I guess the better team doesn't always win

A tie at home against a lesser Western Conference opponent certainly should feel like a loss. Somehow for me though, this one doesn't. Maybe it's because we outplayed Dallas, to the point where I think we really deserved the win. This felt like it should have ended at 2-1. Oh well. I guess we'll just have to steal back those extra two points when we play them again on the road in two weeks.


1. That's two weeks in a row now where the standouts for me were Ivan Guerrero and Santino Quaranta. Guerrero's effort throughout the match, but especially on Tino's goal, made a huge difference. He laid it all on the line, and may have even injured himself falling into the advertisements after his awesome assist. Quaranta has really come on strong since Superliga, and added his fifth goal of the year.

2. Jaime Moreno continues to make a plea to be considered for the MVP award this season.


1. Louis Crayton was 10 minutes away from earning Man of the Match in my book, that is until his failed dive to block the cross leading to the Fire's second goal. He made a lot of great saves tonight though.

2. I'm not sure whether to truly hold either of them at fault, but I feel like Marc Burch and Gonzalo Martinez each may have been able to do more to stop the second goal. But both looked good through most of the match.

3. I liked the starting lineup. But there was one move made by Tom Soehn that was just inexplicable to me. Our left midfielder gets injured, so you replace him with Dyachenko of all people?! A move that forces Quaranta, who had been excellent all day in the middle, out of his natural position to cover on the wing. You make that move while up a goal and while having two legitimate wingers in Cordeiro and Thompson sitting on the bench?! D brings up a good point too in asking why Zaher and Carroll were both left off the gameday roster behind Dyachenko and Doe. Most teams would have subbed in a more defensive minded player when up a goal with 15 minutes to play. Not Soehn. He went for Dyachenko.


1. It was a poor touch and a costly mistake by Devon McTavish that led to the first goal. I'm starting to look ahead to which players will be protected in the expansion draft this offseason, and wondering whether McTavish might be left exposed in favor of guys like Burch, Quaranta, and Guerrero.

2. I do believe that Rocha should have been Rod Dyachenko's man to cover at the back post. Seriously though, why was he in?! Do you think Craig Thompson would have let that happen? WHY?!

Aw well. A decent performance by a still somewhat limited team doesn't help us much in the standings, but does still give me hope that we may be able to put together a decent run in the CCL and/or the MLS playoffs. Soehn's starting lineup for this game though does seem to indicate that we will be taking the Champions League fairly seriously. Fred and Emilio started this match on the bench, but it's a pretty safe bet that they'll both be starting on Tuesday, and so may Gallardo and Peralta.

Stealing an ugly one

I remember writing before the season started that we would probably have to win a lot of games 1-0 this year. Well it took five months and a goalkeeper change to finally do it.

I got back from a great week at Ocean City today and opted to purchase the discounted $9.95 MLSlive package, which will probably be used only to watch tonight's match and next Saturday's. There's nothing like some out-of-town commentators to make you really appreciate Dave Johnson.


1. Despite being referred to as lazy once by the Chicago announcer (yeah, because running for 90 minutes straight is a sure sign of laziness), I thought Bryan Namoff may have been our man of the match. Lots of good tackles and clearances.

2. The goalscorer Fred was very active tonight. Less educated fans would tell you that his goal was easy because he was completely unmarked, but many other players would have headed that over the bar, or straight at the keeper. Fred hit it hard and low.

3. I was also very impressed once again with the play of our other winger Ivan Guerrero. The dude just doesn't stop. He made several plays on both sides of the field.

4. In his MLS debut Louis Crayton proved to be incredibly competent, and a force to watch for. He was plucking down crosses all over. It took Zach Wells 16 matches to earn his first shutout. It took Crayton 1. But I'm still not sure if this will mean a permanent switch at the keeper position. I guess the question is, would Wells have earned a clean sheet tonight also?


1. I'd say any game that we play against Chicago where Blanco doesn't score is a good game for Clyde Simms. Would be nice if he stopped giving the ball away sometimes though.

2. Neither really stood out as an outstanding performer, but the all American team of Devon McTavish and Marc Burch earned their second clean sheet together in central defense. And this time it was against a really good team. Give the guys some credit. I think its time to stop shuddering every time you see Burch starting in the middle, as these two have proved themselves adequate.


