday roster in the near future. All we've heard from the front office is that Hamid is big, quick, and has excellent leadership ability. I don't know about you, but it sure makes me feel old to look at Hamid's bio and see that he was born in 1990.

poll by twiigs.com