To be a soccer fan in DC

By: jon | September 29th, 2009

There is a caveat to this post: we don’t have it near as bad as Red Bull fans have it. True, they have a new stadium coming, but that team is a disaster from top to bottom, with little hope of immediate recovery. Now that I’ve cleared that up, this is a bad time to be a United fan.

The breadth of this experience was on display Sunday afternoon. After a solid performance last Thursday against Marathon at home, DC came out against a team that hadn’t won at home in eons, in a game that HAD to be won. The first half, I turned to my fiance, saying that the team hasn’t looked this good in a while. They were working triangles, making smart runs, and generally showing some sorely missed flair. We were hard done to not have scored in the first half, but I dismissed the poor finishing as par for the course, and hoped we’d figure it out.

Then the dark cloud (figuratively and literally) moved over RFK and sat there.

Josh Wicks came out aggressively (for a change) and made contact with Ryan Johnson instead of the ball, dislocating his shoulder and spraining his knee.

Now, would the team react with fire and battle to keep the lead? Or would they fold like a lawn chair? Guess which one happened.

The team fell apart, with a free kick goal that was hard to be stopped and a Marc Burch disaster that led to goal number two. (To be fair, Soehn threw Burch to the wolves after not playing for weeks). They threw the kitchen sink at San Jose after Soehn finally brought in Christian Gomez with 10 minutes remaining, but too little too late.

No heart. No strength. No playoffs.

I’m in the same position as I was one year ago where I thought not getting in the playoffs may be better for the team in the future. The front office was able to hold off the fans, by promising greater accountability and better results. We got neither, and this year looks to be another year without playoff soccer. If we don’t make it this year, we’ve forced some changes.

The only thing to get out of the rest of this season is to advance in Champions League (which is doable) and to see what we have with the rest of this roster for the rest of the MLS season. By default, we get to see what Milos Kocic is made of, and I want to see players like Shipalane, Habarugira, Szetela, Jacobson (and N’Silu at Toluca). If these guys can’t make the best of their opportunities, then they need to be cut loose. Going into the close season, changes will need to be made, and the new CBA agreement will have a lot to do with it. Higher salary cap, DP’s not counting against the cap, and higher pay minimums mean a restructuring will be necessary and possible.

I’ll do what everyone else is seemingly doing and give me thoughts about the roster, and what we should do with them.

Goalies
Wicks- Keep him. He’s shown that he’s capable, and is an affordable option. The reason we suck is not Josh Wicks.
Kocic- Here’s his opportunity. Run with it Milos, and you’ll be here next year. Be horrible, the picture is less clear.
Hamid- Keep obviously. Maybe loan him out?

Defence
John- Adios, buddy. Coaching maybe in TnT?
Habarugira- If he gets a runout for the rest of the season, we should be able to see what we have. If we don’t play him, we should keep him until we figure it out.
James- I’m torn on James. I’m not impressed all the way, and I think what has been said about him before holds true. Athleticism only gets you so far, and he seems to have some mind lapses that you can’t have in that part of the field. I’ll go with cut him.
Vaughan- Keep him. Valuable backup, and with more experience in the team, will be a good asset.
Burch- If you can find a better LB in the offseason, trade him. He’ll have value somewhere, but he gets burned too often and he isn’t dangerous enough going forward to look past that.
Jakovic- Lock him up. Throw away the key.
Janicki- Reserve. Too slow, nice guy, but not cut out for MLS.
McTavish- Useful as a guy off the bench, but should not be relied on for major minutes. If a better option can be found for his spot at an increased salary, make it happen.
Namoff- Concussion news is scary, as we’ve seen in the past. Hopefully, the prognosis is good and he’ll return to the same form. Keep, but watch out for problems.
Wallace- Keep.

Midfield
DiRaimondo- Waive. Not good enough.
Szetela- Who knows? Hopefully we get to find out, particularly if Olsen retires, he’ll be necessary.
Allen- Waive.
Shipalane- Keep, has something that the team lacks, speed and the ability to attack defenders. Needs to be coached more, but that’s the easy part.
Barklage- Keep. Looked good before injury, and is a good option.
Fred- Ah, Fred. He who has so much talent, but produces so little. As much as it’s hard to say, Fred needs to go. Can’t finish, gives the ball away, and isn’t good enough at crossing the ball to be retained as a pure winger.
Gomez- Keep for one more year. With more speed around him, Gomez can still be dangerous. He also steps his game up internationally, which we’ll need next year.
Jacobson- Play him for the rest of the season, flashes of talent, but may be able to find someone better at his salary.
Ben Olsen- Pay cut, and keep. He still has aggressiveness and bite, shown against Marathon, but can also turn in stinkers like San Jose. Has a role to play, but not at 200k plus.
Pontius and Tino- KEEP.
Simms- I don’t love Simms, but he’s consistent. No more CB, and I see him as value, but he needs to level out his play and try to get forward occasionally.

Forwards

Emilio- Reduce salary, find him a suitable strike partner, and keep. If he isn’t willing to take a pay cut, then let him go. Too inconsistent, and too reliant on others to score.
Moreno- Not a 90 minute player any more. If he can accept that, keep him. If he can’t, offer him a job in the organization.
Khumalo- Keep. Needs work on his finishing, but he’s a talent, and cheap.
N’Silu- Sorry buddy. Waive.

What do you think about all this? Want to see DC make the playoffs? Care about Champions League? Fire Soehn?