1. Is it just me or is Gonzalo Martinez still off his game a bit? Maybe he's got some nagging injury that hasn't been disclosed?

2. Not a horrible game from him, but I'd like to see more out of Santino Quaranta. It was over two months ago that I was advocating to see Tino in a CAM role, but he didn't seem to produce much offensively, aside from a decent long range shot early on. But to his credit, Quaranta did track back defensively more than Gallardo usually does, which gave Fred and Guerrero a bit more freedom on the outside.

This match won't be remembered for it's beauty. It was entirely too chippy from the start. But DC took advantage of their opponent's mistake to steal the victory. Which is great to be able to say, because I feel that we've been the ones losing games because of stupid mistakes far too often this season. The roller coaster ride continues.

I'll be back some point later to give player ratings for the two games I missed last week, based only on the opinions of Goff, other bloggers, and Chest Rockwell comments.

2 games away

Wow. Nothing like a little controversy to help egg on what has become the biggest rivalry in MLS. What I do like though is that several DC fans have invaded the Fire's big-media blog, but no intelligible Fire fans have dared to opine on a similar post in the Insider.

I'm not going to write too much about the game itself because I once again did not witness it like some bloggers, and other radiophiles have already had their say.


1. The legend of Jaime Moreno appears to grow stronger at every turn. The dude enters the game in the 60th minute and is subbed out before the final whistle, yet is still named the Man of the Match by all accounts. And he didn't even score!

2. He's gotten very little love from me before now, but let's give a shoutout to Francis Doe for a clinical finish and other bits of hard work.


1. Marc Burch is really trying to make a name for himself. First he goes and scores two free kick goals, then he gets ejected for retaliating against the most hated player in MLS. Which of course elicits positive "Burch!" chants from the United fans, and racist claims against him on the Tribune's blog.


1. After a good debut against Rochester, Pat Carroll comes up lame and is at fault for Chicago's goal in this one.

We have been asking all year who would be the cold-hearted assassin to step into Ben Olsen's unoccupied role of professional retalator. I proposed a couple of months ago that Burch could be a prime candidate, and that's looking like the truth. Burchie's fan appeal is growing steadily in DC, and maybe regressing elsewhere, but he has quickly gone from a nondescript journeyman player to a guy that all teams are learning to watch out for. Hard to say whether or not thats a good thing, because Burch's crossing ability was far more dangerous last year before teams knew which foot he preferred, but if he can keep taking free kicks while being a physical presence on defense, Burch has seemed to earn his way into the starting lineup. The coaching staff is going to have some difficult decisions to make if they are ever to have Burch, Fred, Olsen, and Quaranta all healthy at the same time.

It's unfortunate that Marc Burch will have to sit out the semi-final. Of course the red card was deserved for his actions, but the fact is that Burch never would have had to push Blanco had the asshole not tried to injure one of our players. As for ol' no-neck himself, his team lost, so his red card doesn't matter so much. And I think most of us are very doubtful about MLS taking any action against one its biggest stars for a match outside their jurisdiction. What I would really like to see is for the Chicago Fire organization to settle this matter in house and bench Blanco for a game. He is supposed to be the leader of the team, and should act as a role model for their many young talented players, and I certainly hope that the team does not condone his actions by letting them go unpunished. Surely a classy organization like the Fire will handle this situation properly and not just try to sweep it under the rug. Right?

With this victory, DC earns another home match against the Revolution in the semifinals, but this time thankfully the match is at RFK. If only Crystal Palace Baltimore could have converted two more PKs to be the third USL club to advance to the semi's. But the Charleston Battery versus Seattle Sounders matchup does guarantee that one USL club will be participating in the Final. How great is that? Name another sport where a minor league team has a legitimate chance to beat major league teams, thus earning their way into a tournament against the best teams in the world.

United escapes with a deserved victory

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. But the team pulled ahead in stoppage time, with both goals scored without our supposed best player.


1. Everyone across blogland is lamenting the return of goalscorer Luciano Emilio. If you had showed United's first goal to me without identifying which player is which, no way I would have guessed that Emilio was the set up guy and Moreno was the finisher. But that great play by the Golden Boot winner is what may have triggered the start of a playoff run.

