DC United got back in this thing called CONCACAF Champions League. With a 7-0 walloping of Marathon by Toluca, DCU is tied on goal differential with Marathon and a win on Thursday would put them in a strong position. The way the rest of the CL schedule works out, a win Thursday, coupled with a Win against San Juan at home and an away draw with Toluca would see them through. Based on the fact that the next league game is San Jose on Sunday, DC SHOULD be able to get 3 points in that game at home without throwing out their best 11. My hope is that they take the next two CONCACAF games seriously, and then put 11 behind the ball away at Toluca on October 20th.

Other News:
Goff says that we MIGHT be opening away at FC Dallas, home opener against New England, and then we will plays Philadelphia’s home opener (most likely at the Link).

By my math, we should be seeing both Marc Burch and Dejan Jakovic back from surgery soon. This should help matters, if only because it means we won’t see anymore Avery John.

Also, in somewhat old news, DCU roster moves have put Ely Allen, Ange N’Silu, and Greg Janicki on the inactive list, which means they are only available for CONCACAF play. Out of those there, I’d only like to see N’Silu get another run out, perhaps at Toluca. Boyzzz Khumalo is also activated, though he’s not ready for game action.

Also, I probably forgot to mention this too, but the team signed Lawson Vaughn, formerly of Chivas USA. This move is a cover pickup, with our centerback situation being so bad lately that Clyde Simms has started three games in the middle.

DCUMD does the first of his Benny Awards, this time for the most underrated player on the team this year.

I should be in attendance on Thursday, despite a night class and a pending assignment that will be explained in said class. Never question my dedication (to United. To Graduate School….I guess that’s debatable).

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

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?

Clyde Simms looks to be resigned next week, according to the Goff. Also in that post, the subtle hint that Bryan Namoff may not be returning. All I have to say is he better, cause my girlfriend is sporting his jersey thanks to me and the GREAT sale at United’s online store (link here).

Two random people may be coming to DC according to Spanish language reports. Walter Martinez and Jocimar Nascimento. *Yes I know MLS Rumors is stupid, but its the offseason, what do you want?

Jeff Carroll got waived. Eh. Do we even really need a link for that?

First Kick weekend got announced, with DC to open the season against LA at HDC on March 22nd. First home game is against San Jose on March 28th. So, start the countdown.

And that’s really all there is. The Superdraft is next month, and we’ve got some good picks. Will DC deviate from its usual plan of picking players who won’t play for cheap? Will the changes in salaries rules change the way the draft affects player selection? We shall see.

DC came off an unlucky 2-1 defeat at the hands of Chivas (but Chivas is very good). Two posts and a missed peno spells unlucky in any language. I’m not going to get into a recap of that game, cause it was a while ago, and it has been dissected already. I’ll only say Wells did pretty good, Simms did pretty bad, and all the rest of the players were eh. Oh, I forgot, Dyachenko sucks.

Atlante got spanked 4-0 by Houston, who if you remember, had a scoring problem earlier this year. Teams respond two ways after that kind of dismantling; they lick their wounds and come out flat the next game, or they get pissed and become very difficult to play against. I think they’re going to come out a lot better than they did on Saturday, and I see a 2-2 tie in the future. I hope I’m wrong.

Some quick and dirty links:
- Goff does an feature of Craig Thompson, who to me is a decent reserve, and nothing more. Some people are getting a little too hyped on this guy. Fighting Talker agrees.
- The Washington Times smelled the same story line, and also offered a profile of Thompson.
- The World Wide Leader (WWL henceforth) noticed that MLS teams are at a disadvantage in international competitions. Well, welcome to the party, boys.
- The MLS preview of tonight’s game.
- On the mainpage of the Offside, the discovery that MLS teams only split $125k of the winnings, and Mexican teams split the whole $1 million. Pathetic. I hope Eddie Pope and the Players Union stick it to MLS next offseason.

That’s it, back tomorrow with a recap and pictures.

Where to begin? Oh, I know. Greater than the win, or the crowd, or beating Becks. Ben Olsen, heart and soul of DC United, stepped back on the pitch for the time this season. Did he look great? No. Did it matter? Not at all. It was an amazing sound when Benny stepped back on the pitch, as the Barra and every fan who know was going on stood up and cheered Benny. It was wonderful, and the most emotional moment of the day.

As for the rest of the game, you can’t argue with 4 goals. The first half was spotty at time, and more goals should have been converted against a spotty LA defense. I felt bad for Cronin, because not too many goals were his fault today. Donovan had a gripe with Gallardo, and the fourth official is a blind man, which was good for us. Fred was again poor, with no real positive impact on the game. Peralta, who many BigSoccer people have problems with, is an all or nothing player. He always seems to either make a big play, or make a massive blunder. As a midfielder, you can get away with that sometime, but as a centerback, those mistake often translate directly to goals. Zach Wells did much better today, with three strong saves that I can remember.

Ratings: Wells 7, Martinez 8 (He locked Becks down), Peralta 5, McTavish 6, Namoff 7, Quaranta (NR), Burch 7, Gallardo (there will be a big post about him this week) 7, Fred 5, Simms 6, Moreno 8, Emilio 9, Dyachenko 6, Olsen 100 (I know, I know. More like an NR, but, it’s my blog so whatever)

What did you think?