Award 4: The Donnety

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? Or do you give the award to a more marginal player who was expected to take a step forward this year, but instead took two steps back? The award's namesake Matias Donnet came to United in 2006 with star potential, having previously played in the Serie A, and having won numerous championships with Boca Juniors. But he made only 8 appearances in DC.

1. Many fans have expressed their disappointment with Marcelo Gallardo this year. There's no question that he's made some positive contributions this year while on the field, but does his 4 goals and 3 assists in 14 league appearances justify his Designated Player status and his $1.8 million salary?

2. After some really encouraging minutes toward the end of the 2007 season, I don't think I was the only one who felt like Rod Dyachenko was poised to have his breakout season in 2008. But now he seems less and less likely to be invited back to the team next year. As a quick reminder, not only did we trade a first round draft choice to Toronto (which they used on Pat Phelan, now of New England), but we also chose to protect Dyachenko last year over Brian Carroll in the Expansion Draft.

3. We heard a lot of hype this offseason from Payne and Kasper about the possibility of having a goalkeeping competition between Zach Wells and Jose Carvallo. As it turns out, the competition was over who could get cut first. Carvallo won. And Wells now seems to be restricted to Champions League duty for the remainder of the season.

4. The forward who made the smallest contribution this year was Franco Niell, who spent only a short time with the club. Niell did manage to score a goal in the Champions Cup, and had a wee bit of success in the Reserve Division, but he spent most of his time with United on the ground.

poll by twiigs.com

(the 2008 Benny Awards)

Mid-Season Review part 1: Acquisitions

Given the focus that this blog has given to United's roster this year, I thought it would be appropriate to base our Mid-Season Review specifically on the roster moves that the team has made. In part 1, we will look at United's acquisitions, meaning the players that the team added since the end of last season that they didn't have to give up anything for. Then we'll move on to look at players who departed since last year and United didn't receive anything in return for. Then in part 3 we'll look at the trades that the team has made. Then we'll end the review with a summary.

Here are the team's acquisitions since the end of the 2007 season, in order from most important to least:

1. I could dedicate an entire post to the trials and tribulations of Marcelo Gallardo, but that's already been done. Specifically here though, we should be discussing what Gallardo adds to United that they didn't have last year. In that regard, he is a playmaker with creativity that has not been seen here since the retirement of El Diablo. But there are doubts about whether or not that creativity is really what the team needed to add. Because with Christian Gomez last year, the team may not have been as creative, but they were certainly more successful. Before the season started, I was insistent that Gallardo was brought to DC because he gave us a better chance in international competitions than Gomez. So how's that going for us? Perhaps it's difficult to truly grade Gallardo's impact since he's been injured for two out of the three tournaments we've played in this year, but if he can guide us to an MLS Cup, or better yet a Champions League title in the months to come, all will be forgiven.

2. United completely rehauled the defense in the offseason with the acquisition of Los Gonzalos. So far, it has been Gonzalo Martinez who has appeared to be the most consistent new addition to the squad this year. He has quickly become one of the best left backs in the MLS, and despite calls for him to play centrally as he did at the start of the year, the left is where he is likely to stay. Gonzalo Peralta had some good games and some bad before going down to injury, and in that regard the early comparisons to Facundo Erpen seem appropriate. He won't have to fight very hard to regain his starting job in central defense from Burch when he returns to the field. But with the new look to United's backline, even though they SHOULD be better than the backline we had last year, why can we still not earn a clean sheet? The team had 8 last year.

3. Maybe the biggest surprise this year has come from the return of Santino Quaranta. With Olsen out, Quaranta has been a revelation (or am I going too far with that word?) on the right wing. He added some attacking flare opposite Fred that was an important part of the team's winning streak prior to his most recent injury before Open Cup. But has his 23-year-old body suffered too many injuries in his career for United to count on him long term? A return to health of Peralta and Mediate might push McTavish ahead of Tino on the depth chart at right wing.

4. Francis Doe has emerged of late as a talented attacking option next to Emilio. I had my doubts about him early on, but with two goals in the Superliga, Doe seems to have learned how to adjust to his new team quite nicely. And with Gallardo injured, Doe's continued production at forward will allow the team to move Moreno into the CAM role without losing too much.