2. Maybe I'm just a bit nostalgic during DC United Championship Week on Comcast, or maybe I regret a bit of my criticism of his captaining abilities earlier in the year, but I was really happy with the performance of Jaime Moreno last night. His leadership up front made a huge difference.

3. I'll give a shoutout to Ryan Cordeiro for his role in the winning goal. He earned credit for the assist. And even though I was yelling at the tv for Emilio to reward Cord when he was wide open, knowing that the rookie has the ability to beat a keeper, Cordeiro still deserves credit for being in that position to keep Busch in the middle of the net instead of cheating towards the near post against Emilio.


1. I actually thought Zach Wells had his best game in weeks. Can't necessarily fault him for the first goal, and maybe this comparison is a bit unfair, but I can't help but think that Troy Perkins would have stopped it. Other than that though, I thought the backline was much more organized and Wells was effective at stopping crosses and corner kicks.


1. Marcelo Gallardo's inability to control his temper lands him down here. Compare Gallardo to what Blanco would have done in the same situation. Blanco wouldn't have retaliated against Prideaux; he would have stayed sitting on the ground for three minutes and complained when the referee finally decided to come over. Also, is it just a coincidence that both United goals were scored after Gallardo left the field? Just something to think about. Of course the counterpoint is that playing 10-on-10 meant there was more space in the midfield, but a part of me feels that the team became more organized in the attack once Gallardo left the field and Moreno assumed the responsibility of playmaker.

2. Not that he had necessarily a poor game, but I really hope that the absence of Gallardo next week doesn't lead to the automatic insertion of Rod Dyachenko to the CAM spot. I hope Soehn has learned now that Dyachenko is barely up to that role for 20 minutes, and is not the answer for 90. I'd rather see either Fred move into the middle, or Moreno move back with Quaranta moving up top. Either way, it's an additional winger like Cordeiro that should be added to the starting XI, not Dyachenko. And by the way, what happened to the mohawk? I kind of thought it fit his style of play pretty nicely.

So with that, United earned 4 points out of 2 road games against who everyone thought were the two best teams in the league. Not too shabby. Now with the team returning home for three straight against New York, San Jose, and LA, I'd like to avoid overconfidence, but there's no reason to believe that the team can't come away with 7 points, which should put them squarely back into the playoff race, as early overachievers Toronto and Columbus continue to return to earth. The next test will be against the Red Bulls, without Gallardo and Namoff, but a team that we have a tendency to dominate at home. Who will get a hat trick without Olsen?

All for you, Brian

This has been reported earlier in other places, but like most United fans should, I tend not to believe anything I read until I read it here. After five seasons playing for Fulham in the EPL, Brian McBride has announced his intentions of returning home to play in the MLS.

Here's where I'm confused though, and maybe one of my intelligent readers (HA!) can explain this to me... Goff is saying that Toronto is first in line for McHead's rights because they are at the top of the allocation table. Well mlsnet.com's Allocation List link still shows Columbus at the top, but with an expiration date of 5/15/08. But more importantly, on their main Roster Regulations page, you find this: "The allocations will be ranked in reverse order of finish for the 2007 season, taking playoff performance into account. San Jose, as an expansion team, will have the top-ranked allocation at the beginning of 2008."

So I don't quite understand why Toronto and not San Jose has the rights to McBride, but we'll take that as the truth, since "MLS Rules" is pretty much an oxymoron anyway since they don't always seem to matter all that much and can be revised at any time.

What's up with the whole damn allocation system anyway? Is there any other league of any sport in the world with a system like this? Isn't it a bit... um... communist? If more than one team is interested in a player, assuming that each team has enough salary cap space and/or a designated player slot if necessary, then I would think that whoever is willing to pay more for a player should be able to get him. That's capitalism baby! I guess Don Garber didn't learn about dollar votes in ECON-101?

Anyway, regardless of who has the rights to McBride, the word on the street is that he wants to play for Chicago, and that the Fire want him. With him, the Fire instantly become the favorites to win MLS Cup.

But I want him here.

Brian McBride could really be the perfect complement to Marcelo Gallardo where Luciano Emilio has failed. He is a bit more physical, he knows how to position himself well to receive crosses, and he knows how to finish them. He also brings some of the heart that we've all been complaining has been missing this year. But how might DC go about acquiring such a player? We don't have a lot of young talented players to offer, although I wouldn't mind losing Quavas Kirk. I doubt Toronto would be very interested in acquiring a midget, or one of our several crappy goaltenders.

