I think we all saw this coming

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.


1. The best player wearing white tonight I think was Ivan Guerrero. He showed up to play against his former team.

2. It was no coincidence at all that Santino Quaranta scored within the first 5 minutes after Gallardo left the field. It's becoming more and more evident that center attacking midfield is Quaranta's natural position.


1. That was a bit of a break out performance for Ryan Cordeiro. He had two great chances immediately after entering the match, but both went just wide. It would be nice to see him put a couple more on target, and he still needs to play better defense if he wants to crack the starting XI.

2. I'm hoping that the fantastic hustle that earned him an assist on Quaranta's goal will be enough to give Rod Dyachenko some confidence again. But still, he could win awards for having the worst first touch in all of football.


1. In general, that was just poor team defending by Gonzalo Martinez, Marc Burch, and Mike Zaher on Alvarez's goal. Martinez lost the ball (I wish I could use the adverb "uncharacteristically" here, but that just wouldn't be true) leading up to the first goal, and then again soon afterwards on a play that almost led to another goal. Burch looked better once they switched to the 3-5-2 in the second half, but he was caught in no-man's-land without a marker on both goals. Most of the chances in the first half came on Zaher's side, and he was the guy who should have been marking Alvarez on the first goal. Huckerby's goal was well deserved though.

All in all, we turned in a valiant effort while shorthanded, so you can't fault the club too much for this one. When we were down 2-0, it didn't feel right, but 2-1 is probably the correct score. Ultimately, this wasn't a very heartbreaking loss, mostly because we all saw it coming, and more importantly, because the Red Bulls lost too so it didn't really affect our place in the standings. Let's hope the team is back closer to full strength in time for the Champions League to begin in just over a week.

Ivan Guerrero

We bring you this brief interruption to the MSR with the news that DC United has acquired Ivan Guerrero from the Earthquakes. The best endorsement of Guerrero has to be this one from Bryan Namoff: "He took us apart in the playoffs [with Chicago]. Very skillful, very quick, good technically on the ball and he gives us some speed."

So does Guerrero step immediately into the starting lineup? With Martinez suspended Saturday due to a red card, I think he's got to. But not necessarily in the left back spot, because I don't think that's what he was brought here to play. That spot belongs permanently to Martinez, and I don't really want someone who has been with the club for only two days to be starting in such an important position so quickly.

I don't have a problem starting him in the midfield though, and if he's still got it, I think he should probably be our starting left midfielder for the rest of the season. DC United has lost plenty of games this season (and last) because of stupid giveaways, or generally poor possession in the midfield, or a failure to pass the ball adequately from the defense to the midfield. We've all become fans of Quaranta lately, but he is a culprit, and so is Simms, and most of all is Dyachenko. Guerrero adds experience and hopefully consistency to the mix in midfield that would be a solid step towards solving that problem. Less giveaways is the key!

With all the injuries, and now a new one to Francis Doe, it's still hard to put together a starting lineup for Saturday's home match against the Wizards. I still can't get over how unfortunate it is for Dan Stratford right now, because this would be a perfect game for him to step in and start in central midfield. With some regrets, here's my starting XI for Saturday:

-------Wells-------
Namoff-McTavish-Burch-Carroll
Fred-Simms-Moreno-Guerrero
------Emilio---Cordeiro-----

And then here's my starting XI for the rest of the season when healthy:
-------Wells-------
Namoff-McTavish-Peralta-Martinez
Fred-Simms-Gallardo-Guerrero
------Emilio---Moreno-----

United streaks continue

DC United can now boast of a 4 5 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.

2. Luciano Emilio extends his goal scoring streak to 4 games, and although he disappeared at times throughout the match, his consistency as a scoring threat will continue to open up other options for DC as opposing defenders keep marking him tightly. It's nice to have confidence in him again. I'm sure I'm not the only fan who felt sure that he was going to score in that 1 v. 1 opportunity in the box; and he did.


1. Every member of the DC starting backline now has at least one goal this year as Gonzalo Martinez tallied the game winner, taking advantage of a nice long spell of possession in the San Jose third. Chalo might earn MOTM honors, but I still refuse to put any defender in the Top category until we can get ourselves a clean sheet.

2. At least two potentially goal-saving tackles from Devon McTavish, but also some very loose marking and a lack of pressure by McTavish and Peralta led to the Quakes' goal.