5. Three rookies in Ryan Cordeiro, Dan Stratford, and Pat Carroll have been able to earn quality minutes with the first team this season. I wasn't the only one who criticized the team for drafting Cordeiro over other proven midfielders like Stephen King, but he instantly grabbed my eye in the reserve division, and looked pretty good against Houston in the Superliga finale. Stratford was the first rookie to earn first team minutes, and despite being pulled before half time in that game, the coaching staff certainly sees him as having a lot of potential. Strats picked a poor time to get injured though, because without Gallardo, I think a healthy Stratford will move above Dyachenko on the depth chart very shortly. The youngest Carroll has looked pretty good in Open Cup and Superliga appearances lately, but will likely lose playing time once Peralta, Mediate, and his brother Jeff return from injuries.

6. Three more rookies in Dane Murphy, Jeremy Barlow, and James Thorpe have yet to earn any first team apperances. Murphy has been on the 18-man gameday roster a couple of times, and I think he even got some action in the Rochester match. He's tall and a bit versatile. He seems to play mostly a central midfielder, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Soehn try to convert him into a defender. I saw Barlow score a goal in the opening Reserve Division match this year, but it doesn't seem like the club rates him too highly. He's got a good work rate, but will have to fight to keep his roster spot this offseason. I haven't seen Thorpe play yet, but at least he gave us the depth needed to be able to cut Carvallo from the roster.

7. I have my doubts about the acquisition of Joe Vide. I mean he was cut by San Jose of all places! I don't mind giving Vide a shot, since he was good enough to earn quite a few starts for the Red Bulls last year (yeah, but so could some of the women on my wife's team). But I feel like it might have been too much to give Vide a precious senior roster spot.

8. Let's not waste too much time by talking about these guys who aren't on the team anymore: Franco Niell, Jose Carvallo, and Jeff Curtin. Niell was not horrible in a United uniform, that is the few times that he was standing up (how could you tell?). But his salary was just too much for the team to keep around. I still feel like Frank O'Neal's biggest claim to fame should be this picture. Or this one. Carvallo stunk, we'll just leave it at that. It was unfortunate to lose Curtin due to injury, because he certainly could have been getting some minutes ahead of Burch in central defense if was still with the team.

So with all of those acquisitions, DC United should be a better team than last year. Right? Not so fast. Check back in the next few days for a look at all the players that United has lost.

Should they stay or should they go?

With the July 1st salary guarantee date looming just a week away, that is the question that we ask about two players: Jose Carvallo and Franco Niell. Both were brought to this country in the offseason that saw the additions of five new South American players. Three of those players (Gallardo and los Gonzalos) have earned regular roles in the starting XI. Two of those players haven't played with the first team since Niell's last 10 minute appearance on 5/17 against Chivas.

Now I don't want to turn this post into a Payne-bashing party. Because it would have been a huge stretch to assume that all five of these new players would work out for the club. Arguments about Gallardo's salary aside, I think we can all admit that 60% of Payne's foreign acquisitions have been worthwhile to the team. So I don't want to crucify the guy for being wrong on a couple. A 60% success rate is probably right on par with the rest of the league.

The question here is whether or not you think we should keep Niell or Carvallo past next Tuesday, when their salaries will become guaranteed for the remainder of the year. And I think the answer to THAT question comes in the form of ANOTHER question. Who would we replace them with? The international transfer window isn't far away. Releasing Niell and/or Carvallo would give the team room to move. Exactly how much room? Let's double check the roster breakdown one more time, since it's been about three months since our last reset.

18 Senior roster players:
1 Emilio, 2 Moreno, 3 Niell, 4 Doe, 5 Gallardo, 6 Fred, 7 Olsen, 8 Quaranta, 9 Mediate, 10 Dyachenko, 11 Simms, 12 Martinez, 13 Peralta, 14 Namoff, 15 Burch, 16 McTavish, 17 Wells, 18 Carvallo.

10 Developmental roster players:
1 Cordeiro, 2 Stratford, 3 Barlow, 4 Kirk, 5 Murphy, 6 J. Carroll, 7 P. Carroll, 8 Zaher, 9 Thorpe, with one spot remaining.