I would trade...

Hold up. I'm about to be really controversial. Ahem.

Fred.

Yes, I dare offer up one of the most popular players on United not named Olsen! Fred has never been quite the best suited for the left wing, and would surely be a better option than Rickets or Robert in Toronto. And others might disagree, but I would say that left wing is actually one of the very few positions on the field where we have a slight bit of depth with Burch and Cordeiro.

The only problem then is what do you do with Emilio? McBride would probably command the Designated Player salary that we've presently delivered to Emilio for unknown reasons. I'm not really ready to deal last year's MVP to another MLS team, because we all know that he can still be very dangerous.

I doubt this is really possible, but a McBride/Emilio/Gallardo combination would be absolutely lethal. Ah well. A man can dream, right?

MLS fantasy tips

With the MLS Season 1/4 over, my domination of the "DCU Bloggers Unite" fantasy league continues! Actually, I lie. The Decimators started the year in sixth place out of seven when the seventh place team has yet to earn any points, and I've been in second place to our pal Six Yards North up until just this weekend. But in honor of my very limited and probably short-lived success, I'd like to share some fantasy wisdom with the masses. Here are some tips that I've compiled so far this season that you can use in your fantasy leagues:

1. Start as many members of the Columbus Crew as possible. That means three players and one coach. As much as it pained me to drop Tommy in favor of Sigi, my combination of Schellotto-Rogers-Hesmer-Schmid earned about 70% of my points last week.

2. Start any defenders playing at home against DC United. You're guaranteed a clean sheet! Hopefully we'll see an exception to that this weekend against the battered and bruised Chivas defense.

3. Drop Marc Burch. I thought he would be great value for the money as a fantasy prospect because he has the potential for some Burchie-bombs, clean sheets, and assists. But of course he's earned zero of the first two, and only one of the latter. With his temper though, Burch is much more likely to earn yellow cards than assists.

4. Start Donovan and Beckham. Sure, they're expensive. And I was way too late to this party. But there's only been 2 games so far this year that neither one of them scored a goal.

5. Start any members of the Chicago defense. Apparently Chris Armas and CJ Brown are trash, because the Fire is the best defensive team in the league without them.

6. Given my previous comments, this might be the first and last time I ever write this in this blog, but a 3-5-2 formation is the way to go.

Reserves fall to 1-1

On an ugly rainy day, the DC United reserves suffered their first loss of the season to a Chicago team that was able to keep the ball in United's half for probably about 65% of what I saw. I only caught the last 30 minutes or so. Better turn out of fans than I was expecting with all the rain and the lack of confidence in the first team. I was actually standing in the pavillion right behind Chicago coach Denis Hamlett. Not quite sure why he was sitting on the bench on the crowd side rather than with his players on the far side. Tom Soehn was man enough to hang out in the rain, why wasn't Hamlett? He was a pretty quiet guy though. Didn't say much aside from a couple "Let's gos".

I didn't see enough of the match to write a full breakdown (if you want, you can find that over here), but I will say that United might have a pretty promising future on the left flank with Mike Zaher and Ryan Cordeiro. Zaher's main role was marking the speedy Calen Carr, which he did well, with just a bit of help from Jeremy Barlow at times. And the two best scoring chances I saw both came from Cordeiro. One was a shot from outside the box that went just high, and the other was a nice cross from the left that just missed Dane Murphy.

Danny Strats was wearing the captain's armband, and was involved in just about every play from his center midfield spot. I saw him break up several plays on defense, including one header on a corner kick. Jeff Curtin was conspicuous by his absense. Francis Doe was very unimpressive. Dare I say that this team really missed Rod?

I was hoping my 100th post would be a good one

DC United suffered its first back-to-back shutouts since *gasp* the 2005 Eastern Conference semi-finals. Talk about bad memories. Let's get this over with.


No one really stood out to me actually. Even the beautifully consistent Bryan Namoff seemed pretty pedestrian.


1. Jaime Moreno was one of the only players on the team who showed a noticeable bit of passion. Not that his service was any better, but I liked the leadership to call Burch off on a couple corner kicks late in the match to do it himself.