1. I don't think we lose a whole lot of overall talent when Marc Burch starts in place of Quaranta, but we definitely lose a lot of energy. Burch appears to be in danger of losing his job as 12th man to Ryan Cordeiro.

2. Another shutout wasted by a mistake by Zach Wells.

The past two weeks, DC has beaten the teams that they are supposed to beat. And that's good and continuing to do that should get us into the playoffs. But it's not inspiring a whole lot of confidence that we'll do very well in the playoffs, or in international competitions. After the win on the road against Chicago, I think we were all starting to expect a bit more. A matchup at home against the best team LA has fielded in years will be a good test to see if we're ready to take it to the next level. And then the real challenge comes to town with the Superliga.

On Clean Sheets

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.

Here's where I'm concerned... The following teams have earned clean sheets so far this season:

Week 1: Columbus, Colorado, Kansas City, New England

Week 2: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York

Week 3: Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, RSL

Week 4: Dallas, Kansas City, San Jose, Toronto

Week 5: Columbus, New England, New York, Toronto

Notice anyone missing?

That's right. DC United (along with Chivas) is the ONLY TEAM in the league thus far that does NOT yet own a clean sheet. That's embarassing. The expansion Earthquakes have one. Hell, Toronto finished in last place last year, and they've got two! New York's best defender is Bobcat Goldthwait, and they have two. Even LA has one, with their defense anchored by a United reject and a Portuguese hack.

And it's especially disappointing given United's high level of play in certain matches. They just haven't been able to close out any matches without letting in a late goal. It might not really seem like a big deal to give up a cheap goal when you're already up 3-0 or 4-0, but it's hard to see that happening very often this year. I'm much more concerned that United will continue to give up cheap late goals, even when winning a close match with only one score.

It would be unfair to blame Zach Wells for the lack of a clean sheet. Remember that Jose Carvallo started in goal during the forgettable 4-0 loss to Real. Wells' Goals Against Average of 1.5 is actually not horrible. Some people might like to blame Gonzalo Peralta, but I won't go there either. If anything, it starts at the top. Coach Soehn has got to find a way to keep his players motivated to close out these games.

So if given choice, I would rather see a 1-0 victory over Colorado this Sunday than another freakin 4-1 win.

What we missed

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.

• DC United signs Francis Doe to their last remaining spot on the Senior roster. Doe should give us the speed that we've all been yelling about since Emilio started apparently playing with twenty pound weights in each of his pockets. Goff is saying though that Doe has yet to receive his work visa, so will not be eligible to play tonight.
  
  
• As United prepares for tonight's revenge match against Sideshow Kyle and Real Salt Lake, it looks like Santino Quaranta will be starting at right midfield in place of the injured Devon McTavish. Also emerging from this week's practices was this fantastic quote from Zach Wells after a collision with Franco Niell: "When I lift my shirt later, there's definitely going to be an imprint of a gnome on my chest."
  
  
• The Men's Olympic Team gets I think a pretty tough draw, in a group with Holland, Nigeria, and Japan. I guess it's far from being a Group of Death or anything, because I think all four groups are actually pretty even, but it will certainly be tough. The Netherlands won all of Europe, knocking out England in the semifinals and then won the meaningless final against Serbia. And we've consistently had a hard time with African nations. But the Americans are lucky to avoid Brazil, Argentina, and Italy in the group stages.
  
  
• The defending Supporters' Shield winners DC United and defending MLS Cup Champion Houston Dynamo each find themselves in last place in their respective divisions. This isn't really new for either team, because both of them started fairly slowly last year too, and I don't think it's really too surprising for Houston this year either given the loss of some key players. But DC seemed to upgrade at every position other than goalkeeper. They should be due for a big win tonight.
  
  
• Toronto and San Jose each earned victories last weekend, making it two in a row for TFC. The Rapids continue to be wildly inconsistent. One week after a big victory over New England on the road, the Rapids lose at home to give San Jose their first win. In an effort to rebound, Colorado will announce this guy as their new defensive midfielder at halftime.
  

Out West

Seems to be a stark difference between the East and West in terms of the changes that sweep through each conference each season. DC, New England, and Chicago seem to be in contention every year in the East. But in the West, there's one team at the top, and then there's everyone else beating each other up. This might be the season to change that.