8 International players:
1 Emilio, 2 Niell, 3 Doe, 4 Gallardo, 5 Fred, 6 Martinez, 7 Peralta, with one spot remaining.

So with the transfer window opening, DC can afford to add two senior international players. But unless Payne has got his sights set on some other new South American talent, that doesn't necessarily mean that we SHOULD cut them both. Niell is suddenly lighting up the Reserve division, but to me, he's the first choice of players to go. Frankito now sits behind Rod Dyachenko and Francis Doe on the depth chart, and at $152,500, Niell's departure instantly becomes the most useful.

I'm a little bit more hesitant about letting go of Carvallo. James Thorpe doesn't appear to be ready for action yet, so if Wells were to get injured by second guessing himself three times, we need a semi-competent backup. So unless DC has some other keeper in mind waiting in the wings, Carvallo probably needs to stay.

That's enough out of me. Should they stay or should they go?

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!

3 goals by 3 rookies

The United Reserves fought back from a 2-0 deficit early in the second half to earn a 3-2 victory this morning at the RFK training grounds. Sitting out there for two hours, my arms are definitely sunburnt. Check out behindthebadge.com for the full match report, but I'll just point out some observations.

Starting lineup was:

--------------Carvallo----------------
Zaher-Curtin-Mediate-P.Caroll
Cordeiro-Murphy-Stratford-Kirk
---------Niell-Dyachenko-----------

Jeremy Barlow came in for Curtin at the half and played CDM, sliding Murphy back to central defense. If you're keeping track at home, Jeff Curtin was wearing #3 and Mike Zaher was wearing #20.

In a match that featured experienced forwards in Franco Niell and Rod Dyachenko, it was three rookie midfielders that were really the stars, along with some strong support by the two guys who signed just this week. I'm not going to write Top/Call/Rail ratings for the reserves, but this should give you a pretty good idea.

Players who impressed me the most:
1. Dan Stratford - Played the central attacking midfield role well, and had a first-team quality (hell, a Premier League quality) shot that scored early in the second half.

2. Jeff Curtin - Won every header that came his way in the first half. Until the very end of the half, when he went up for a ball and a Crew player cut underneath him, causing a pretty hard landing. That's probably the only reason he was subbed out. Looks like he has the quality to get some first team minutes. Although winning headers against Columbus reserves is probably a lot different from winning headers against guys like Dichio and Angel.

3. Jeremy Barlow - He's got the potential to be our new Moose. He's taller than Niell, but still very short (maybe 5'-7"?) and works hard. I was most impressed by his positioning. He always managed to find his way into open space to give his teammates an outlet pass when pressured. More of a holding midfielder than a true CDM. And his goal wasn't bad either.

4. Rod Dyachenko - Throughout the entire game, the attack constantly flowed through Rod. Without is absolute perfect cross-field pass on Cordeiro's game winner to hit him right in stride, this game would have ended a tie.

Players who I'm not quite sure about:
1. Ryan Cordeiro - Had a fantastic strike in extra time to win the game. Really clutch to bring the ball down and put it away with his left. But I'd like to see him communicate better with Zaher.

2. Mike Zaher - Clearly the FNG was trying to make a good first impression on the coaching staff. He's got some good speed and good work ethic, but he might be a little bit raw. Could have a future as a starting left back if he continues to work hard and refine his skills. I also have a feeling that he is going to be, um, pretty popular with the ladies?

3. Jose Carvallo - Looked shaky early in the match, and was beaten twice early on: once on a shot that went wide, and then on a shot that hit the crossbar. The first goal wasn't his fault, and I didn't have a good view of the second. But Carvallo really settled down in the second half and had a big part in the victory. He had back-to-back saves around the 65th minute on two point-blank shots.

Players I wasn't too impressed with:
1. Quavas Kirk - The dude's pretty big, and maybe needs to grow into his body a bit. There was one point when he lost the ball on the right wing, and then sprinted back to catch the Crew player before he could send in a cross. That's something you like to see. Although I'd rather see him not lose the ball in the first place. The own goal was more his fault than Peralta's was last night. Right off his leg while trying to bring down a corner kick.

