International update

Looks like our acquisition of Gonzalo Martinez is just about official, and that Said Godinez is probably not heading to the nation's capitol. Nothing further yet on Carvallo. But this is developing quite nicely. Assuming we re-sign Vanney, we might see a rotation of three guys at center back again with Martinez, Vanney, and McTavish. It's nice to have depth again. If we can come away with both Martinez and Niell, I'll be happy. I'm mostly indifferent about Carvallo right now, just because I'm reasonably confident that we can find another decent American goalkeeper, judging from our country's world renowned reputation of producing decent goalkeepers.

Also in the news is our favorite Terp that doesn't currently wear black and red: Taylor Twellman. Twellman wants to take his 29 credits overseas to Preston North End, but the move has been blocked assumedly by the Revolution. New England is good at exactly two things: Losing MLS Cups, and screwing it's top players out of chasing their dreams in Europe. Nice to see Taylor being honest about the whole thing.

Midnight Riding a Bike

Let's see the Boston Globe try to top that headline!

So I guess 32 credits was all that Taylor Twellman needed at the University of Maryland. Wow, what a goal.

And I don't need to hear the arguments that it should have been disallowed. The rule says that a dangerous play call is at the discretion of the referee. And this is coming from a guy who just saw United knocked out of the playoffs on a "discretionary" handball call.

The Revolution sure have this whole 3-5-2 thing figured out. Heaps, Parkhurst, and John were great, and Joseph was brilliant. I'd like to see Clyde Simms develop more into the Shalrie Joseph type. He's got the body for it. But Joseph is such a leader, pointing and directing wherever he goes. I also think Parkhurst's Defender of the Year title is well deserved.

I will be wearing all black to MLS Cup in support of United, no doubt about it. But don't be surprised if you hear from me a couple of "Taylor Twellman! Clap, clap, clap-clap-claps"

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.

Golden Boot

Surprise surprise.

Angel couldn't score a goal last night against the Galaxy despite numerous chances to tie Luciano Emilio for most goals in the league. Can the Red Bulls beat us at anything? So unless Eddie Johnson or Taylor Twellman can put up five goals this weekend, our boy Luci-gol has locked up his first Golden Boot award.

Next up: MVP.