1. Chivas USA
+: Chivas look to improve on their already second-best-in-league defense by adding defensive midfielder Raphael Wicky.
-: None. Chivas didn't give up one player who started more than 12 games for them last year.
(): Ante Razov will try to rob Jaime Moreno of his all time scoring title this year, but will probably lose some minutes to newcomer Alecko Eskandarian.
=: Chivas are like the New Orleans Hornets of the MLS. Very quietly occupying first place by emphasizing defense and the fundamentals. They seem to be the only team in the West that, like DC, built itself with enough depth to withstand the rigors of international tournaments in addition to league play.

2. Houston Dynamo
+: Former Defender of the Year Bobby Boswell hopes to keep Houston as the league leader in defense, but might not even make the starting XI with Patrick Ianni around.
-: Houston lost two of their top four scorers in Nate Jaqua and Joseph Ngwenya, both to Austria of all places.
(): Stuart Holden is coming off an impressive tournament with the U23 National Team, and will be looked upon to step up to fill Ngwenya's void.
=: A third straight MLS Cup certainly isn't out of the question for Houston, as their defense, along with goalkeeper Pat Onstad, will keep them in every game. But Houston hasn't done enough to fill the voids left on offense, instead turning to unproven reserve Chris Wondolowski at forward.

3. LA Galaxy
+: LA added to its group of internationally reknowned goal scorers this offseason with Carlos Ruiz.
-: Supposedly in order to get under the salary cap, LA was forced to cut a lot of part-time starters, but most notably, Kyle Martino.
(): Of course all eyes will once again be on David Beckham to rescue this struggling franchise.
=: Maybe I'm crazy, but I think LA has just enough firepower to find its way into the postseason in a conference with only two good teams. Hopefully the coaching will improve this year too.

4. Colorado Rapids
+: My feelings haven't changed on . He remains the best player in the league until proven otherwise.
-: Colorado cut their captain Brandon Prideaux for unknown reasons. Defense could be an issue for them this year, and I don't think Jose Burciaga is the answer.
(): Herculez Gomez and Nicolas Hernandez should see their statistics increase with the arrival of Gomito.
=: Unfortunately, as we all found out in the playoffs last year, Christian can't do it by himself. Colorado should be able to sneak its way into the playoffs, but won't get very far.

5. Real Salt Lake
+: RSL followed the DC model and brought in a whole slew of players from overseas, including Kenny Deuchar and Yank Abroad Nat Borchers.
-: The team lost their heart and soul Eddie Pope and their lead comedian Alecko Eskandarian. Makes you wonder if RSL will try to fill their void by acquiring other former United players Brad North and Kiki Willis.
(): Representing the Arundel Wildcats, Kyle Beckerman should benefit from having some more talent around him.
=: At least the appearance is that Garth Lagerway finally has the team on the right track. Their foreign acquisitions don't seem to be as targeted as United's, but hey, it's a start.

6. FC Dallas
+: Duilio Davino will try to help out a weak defensive group.
-: Dallas's only legitimate scoring option Carlos Ruiz is now in LA.
(): Kenny Cooper hopes to have a full year of scoring for once, but somehow I doubt it.
=: Not to say that Ruiz is very popular, or even very talented, but Dallas will surely miss him, and they will probably take a step back this year.

7. San Jose Earthquakes
+: The expansion team will look for Ronnie O'Brien to lead the attack. Hmm… Good luck with that.
-: San Jose was expecting Clarence Goodson to be a starter on defense, but he bolted for Europe. Smart move.
(): The Earthquakes were wise to bring in Ryan Cochrane from Houston to run the back line as center defenseman.
=: The Quakes actually have a decent midfield if you look at it, and Cochrane and Cannon should keep at least some teams from running up the score, but it's still hard to see them finishing anywhere outside of last place.

With all the infusion of international talent in the league this year, there are a lot of question marks. Who will be this year's surprise like Juan Toja? And who will be this year's disappointment like Denilson? Whatever the case, my predictions are sure to go up in flames by May.

Peace out, BC

San Jose's official selections are out, so how did we Insiders do on the draft predictions? Not too bad. Of the players with which we had a confident consensus, we were correct on Grabavoy, Carroll, Guerrero, and Vide, but wrong on Casey, Burciaga, Dorman, and Thompson. Cochrane, Riley, and Goodson weren't really surprises, and will make up a pretty quality back line for the Quakes. But we definitely missed the boat on Jason Hernandez and Gavin Glinton. And it was kind of weird for them to take an inexperienced player like Pozniak, but leave all those great keepers like Hartman (and his 30 starts last year) on the table.