2. I thought Gonzalo Peralta did a good job of frustrating Blanco and the Chicago attack for most of the match. But I'd also like to take this opportunity to coin the term "Gonzoball." It's when a center back aimlessly boots the ball down the field, rather than work the ball up through short solid passes or utilize room on the flanks.


1. I just don't understand how Rod Dyachenko can look like an all-star in Reserve matches, and look like nothing more than a scrub with the first team. Again though, he was the only player who was successful at drawing fouls near the opponent's box. But Roddy Dice is a red card waiting to happen.

2. When Franco Niell first came to DC, I figured he would be about the same as Guy Kpene. Likeable, but can't score worth a damn. Kpene was polarizing - you either loved him or hated him. But I was wrong about Niell. And not just because he scored a goal against Pachuca. But because no one really seems to like him, or have any confidence in him.

3. Again, it's hard not to question the formation. Against the best offensive team we've faced yet this year, Tom Soehn doesn't roll out the 4-4-2, or even the 3-5-2. From what I could tell, he rolled out what I could only call a 3-4-3. I don't think either goal can really be faulted to one player in particular. Both were due to Fire players not being marked tight enough. Or maybe just finding those huge open spaces behind the midfield.

Now I don't think I'll go quite so far as to be the first United blogger that I know of to officially rev the engine on the Fire Soehn Express. But I do think I'll hop in the shotgun chair and buckle my seatbelt, because I can see D reaching the keys towards the ignition as we speak, and I'm going along for the ride. It might be too long to wait though to make that call after the Chivas match as he's suggesting, because remember that we've only got a real short week of practice after that before the road leg of the Toronto miniseries.

By the way, was I the only one who felt like John Harkes sounded like he was auditioning for the job through his commentary tonight? By all means Kevin, give him a call!

Eastern promises

When DC United started making all their numerous changes this offseason, I had it in my mind that I would NOT pick them to finish in first place, because there were just too many question marks. So I toyed for a while with putting Chicago in first, but then I realized that they had a new inexperienced coach, and Chad Barrett playing forward, so that wouldn't work. Then I flirted with putting New England in first place, but they just haven't done enough to improve this offseason. It even crossed my mind to put New York in first, but then I realized that I'm not a moron. So after eliminating all the attractive distractors, we'll just settle with...

1. DC United
Key addition (+): We've talked at length about United bringing in Marcelo Gallardo not to win the Supporters' Shield again (they could do THAT with Gomez) but instead to make the team more competitive in the C-Cup, Superliga, and even MLS Cup.
Key Loss (-): Brian Arguez. HA! No it's Troy Perkins. While starting all but one game in the past two seasons, Perkins was absolutely fearless, and emerged as one of the top keepers in MLS. Zach Wells will try to fill those shoes.
Player to watch (()): Will be interesting to see if Luciano Emilio scores another 20 goals, or if he suffers from a sophomore slump.
Result (=): United showed against Harbour View that they have the tools on offense and defense to dominate a lesser team. But how will they fare against more quality competition? With los Gonzalos, the team should be in the top 3 in defense again this year, but an aging attack with Gallardo, Moreno, and Olsen could stumble with the injuries and fatigue that result from being in so many competitions.

2. Chicago Fire
+: The Fire bring in experienced Polish international Tomasz Frankowski to add to an already strong attack.
-: The retirement of Chris Armas sees the end of the career of one of MLS's greatest defensive midfielders. The absense of this underrated player could do a lot of damage on defense.
(): Cuauhtemoc Blanco will continue to frustrate opposing teams, along with the referees. Makes you wonder if the most bruised legs in the MLS will last through the year.
=: This sounds cliché, but Chicago was on fire towards the end of last season, and I think they will keep it up in 2008. Look for Calen Carr also to play an emerging role.

3. New England Revolution
+: Mauricio Castro will be asked to add some more experienced leadership to a young midfield that includes Jeff Larentowicz and Wells Thompson. Steve Ralston could see his role diminish this year.
-: Two solid MLS attackers in Pat Noonan and Andy Dorman went overseas this offseason. New England will look for some young foreigners to step up.
(): How will Taylor Twellman react when the team blocked his move to Europe, but had no problem shipping off his partner Noonan?
=: The team really didn't do much to try to improve this offseason, choosing to rely more on their proven 3-5-2 formula with mostly the same players as last year. We expect mostly the same result as last year.

