As was previously stated here (okay, I was off by a little bit), it looks like Ben Olsen is going to hang up his boots. Although it could have been easily guessed that his time was running out, Olsen has decided that either pain or other considerations have made it undesirable to continue his career.

His contributions to the club cannot be understated, as Benny went from being a young and energetic kid, to a skillful young American player, an injured older player, and a tenacious, aggressive and professional veteran. It was easy to see what Ben still brought to the table last season, but it was also evident to those who watched that Ben wasn’t close to his old self most of the time. The thing that saddens me is what his last kick was for DC, a stupid, petulant red card. Similar to Zidane, albeit on a tremendously smaller and more insignificant scale, you never want a legend to go out in a negative way. Of course his legacy is much deeper than that, and Goff said that its likely he stays with the club in some capacity.

I hope that in the coming year or two, the club throws Benny a testimonial at RFK, giving all of his fans a chance to see him play one more time, and send him off with the love and loyalty that DCU fans have shown to him in the past.

“We don’t want to play like Colorado or New England, which most of the season sat with eight or nine guys behind the ball. How many people go to watch Colorado or New England play? That’s a problem for our league. We can’t play like we’re a team desperately trying to remain in 14th place in the Premiership.”

AND

Given a choice, we would rather attack than cynically defend. You look at the way Real Salt Lake played when they came here [a 0-0 tie in May] and sat 10 guys behind the ball. You don’t have to do that. Sometimes that is the best way to get a result — if you don’t care about the product, if you don’t care about advertising your league. Long term, who wants to watch that?”

One more…

“There are a lot of games in our league that I can’t watch. The problem in our league isn’t who is or isn’t in the playoffs; it’s that not enough people want to watch our league yet, and we have to convince them that our league is worth watching. I don’t think [playing conservatively] is the way to do it. I recognize there is more than one way to skin a cat. I’m not saying that everyone has to play an attacking style, but that is our style and identity, and we have to be honest with ourselves and say there are sometimes liabilities [such as missing the playoffs] that come with it.
“We still have a lot more trophies in our case than everybody else, so I think in the long run, it’s the right thing to do. This league is changing [a smaller percentage of teams will make the playoffs as MLS expands by three over the next two seasons] and we are going to see more of that kind of [defensive] approach: results at any cost.”

Making Friends and Influencing People, by Kevin Payne. Needless to say these comments have not been taken well across the league, and the fact that DCU have missed the playoffs twice in a row, along with the fact that DCU tied RSL in goals scored makes the comments ring a little hollow.

Meanwhile, Tom Soehn waits for his future to be sorted as his contract expires this month. This could also be read as, Tom Soehn starts to clear his office as the Front Office searches for his replacement and waits for his contract to expire so they don’t have to pay a guy they fired.

Looks like Moreno and Olsen would like to come back, with Moreno making a here or elsewhere-I’m playing statement, and Olsen saying that his future will be decided by the front office in the coming weeks. For both, it’ll be a necessary pay cut that they’ll have to accept to stay with the club. The team is stronger if they’re able to keep them, but in a reserve capacity. We will soon see how that shakes out, and the new CBA agreement may have a lot to do with it.

Lastly, and kind of interestingly, Fred is a wanted man, somewhere. Looks like Melborne would like to bring back Fred in a CAM role, AKA the role in which he’s a productive player that we never played him in. DC has an option for him in 2010, but I see him moving on.

More as it develops.

I just heard from my source (the same one that said the Real Madrid was confirmed, and then it was later on in the week he said it would happen), that Ben communicated to a confidant that he was done playing due to the pain he was experiencing. The acquisition of Danny Szetela makes all the more sense now, which lends some credibility to the report.

If this is the case, I believe DC is still on the hook for Olsen’s remaining salary, but will have another roster spot available. Of course, this neglects the fact that all of us have probably been pushing to the back of our minds; that Olsen while still a serious talent and the heart of the team, was living on borrowed time, and crippled ankles. If the report bears out, then I hope the supporters will wish him well and send him off in a proper fashion.

We’ll see how this plays out.

Starting 11
I think Soehn will come out with his normal 3-5-2 like so:

———————-Crayton—————————
————Burch—–Jakovic—–Namoff—————-
——————–Olsen—Simms———————-
——Wallace——————————Pontius——
————————Gomez————————–
—————Emilio———–Moreno——————

If this line-up looks familiar, its because it is the same line-up Soehn has been using all year and will likely never change. I can see Fred, Quaranta, and Barklage coming in for Wallace, Moreno, and Gomez in the 2nd half if we have the lead.

Tommy Talks some Smack:
I came across this quote today on the examiner website: “We thought about training in our parking lot to try to emulate what our game is going to be like,” said Soehn. “But there was a little too much gravel. It’s hard because even if we go onto our [artificial turf] field it’s not even close to how it plays there… it plays too much like grass.”

Hey Tommy, talking smack about the field at Giants Stadium before the game doesn’t count as a reason for you not to prepare the team and then use the turf as an excuse for us losing tomorrow

DC came out and dominated the first half, scored their goal, and went into halftime with a lead.