But anyway, back to Carroll. This could turn out to be a pretty big loss for DC, more than I think a lot of people realize. Depth is crucial in this league, and BC was a great sub when we needed someone to come on in relief of one of the forwards when we're ahead. Carroll was a starter here for three and a half years, and will certainly be missed.

Joe Gibbs always talks about being a "true Redskin", well I think Brian Carroll was a "true United player". He wasn't necessarily well known on the national scene before coming here, but he made his name through his constant work ethic, like a lot of other guys on the team. They say Ben Olsen is the heart and soul of this team, but I think guys like Carroll and Gros are right behind him. BC, we wish you the best of luck, and hope to see you back here in the future.

A few people have been asking what this means for Brian's brother Jeff. JC should be welcomed back if he wants to be here. Although he didn't see any action with the first team this year, again, depth is important. And it would only take one or two injuries to some key players before Jeff Carroll would be playing wide back for us. JC was the captain of the Reserves and got an assist on the team's lone goal in the one Reserve match that I went to this year.

Waiting by the phone

If I get a call later tonight and am asked to be the new General Manager of the San Jose Earthquakes, here is the list of players I will select (assuming I can negotiate myself a reasonable starting salary...)

GK: Kevin Hartman
DEF: Alex Zotinca, Ryan Cochrane, Brandon Prideaux
MID: Kyle Martino, Ned Grabavoy, Brian Carroll, Andy Dorman, Ivan Guerrero
F: Abe Thompson

I'm taking Hartman because even though he's up there, he's still got a lot less gray hairs than Onstad, although I'm hesitant because of his GAA in Kansas City. My three defenders are starters with their current clubs, and with Prideaux I'm getting someone who has been his team's captain, and will be my team's captain.

The midfield was the hardest. But with Martino, Guerrero, and Dorman, you're getting three versatile guys who have all played in several different spots. Carroll is coming off a down year, but could still start for most clubs in the league, and Grabavoy has the skills to lead the attack. Of course Andy Dorman is a concern to leave MLS completely, but I think he's worth the risk. I know I've been saying all along that San Jose would be crazy not to take Rod Dyachenko, but I think with Grabavoy available, Dyachenko becomes a bit redundant, and Carroll is easily the best defensive midfielder available.

Not too many good forwards on there, but at least with Thompson I'm getting a UMD alum! Notice I didn't take anyone from the Red Bulls. Hmm...

OK, now here's a list compiled from all the comments on the Insider, adding in my own, of who are the popular choices to be selected. This list is far from scientific because I think there's a lot of commenters on there that selected more (or sometimes less) than 10 players, and most of us gave very little regard to salary concerns. So read into it what you will.

Chivas: Burpo (1), Cunliffe (4), Nunez (3), Perez (1), Zotinca (2)
Chicago: Curtin (3), Guerrero (6), Gutierrez (4), Thorrington (1)
Colorado: Cancela (1), Casey (7), Hernandez (1), Petke (3), Prideaux (2)
Columbus: Grabavoy (13), Guenebaum (1), Herron (1), Thomas (1)
Dallas: Gbandi (1), Goodson (2), Oduro (3), Pitchkolan (1), Rhine (1), Thompson (6)
DC: Carroll (8), Dyachenko (3), Kpene (2)
Houston: Ashe (2), Cochrane (5), Onstad (3), Waibel (1), Wells (3)
KC: Burciaga (7), Colombano (1), Hartman (4)
LA: Gray (3), Hamse (1), Martino (6), Mathis (1), Tudela (3), Xavier (1)
NE: Dorman (7), John (4), Riley (4)
NY: Doe (2), Goldthwaite (1), Magee (2), Vide (6), Wolyniec (1)
Salt Lake: Brown (2), Kipre (1), Watson (2), Williams (1)
Toronto: Boyens (1), Lombardo (3), Pozniak (1)

The List

Officially available at noon tomorrow, leaked first on the Insider, here is the list of protected players for Wednesday's expansion draft:

Perkins, Boswell, Namoff, McTavish, Burch, Fred, Simms, Gomez, Olsen, Moreno, Emilio

Hard to say there's really any surprises there. That's essentially our starting lineup for game 1 next year, barring no huge changes. This is really a fantastic sign that Gomez and Moreno will each be back next year, or at least that the front office expect them both to be back right now.

But missing from the list are Greg Vanney, Brian Carroll, and Rod Dyachenko. Two guys with a lot of experience that would absolutely start for the Earthquakes right away, and either one of them could even potentially be your captain if you wanted. And one guy who has a lot of upside, and had maybe the best game of his career in the playoffs against Chicago.