4. Columbus Crew
+: The Crew added left back Gino Padula, who should help to improve a defense that already includes Ezra Hendrickson and Frankie Hejduk.
-: Ned Grabavoy was found to be expendable and wound up in San Jose.
(): The Crew would be wise to expand on the role of Robbie Rogers this year. He's a young player with national team experience who should absolutely be in the team's starting XI.
=: We'll get to see what Schelotto can do with a full year. My prediction of the Crew finishing ahead of the Red Bulls is hinged on some other predictions that Jozy Altidore will leave the league and Brian McBride will rejoin the league in the middle of the season.

5. New York Red Bulls
+: It’s a sad state of affairs in New York when I'm claiming Zach Thornton as the team's best acquisition this offseason.
-: The team chose not to retain Dema Kovalenko for some odd reason. He's a foul machine, but he's about all the team had going for them in the play-breaking role.
(): Keep your eye on the forward combination of Juan Pablo Angel and Jozy Altidore. If Altidore gets a contract in Europe, how will Angel do alone up top?
=: With a pretty stout offense, and a lack of defense, look for the Red Bulls to be involved in a lot of 4-3 games this year. The team might start off strong again like they did in 2007, but will surely fade.

6. Kansas City Wizards
+: Sorry but I just don't see Claudio Lopez making a huge impact this year. He is also joined in the attack by Columbian Ivan Trujillo.
-: Lopez is a totally different player from the departed Eddie Johnson. We'll see how the rest of the team reacts to this change.
(): KC struggled in defense last year, despite the leadership of Jimmy Conrad. They will likely find themselves towards the bottom of the pack again this year.
=: This could be a year of transition for the Wizards, and I'm just not as high on them as a lot of people are. They have relied on Johnson too heavily the past couple of years, so I don't think they'll do well without him.

7. Toronto FC
+: Toronto made very few moves this offseason, but had a very strong draft with the selection of Julius James, along with finding Xavier Balc in the late rounds.
-: Fortunately, Toronto didn't lose much either. Chris Pozniak was a decent player for them in the midfield last year, but that's about it.
(): The reliable and versatile Maurice Edu will continue to develop, and if TFC is smart, they will allow him more freedom to make his own plays.
=: Toronto is building a talented young team, and probably one of these years we will start to see the results of that. But it won't be this year.

So not a lot of wholesale changes in the seeding of teams in the East. I do have United finishing in first, but I do NOT have them winning the Supporters' Shield. More on that we get to the Western Conference later (Hint: It won't be San Jose!)

There you have it. I made it through an entire post titled Eastern Promises without a single reference to Viggo Mortensen in a naked knife fight. Oh woops...

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)

ECC Preview: Chicago at New England

Let me preface this by saying that I hate doing this. But sometimes if you want to be right, you've got to pick against your team. I've been a Redskins fan all my life, so I'm used to it.

I've been a reluctant Revolution fan for only about 72 hours now, and I'm already having my doubts. As much as I'd like to see them just get it over with already and win an MLS Cup, I don't think it's in the cards for them. And it's not because they're not good enough.

It's because Chicago is just too good right now. The Fire are exactly that.

They are hitting their stride at the most perfect moment. DC United was the best team in the league for about 9 out of the 10 month season, but right now I think the Fire might have that title. If Chicago can beat a great team in United, how could they possibly lose to a mediocre team like the Revs?

Juan Carlos Osorio is a great coach. I've sort of joked about it before, but he really could have a future as the USMNT coach someday. His adjustments throughout the 180+ minutes of soccer in the United series proved it. The Fire's tactics may have been ugly, but they were effective. Even our boy Jaime Moreno said "that's not soccer."

So my prediction is Chicago with a 2-1 victory. Both goals in the first half, and New England gets one late trying to come back. Let's hope I'm wrong.

Conference Champhionships

The Conference Champhionship matchups are set. Although I'm still not sure that you can really call them Conference Championships when you've still got an Eastern Conference team playing in the West... But I've already complained enough about that.

So we've got Chicago at New England on Thursday night.
And Kansas City at Houston on Saturday.