They came back out a different team, and were hurt by a mistake by backup keeper, Josh Wicks. Sloppy passing, poor shot selection, and questionable decisions by DC players led to the draw and to the feeling of disappointment that was evident in the crowd at RFK.

Speaking of the crowd, it as a little sparse. The loud side was taking care of business and standing for 90, but the quiet side was dead, and not very populated. Disappointing for a home opener. Do better next week, people.

Bryan Namoff. What were you doing? I counted at least 4 or 5 times where Namoff carried the ball way up into the attack and was caught in possession. I apologize to Bryan if Tommy was asking him to do that, but if not…c’mon.

Benny was fantastic, and the little episode with Blanco which isn’t being talked about anywhere was awesome. Basically, Blanco ran into Ben, and Ben pushed him off. Blanco then faked jab stepped around him (which made no sense), and then Ben shoulder charged him. He was already on a yellow, so I thought that was his Zidane-esque moment of madness, but the referee yelled at Blanco to stop diving. Hilarious.

I tried to twitter updates, but I can tell you right now, that isn’t going to happen. Sorry. Follow the DCUnited twitter updates, they get paid to not watch the game.

Thoughts?

Anyway, Chicago is rolling into town tonight, coming off of a strong performance last week, beating FC Dallas, 3-1. The only offense Dallas had was a 60 yard bomb by Kenny Cooper, so the defense showed well. DC as you know, is coming off of a 2-2 draw (robbery) in LA. I never recapped the game, mostly because of my anger over the refereeing. Tonight, DC will look to take the game out of the refs hands, and deliver a strong performance at home.

Unfortunately, some factors may prevent that. Fred, Santino Quaranta, Devon McTavish, Greg Janicki, and possibly Louis Crayton remain out. That is quite a chunk of the roster. Particularly worrisome is the lack of experience on the wings. To counter that, I believe we’ll see Pontius log major minutes, possibly on the left wing. Emilio and Moreno up top, otherwise I think Moreno is going to flip out. Boyzz on the right side, giving us some speed, while giving up some defensive pressure. But that’s ok, because we’ll have Simms N’ Olsen, jamming up the middle. Gomito should light it up in his first game back at old RFK, and the three man backline of Namoff, Janicki, and Burch should be….fun to watch? Hopefully, we don’t see Wicks, but I’ll bet we do.

I’ll be at the game providing Twitter updates, should you chose to follow them. You can find all that goodness here. I should also be back with some pictures, taken with my crappy camera because, in case you haven’t heard, it’s a 100 PERCENT CHANCE OF RAIN. C’mon, weather. I’m tired of you.

OFFICIAL DC UNITED THE OFFSIDE PREDICTION: DC 3, CHI 3
Chicago has a potent offense, and until we figure out the backline, we’re going to have to outgun teams. That may not be as mad as it seems, because I think we won’t want for goals this season either. But still, be prepared for goals. Not caused by skill so much, but keystone cops defending due to horrible playing conditions.
2009 Record: 0-1
I’ve learned my lesson this week, going with the draw. We’ll see how it all turns out.

Who’s coming with me?

This Sunday, United travels to the Home Depot Center to visit one of the sadder cases in MLS in the last 2 years, the Galaxy. LA, who have been reorganized and retooled an extent by former USA and DC United head coach Bruce Arena, are moving forward this year with a more “experienced” team than last year, with an average age around 30. This never bodes well for a long season, but its better than playing Josh Tudela every game.

LA strengthened its backline through the draft, picking Omar Gonzalez, and thru the transfer market, picking up Donovan Ricketts, the Jamaican National Team keeper.

Goldenballs is set to return in July, and until then, LA is free of the obligation of his salary. However, they’ve yet to spend that money. So, it’s just a gap in their team.

Landon Donovan, fresh off of his German adventure, brings the only constantly threatening force to a team that will be lacking in attacking bite.

Dema Kovalenko has been added, most likely for his oftsited “grit” in the defensive midfield. But enough about LA.

DC travels across the country, already with its usual complement of injuries. Not making the trip, Santino Quaranta and Fred are already sporting hamstring injuries that will keep them out at least until the home opener, in Fred’s case, and the Houston game, in Santino’s case.

Louis Crayton and Bryan Namoff, who suffered leg and rib injuries respectively, will be fit and in the starting lineup on Sunday.

All week, Tom Soehn has said that he expects that DC will come out in a 3-5-2, at least until their attacking width is healthy. Below would be my expected lineup…

Crayton
Namoff———Jankovic———–Burch
Simms—McTavish
Khumalo—Gomez—Wallace
Emilio—-Moreno
I’d like to see Moreno as a withdrawn Forward, in sort of a dual playmaker roll with Gomez, but we’ll see how it rolls forward.

Links and OPO:
Sports Illustrated says that DC will finish in last. I will eat a soccer ball if that happens. The text for those who don’t want to boost SI’s ad revenue..