2. Franco Niell - Even in reserve matches, he has trouble staying up. He really likes to dive, and obviously there's a language barrier, but he doesn't communicate with his teammates well. He does have a lot of talent though, and he was credited with an assist on Barlow's goal.

3. My camera - I took a bunch of pictures, but they mostly suck. I'll try to upload them to our new Flickr page later tonight or tomorrow so you can see for yourself.

MLS stakes its claim

2-1 was probably a pretty fair result to this match, with all three goals being scored by substitutes. Dyachenko's goal was well-deserved from the run of play, and Niell's goal was probably a bit lucky for him to get the ball in that position, but it was great to see him finish to stop the Kpene comparisons.

But where were the goals in the first half? Was our offense too slow, or was Pachuca's defense too fast? Maybe a combination of both? Seems like every time we had a good opportunity developing, a Pachuca player would block our shot. That's a skill you don't see as often in the MLS. Pachuca's defensive positioning was excellent, and DC's finishing was not. I'm going to keep the player ratings mostly brief so we can get into bigger and broader things.


1. Gonzalo Peralta - United starts a match in the 3-5-2 formation for the first time in almost a year, and Peralta did very well to keep the group organized.


1. Devon McTavish - I thought he played well in all places on the field, dropping back in defense when one of the back three went forward, and almost had a fantastic assist to Emilio in the first half on a ball that was shot just wide of an open net.

1. Luciano Emilio - How's that for a smooth transition? Emilio didn't play a poor game, because he positioned himself well to get lots of opportunties. But for a target striker, he needs to put away those opportunities.

All in all, a fantastic soccer match. I could gripe about the officiating if I wanted to, but despite that, this game between two very talented and essentially evenly matched opponents might turn out to be better than any MLS game we see all year. Which makes the result even more frustrating and disappointing. I really wanted to see DC compete in the World Club Championship. I think we play an attractive brand of soccer, and I was hoping we'd be able to showcase that to the world. Just to show them how far we've come as a team and as a league. This United team has the potential to be the best since Etcheverry retired, but its sad that we won't get the opportunity again to prove that to the world until Champions League starts for us in February next year.

That's it. Now I guess I'll go begrudgingly root for Houston. And ponder a question to which we'll never know the answer: Would the 3-2 aggregate result have been the same had the teams played the first match a bit closer to sea level?

Salaries

The MLS Players Union just released the annual salary figures for the league. For easy reference, below are the guaranteed salaries for each DC United player currently under contract as of 3/31/08:

DC Barlow Jeremy D $ 12,900.00
DC Burch Marc D $ 33,000.00
DC Carreiro da Silva Fred M-F $ 242,000.00
DC Carroll Jeff D $ 12,900.00
DC Carroll Pat D $ 12,900.00
DC Carvallo Jose GK $ 49,250.00
DC Cordeiro Ryan M $ 12,900.00
DC Dyachenko Rod M $ 33,000.00
DC Emilio Luciano F $ 313,125.00
DC Gallardo Marcelo M $ 1,874,006.00
DC Kirk Quavas F $ 136,500.00
DC Martinez Gonzalo D $ 244,750.00
DC McTavish Devon M $ 33,000.00
DC Mediate Domenic M-F $ 33,000.00
DC Moose Justin M $ 17,700.00
DC Moreno Jaime F $ 275,000.00
DC Namoff Bryan D $ 98,750.00
DC Niell Franco F $ 152,500.00
DC Olsen Ben M $ 215,000.00
DC Peralta Gonzalo D $ 199,000.00
DC Quaranta Santino M $ 35,000.00
DC Simms Clyde M $ 59,000.00
DC Stratford Dan M $ 17,700.00
DC Thorpe James GK $ 12,900.00
DC Wells Zachary GK $ 52,920.00

Some comments... I think it's far too easy to look at this list and say that McTavish is underpaid at $33K and Niell is overpaid at $152K. Realistically, there's a lot more to it. Franco Niell was probably earning around the same amount or less while playing in Argentina last year. So it costs more to bring him to the team than it does McTavish, who joined the league straight out of college.

Plus, (they'll probably hate me for saying this but...) you also have to consider the age/experience of Devon McTavish and Marc Burch, and the fact that DC United *could* have left them on the Developmental roster last year if they wanted to. But no, out of good faith, respect, and appreciation, United rightly gave promotions to these players who were making significant contributions. So what I'm getting it is... it *could* be worse...