Really glad that Houston was able to knock out Dallas. I was getting pretty worried that we would have to sit through a Dallas vs. Chicago final at RFK. Between Blanco and Carlos Ruiz, I might have had to BOO through the entire match.

DCUMD has decided to officially support our boy Taylor Twellman and the New England Revolution for the duration of the playoffs. But I think the Fire are at the top of their game right now, and peaking at exactly the right time (which has been DC's problem the last two years), so it won't be easy.

Osorio's notes

The following notes were obtained exclusively by DCUMD from Juan Carlos Osorio following the match last night.

Oh well

As soon as it was announced that MLS Cup 2007 would be played in RFK Stadium, we knew our mission for the year.  That mission failed last night.

But what a game!  If the Gomez hand ball goal had counted to force overtime and potential penalty kicks, this match probably would have gone down as the greatest game in MLS history.

ESPN didn't show it, but I'd like to see a replay of the Olsen to Gomez to Addlery attempt that Nick whiffed on.  My thought is that if Emilio was at full strength, he would have played the full 90.  Emilio buries that one in the back of the net.  Addlery whiffs.

Oh well.

I just named two "what ifs" and I could probably name a dozen more.

Maybe DC United should plan to finish in 4th place instead of 1st next year so we don't have to play at home in the playoffs anymore.

Now we just get to sit back and wait for the fallout.

Blanco

I only weigh about 140 pounds, but I'm pretty sure that I could beat Cuauhtemoc Blanco in a fight. You barely have to touch him and he will go down.

Round 2... FIGHT!

So after several days of dealing with flooding in my basement, I'm finally ready to write about United again. (Why in Maryland do we have something like 59 days straight with no rain, and then it rains nonstop for three days? My sump pump and I are not happy about that.) Actually it was a pretty rough weekend altogether between United, the Redskins, and the basement.

But moving onto happier things, let's discuss how badly we are going to beat the Fire tonight. The entire A-squad should be healthy enough to start tonight, and with the atmosphere at RFK, I fully expect United to grab the series tying goal within the first 15 minutes. And the Fire will be forced to attack.

Trust me, Chicago does NOT want this match to go down to penalty kicks, because we have better shooters, and Troy Perkins is a beast and will dominate.

But they MIGHT want this match to be decided in the final 15 minutes of regular time, or in overtime. I think Chicago's counterattacking style lends itself to that sort of situation, because if United makes one mistake late in the game then the whole season could be over.

But I don't think this game will even get that far. I'm predicting the first goal to come early in the match when the teams are still feeling each other out. Probably coming from the wing: either Fred or Olsen. Then United will add two more goals in the second half, one to Luciano Emilio (who will be subbed out shortly afterward). And then… here's a shot in the dark… the third goal goes to either Marc Burch or Bobby Boswell at the back post to put away a Christian Gomez free kick. Chicago might strike on a late goal, but it won't matter, as United wins the match 3-1.

The playoffs

I'm still trying to figure out the new MLS playoff structure.

I distinctly remember earlier in the year the MLS announcing that they would be switching the playoffs to a straight table structure, with no conferences. Then a couple of months later they changed it so that the top 8 teams, regardless of conference, would still make the playoffs, but the playoff matchups would still be determined by conference.

I guess it's cool to try to be original…

But if DC United has won the Supporters Shield, then they are considered the best team, and they should get to play the worst team. That's how the playoffs work in every other civilized league in the world. But here we have the #1 team playing against the #7 team. And the #2 team playing against the #8 team.

That's odd.

This happened because 5 teams qualified from the playoffs in the East, and only 3 teams qualified from the West, so MLS's theory is that they should send the 5th place team from the East over into the West. But here's how the theory SHOULD work. Since 5 teams qualified from the East, the East is clearly the stronger conference. DC United should be rewarded for winning the stronger conference, and play against the 5th place team, not the 4th place team. It's the 4th place team (Chicago) that should be sent out West, not the 5th place team (Kansas City).

I guess it's silly for us to be complaining about it. DC United is the best team in the league, so they should be able to beat the #7 team OR the #8 team. Right? It shouldn't matter. But you never know.

There must be some way that MLS thought that this playoff system would have somehow benefited LA and NY, otherwise they wouldn't have done it.