I definitely hope not to lose Dyachenko. If San Jose was smart, then they would have been scouting all the Reserve division players this year, and if so, then they would know that Rod is the leader of our offense in Reserve games. Although he's probably not quite ready to start regularly for us next year, he will be a huge asset coming off the bench as Moreno, Gomez, and Olsen won't be able to play the full 90 much longer.

BC has been a true team player for a lot of years here in DC, and it would be a shame to lose him. Unfortunately, with the possible addition of Veron, he becomes a little bit more expendable. And Vanney played consistently well for us this year, but in the end I agree that it's probably smartest to protect him over Boswell.

But with all that said... San Jose Management, if you read this, I REALLY hope that you DON'T take Guy-Roland Kpene. PLEASE! He's a brilliant player, certainly not just all flashy with little finishing ability. He'll probably have 15 goals next year. LEAVE KPENE ALONE!

Using Protection

The San Jose expansion draft is going down on next Wednesday 11/21. Does this seem too soon to anyone else? Someone from the Revs or Dynamo won't even be done celebrating their championship yet when he's forced to move out to the west coast.

Anyway, I'm not going to go through the entire DC United team and who's going to be protected, because you can already get that here or here. As point out on the Insider, it seems like there are 8 players who are guarenteed to be protected: Emilio, Fred, Olsen, Simms, Namoff, Burch, McTavish, and Perkins. So that leaves 3 more slots and a lot of great players.

There's more than one way to look at this. Because not only do you have to consider which players you want back at DCU, but I think you also need to consider which players the Quakes are likely to find the most attractive.

So with that in mind, I think we need to protect Christian Gomez. There's a decent chance that he will be leaving the MLS next year, but if I was the Quakes, I would be willing to take that risk and select Gomez if he is available.

It's the exact opposite for Moreno though. Moreno is less worth the risk, because I think he would sooner retire than move his entire family to San Jose. Moreno knows that we want him back in DC, but I don't want to risk pissing off Gomez by not protecting him.

The next guy we protect is Rod Dyachenko. After his two assist performance in the second leg of the Chicago series, Rod has got to be in high demand. If we don't protect Dyachenko, then he is gone. No doubt about it.

And lastly, we need to protect one of our center backs, but I'm so torn as to which one. Greg Vanney is older, with a higher salary, but San Jose would be smart to take him if he's available because he'd be an instant starter and a leader, and you could maybe even give him the captain's armband. Bobby Boswell is younger with a lower salary, and still a lot of experience, but with the desire to go overseas. So its going to force Kevin Payne and Tom Soehn to make a big decision right now which player they want around next year. And I guess it really depends (just like everything else this offseason) on the future of Moreno and Gomez. If they are sticking around, then you keep Vanney to try to win now. If they are gone, then we sort of need to start rebuilding, and then we need to keep the younger Boswell.

Either way, I'm also leaving Brian Carroll exposed, so he could be taken. But I'm going to cross my fingers and hope that San Jose takes a gamble and selects Guy Kpene.

How many is too many?

So with the addition of Toronto this year, San Jose next year, and Seattle the following year, the MLS is up to 15 teams. And that's with St. Louis and Philadelphia seeking their own franchises also.

When do we say enough already?

So the question is… Is there enough talent interested in playing in the MLS to support so many more teams? Or is this just going to saturate the league with less talented players? San Jose gets the opportunity to select a player from each MLS team, after they each protect 11 players. Seattle will probably get the same opportunity. That means that in 2008, San Jose will potentially have 11 players starting that weren't good enough to start for their previous MLS clubs in 2007. Although Toronto was a great story this year, particularly with their high attendance numbers, they still finished in last place, with a -24 goal differential.

But the flip side of that argument is that there is actually a large pool of talented players in the USL that will get an opportunity to play in MLS now that there are more teams. The US Open Cup has shown every year that the USL teams can compete with the MLS. Even though a few MLS teams didn't take that tournament seriously this year (cough cough DCU cough cough Jay Nolly), for a USL team to beat an MLS team's Reserves even has to be a good accomplishment. But then for two USL teams to make the semifinals - that tells you that some of these players are legit, and they can compete with the big boys.

It's a nice idea that the new MLS Seattle franchise will be retaining some of the current Seattle Sounders players, as the Owners announced. I'm thinking they should keep the name too out of respect for the history of the current USL team (4-time USL-1 champions) and former NASL team.