It's also way too easy to say that Marcelo Gallardo ($1.874M) isn't worth four times as much as Christian Gomez ($430K). We've been through this and if you've ever read my blog before, then you know what my answer is going to be. Gomez couldn't get us anywhere in international tournaments, or in MLS Cup Playoffs the past two years. Gallardo was brought here to make the team more competitive internationally. So if DC United were to somehow manage to win the Champions Cup (seems unlikely at this point), then yes, Gallardo would be worth all that money and maybe more.

The Developmental salaries are kind of hard to follow too. All the rookies seem to be earning the minimum $12.9K, except for Dan Stratford at $17.7. I'm fine with that because it seems clear that he will be earning more playing time than the other rookies this year. But what jumped out at me was Justin Moose earning $17.7 while Jeff Carroll is still at $12.9. The answer here is easy too. Like Stratford, Moose started out earning $17.7 as a rookie last year, so United just decided not to give him a pay cut to come back.

Lastly, why did Gallardo insist on an extra $6 in his contract? $1,874,000 wasn't enough? I'm not sure if $6 will even buy you a beer at RFK anymore.

Dejected

I couldn't find the official box score online anywhere, so I'm just gonna estimate my own based on what I saw...

Shots on target: Pachuca - 42. United - 0.

Fouls committed: Pachuca - 2. United - 6323.

All things considered, a 2-0 final is maybe better than we deserved. We did have a lot of things working against us, so the team should not be completely dejected (like I am). It's hard to figure out how much of this loss was to blame on the altitude. And come to think of it, why is it only hard for a team from low-altitude to play in a locale with high-altitude? Shouldn't it also be difficult for a high-altitude team to play in low-altitude? Either way, next time around it will be Pachuca who has to play over the weekend and then fly across the country to play in an unfamiliar and unfriendly environment. And I bet THEIR team president won't foot the bill for a charter flight like ours did!


1. Gonzalo Martinez - I thought he played very well in the sweeper role. He's not the best passer, but he broke up a lot of plays, and was a lot of the reason why the score was only 2-0 and not 3 or 4-0.


1. Gonzalo Peralta - Ok he played well in defense. But I was really unhappy with his clearances, or were those passes? There were 3 or 4 times when we were trying to maintain possession, wound up passing the ball back to Burch or Martinez, he would pass it to the side to Peralta, and Peralta would just boot the ball forward. That's not the style of soccer I want the team to play.

2. Zach Wells - After the first half, I had Wells slotted in the "top shelf" category, or even as MOTM. But the first goal was a bit troubling. I don't like that the crowd was able to influence the referee into giving Wells a yellow card.


1. Franco Niell - Once again totally ineffective. Still holding out hope that he might be able to wreak havoc on MLS defenses coming on in the 75th minute, but he has yet to transition to perform well at this level.

2. Devon McTavish - After two of the best games of his life in the C-Cup, Devon laid a dud. I appreciate his newfound goal scoring touch. But what happened to that guy who made all those stand-up tackles in central defense that we all fell in love with last year?

3. Tom Soehn - I can't argue with any of the roster moves. He started the correct eleven players. Maybe he could have brought Dyachenko and Mediate in a couple minutes sooner, but I don't want to split hairs. My real complaint is the tactical decision to have Wells boot the ball out of the back every time he touched the ball. We were only maintaining possession of about 20% of those punts. Why not throw the ball out occasionally and let the midfield do their work?

How can consecutive 2-0 losses feel so completely different? Altogether, this isn't an entirely insurmountable lead. But it feels to me a lot like our 2-0 loss at Chicago in the playoffs last year. And I have a bad feeling that the home leg will be similar too, with a much-improved DC squad that will score a goal or two, but ultimately still come up short.

Ok to put this all in a different perspective. I still insist that the sky is NOT falling. DC United will still have a fine season in MLS play, in route to another high seed in the playoffs. BUT… That wasn't really the goal this year was it? And Soehn knows it, he's said it. The goal this year was to do well in international tournaments. I've said it before, but Ownership did not bring in Gallardo to win the Supporters' Shield. That's something we could have done with Gomez again. They brought in Gallardo with the intention of winning the Champions Cup and representing the continent in the World Club Championship. The rosy expectations about this season are fine, and I don't disagree with them. But is the whole season a disappointment if we don't advance?