• D.C. United will finish in last place. Christian Gómez is back, but he lost his form a while back. Gómez and Luciano Emilio formed a strong partnership in ‘07, but two years later, the two players are fighting to recover from poor seasons. D.C. had a terrible regular season but managed to win the U.S. Open Cup. That triumph set United up for failure this year, as it once again will compete in the CONCACAF Champions League, a tournament that sunk D.C.’s regular-season hopes in ‘08.

Soccer America thinks DC loses to LA this weekend.

The Examiner offers all you need to know about the game, including injury updates for both squads (Ricketts, Buddle questionable, Lewis probable, Todd Dunivant and Leonard Griffin (who?) are out. )

MLSNet’s Charles Boehm has a nice piece about the young defense, and the decision to go with the 3-5-2. Here’s Benny,

“The 4-4-2, sometimes with a young back line, it’s confusing,” acknowledged Olsen, moments after his tongue-in-cheek attempt “to duck what formation we’re going to play this weekend” drew laughter from the media in attendance.

“Sometimes three in the back makes it a little bit more concrete for them as far as their decisions,” he continued. “But we’re working on that stuff this week and the coaching staff will take care of that.”

Steve Goff’s paper preview.

Donovan is still sleeping over at DCenters. I’m sure he’ll having something up soon.

Ok, that’s it. It’s game time, huahh!

Official Prediction!!!

The Official DC United Offside Prediction: 3-2 DC.
Your thoughts?

The beginning of the 2009 MLS Campaign begins today, with light jogging and some stretching. I couldn’t be happier.

Here’s the entire scoop on the preseason for DCU.

Today, they are practicing at the RFK turf field. A number of players are not in camp, most notably among them is Marcelo Gallardo. Gallardo was given permission by the team to stay in Argentina to continue to rehab until next week. Coincidentally, this is also when DC will leave cold Washington to head to Sunny Florida. Kind of a jerk move, Marcelo. You haven’t exactly earned these privileges yet.

Also not in camp, and not on the roster are Quavas Kirk (good riddance), Ryan Cordiero (that’s unfortunate), and Pat Carroll (ehh). Ivan Guerrero continues to train with the Honduras National team, and is reportedly in great shape.

Kyle Veris, a former Galaxy defender (an oxymoron if ever there was one) is on trial with DC, and draft pick Lyle Adams (who seems to be the shiz) is deciding whether or not he wants to play for a pittance.

That’s all the news I have for now. As I read new stuff, it shall appear here.

I’m pumped, people.

Best new ever alert? Ben Olsen is out on the field, and “moving around well” according to Goff. My soccer heart is atwitter.

Here from Behind the Badge is the schedule for the whole preseason.

D.C. United 2009 Preseason Schedule (all times EST):
January 22 – February 2: Washington, DC

February 3 – February 11: Bradenton, Fla.
Tuesday, Feb. 10: Match vs. Columbus Crew

February 12 – February 17: Washington, DC

February 18 – February 25: TBD
February 25 – March 4: Washington, DC

March 5 – March 15: Charleston, SC
Saturday, March 7: Match vs. Real Salt Lake (5 p.m.)
Wednesday, March 11: Match vs. Toronto FC (5 p.m.)
Saturday, March 14: Match vs. Charleston (7:15 p.m.)

March 16-18: Washington, DC

March 22: DCU @ LA Galaxy

While you’re here, read and comment on the previous interviews of Greg Janecki, Santino Quaranta, Ben Olsen, and Guy Roland Kpene

I was there last night, and I was fairly pleased. I say fairly because there were some stupid passes in the midfield, and some questionable play by certain players (I’m looking your way Emilio), and because we SHOULD get three points against anyone in the Western Conference. Rubbish. Anyway…
The first half saw only one late goal by Joe Vide, his first of his career. Scored off of a nice volley, which could have been a GOTW nominee if not for a later strike by Santino. An opportunistic finish by Quevas Kirk less than a minute after he came on finished the scoring.
Louis Crayton was solid if not spectacular. He made the few saves he needed to, was aggressive off of his line, took down crosses, and generally hustled and marshalled the backline. I appreciate that, particularly as its such a departure from previous goalkeeping this season.

Another observation came after the game. Ben Olsen, who was on the sub bench for some reason, “ran” over to hug Facundo Erpen. I say “run”, but I could have also said hobbled, galloped, or old-man-with-arthritis-movement. It didn’t look good, and I would be shocked if he’s game fit this season at all. At this point, as has been said by other bloggers, I’d rather see those that are hurt wait as long as they need and be recovered for the playoffs, or failing that, Champions League.

All in all, a good result. Players were fighting for the ball, and almost all of them were succeeding in winning it. Emilio had two assists, and when Goff told him that, he replied “I’m a number 10″. That’s a funny answer, and I give him credit for his humor, but he wasn’t much of an offensive threat, and he hasn’t been for about 3 weeks. Santino must not be giving him the service he wants. Below are some pics from the game. Leave your thoughts about the final result in the comments.

DCU vs Colorado