This is depressing.

The season started? That wasn't just another scrimmage?

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. Or maybe it was the lack of live television coverage. Maybe they just figured that since they're playing a much more important game in a few days, this game probably didn't matter all that much. Regardless, it was not a very pretty sight, and yet no one is apparently all that upset about it.


1. Bryan Namoff - Was his usual consistent self on defense, and was a cheap offside flag away from notching an assist to Peralta in the box.


1. Marcelo Gallardo and Clyde Simms - With these two pitted against Carlos Marinelli and Kerry Zavagnin, we really should have dominated the midfield. No such luck.

2. Franco Niell - Not a strong game. I have a feeling that he will be much more of a weapon coming off the bench than is he when he starts. If Moreno isn't fit enough to start, I'd rather see Quaranta in the starting XI and Niell as a super-sub.


1. Luciano Emilio - I thought it was a tale of two halves for him. In the first half he had one great shot on goal that forced Hartman into a diving save, and even got more involved in the defense than usual. But he seemed to lack any bit of motivation in the second half, and his giveaway led to the second goal.

2. Marc Burch and Dominic Mediate - Not a great game for the two Terps who grace the left border of this blog. Either one of them could have done more to stop the first goal. Jewsbury should not have had a clean pass to Trujillo like that.

3. Zach Wells - Can't fault him for the first goal, but the second goal is exactly what I've been afraid of since we first got word that our boy Troy was bolting for Scandinavia. Perkins would have been off his line quicker and would have made a sliding tackle before Lopez was able to get off that chip shot.

One lesson learned though... Kansas City is probably better than I thought. Claudio Lopez really seems to have been embraced by his team, and Ivan Trujillo seems like a bit of a jackass, but will probably score a lot of goals this year.

A rule change that actually benefits DC

Gasp! And here we were thinking that MLS only made rule changes in order to benefit the Galaxy!

Maybe this was announced earlier and I missed it, but a change to the MLS roster rules has come up today only because of Goff's latest post announcing the signing of Justin Moose to a Developmental contract, and the news that Kpene and Dyachenko are still eligible for Developmental contracts. Wait a minute... Didn't we previously count all three of them as being in competition for Senior roster slots?

Let's go back two months to a Roster Analysis post I wrote back on December 27th. Here's an excerpt:

What has not changed is the basic breakdown of 18 senior roster players and 10 developmental roster players. Straight from the MLS Roster Composition page: "Developmental players can be either domestic or international and must be 24 years of age (goalkeepers may be 25) or younger during the calendar year of competition."

That was a direct quote from the 2007 Player Rules, but when you click on the link now, the 2008 Player Rules says: "Developmental players can be either domestic or international and must be 25 years of age or younger during the calendar year of competition."

This is huge news for DC United, and it completely alters all of our previous forecasts of who is in competition for what spots. What a difference a year makes! So who is definitively eligible for the Developmental roster? The easiest thing to do is just look at the team's website and everyone born in 1983 or later is technically eligible, which means Burch and McTavish could technically be relegated if they were ever to fall out of favor with the coaching staff. Jose Carvallo and Franco Niell are also technically eligible, but I doubt they would have left their home countries for Developmental contracts. So here's how we see it playing out...

18 Senior roster players:
1 Emilio, 2 Moreno, 3 Niell, 4 Gallardo, 5 Fred, 6 Olsen, 7 Simms, 8 Martinez, 9 Peralta, 10 Namoff, 11 Burch, 12 McTavish, 13 Wells, 14 Carvallo, 15 Mediate, 16 Dyachenko. With the competition for the final 2 slots now coming down to Santino Quaranta, Jamil Walker, David Blumer, and Josh Gardner (born in 1982 - I checked). I've got to think Quaranta is probably back, and Walker and Blumer will go at it for the last spot. Sounds like another potential Versus.

10 Developmental roster players:
1 J. Carroll, 2 P. Carroll, 3 Kirk, 4 Moose, 5 Owens, 6 Stratford, 7 Thorpe, 8 Cordeiro, 9 Kpene. With the competition for the final slot now coming down to Tony Schmitz, Dane Murphy and Cezar. Cezar is an unknown so we'll see what the coaches think of him, but right now I think the edge has to go to Murphy since Schmitz has apparently not been traveling with the team (still in school - what a poor excuse!)

So why do I list Dyachenko on the full roster and Kpene on the Dev roster? Others might argue with me, but I feel like Rod has done more to earn the full roster slot and the salary that comes with it. Also, he was on the full roster last year and Kpene was not, so I don't see why they would change it. And lastly, with Niell on the roster and a healthy Jamil Walker (or Blumer), we're a lot deeper at forward now than we were last year, so Kpene will likely be seeing much less playing time, and actually could be potential trade bait if they sign Cezar too.

8 International players:
Competition has definitely increased on the international front. Let's see, we've got 1 Emilio, 2 Niell, 3 Gallardo, 4 Fred, 5 Martinez, 6 Peralta, 7 Carvallo, 8 Stratford, 9... Uh oh... This is a bad sign for Cezar. All indications out of camp seem to be that Stratford has earned his way onto the roster, and may even compete with Dyachenko for playing time. The Brazilian will really have to impress to make the team. David Blumer? According to Goff he's got a US Passport so he won't count against the international quota.

Whew. The MLS Rules committee really knows how to keep us bloggers on our toes. It must be a cool job to be able to just change the rules as you go along without ever really telling anybody. But I'm sure we've all had bosses like that.

Patiently waiting

Still lots of unofficial uncommented unannounced things happening in the world of United. Jose Carvallo (G), Franco Niell (F), and Gonzalo Martinez (D) all seem likely to join the team in the coming weeks.

I had given up on Gonzalo Peralta (D), but now he might still be coming too, unofficially. Last we had heard on Peralta, he wanted to stay with his Argentine club until the end of their season in June. At the time, that sounded like a deal breaker. But now if Martinez is definitely coming, then Peralta is a bit less likely to be a full-time starter, and could help provide some midseason relief for Martinez, McTavish, and Vanney(?).

But the biggest unannounced announcement that we've heard so far this week is that Jaime Moreno has agreed to a contract extension that will keep him in DC for two more years. That's a big win for the good guys! Moreno continues to be the captain and leader of the team, so despite all these other changes, having him back will be a huge step in the direction of stability. And now all of a sudden we've got solid depth up top. In a matter of a couple weeks, we went from potentially having a starting lineup of Emilio and Kpene as forwards, to now having Emilio, with maybe a rotation of Moreno and Niell in the starting lineup, and Kpene occassionally in relief. Things are definitely starting to unofficially look up.

I'll post about the draft picks later when I get a chance to do a bit more research on them. But in the mean time, there's only one thing to do while we wait patiently for some announcements...

"I trust the front office. I trust the front office…"

More on Niell

That's our boy Franco Niell scoring the second goal in this clip. Nothing too impressive, more of a right-place-right-time-Rod sort of goal.



But this goal is much more to get excited about. The little man has got some hops! Even if his jersey barely fits him...

Niell's nickname is "El Enano", which literally translates to mean "the Dwarf". And here I was thinking DC United was scouting for talent in Argentina, not Middle-Earth. What, Gimli wasn't available?

Franco Niell

The front office has had a pretty busy week down in Argentina. Goff reports, and it appears to be confirmed by Pasion Paternal, that Argentine forward Franco Niell will be joining DC United on a one-year loan for $60,000, with an option to buy for $900,000, pending a medical exam on January 24th.

$60,000 to loan this guy sounds like a great deal. There are doubts about his size and his recent statistics. But this guy should be in front of Kpene and Addlery on the depth chart just based on his nationality alone!

Whether Moreno is back this year or not, I'm excited about this deal. If Jaime is playing for one more year, then Niell should provide quality relief, as Jaime will certainly not be playing many 90 minute games. If Moreno is outie, then Niell could potentially be a starter next to Emilio, although then I hope that we still pursue one additional forward. That or Kevin Payne needs to invent a way to somehow combine each of the positive attributes of Rod and Guy and Nick into a single player.