This season is past half over, and DC United is tied for second in the Eastern Conference. With a record of 5-3-9, this United team has not blown the doors off, and has shown the ever maddening “flashes of brilliance” followed by the defensive meltdowns reminiscent of 2008. In all competitions, 37 goals for and 26 for sounds like a commanding offense, but throwing out the goal fest US Open Cup game against NY, they have drawn 4 times when they’ve scored 2 or more.

This team needs quite a few things for the total package to go into the Playoffs and win, and to show well in its international commitments. Below, I’ll review them, and I hope to elicit your opinions as well.

Need #1: Left back
Marc Burch and Avery John have both been atrocious. Slow, bad passing, and in Burch’s case, generally ineffective on free kicks and service. Burch’s power is not to be doubted, but he has to actually score occasionally to earn his keep if he’s going to stink in defense. Avery John needs to go. He’s past his expiration date, and his experience don’t make up for his complete lack of speed.

Need #2: CAM or Winger
Santino Quaranta has had a strong year, and is currently being rewarded for it with USMNT caps. Christian Gomez has scored 5 goals in all competitions, and has looked dangerous at times, but has generally showed that he’s lost a step, and can’t be counted on for 90 minutes. Fred. Sigh, Oh Fred. The goal scoring touch has eluded Fred, and for his salary, the team has to be looking for more results. He’s good on the ball often, and can make a creative pass occasionally, but, just not good enough right now. Barklage showed some promise, but he’s out for the rest of the season. This roster is screaming out for an experienced left winger (a la a hungry and eager DeMarcus Beasley) or a young creative midfielder with a scoring touch. We’ve got three roster spots to play with, and one of them needs to be used here.

Need #3: Forward Depth
Luciano Emilio should be the picture next to the word “streaky” in the soccer dictionary. As he has in every year since his arrival, Emilio has gone stone cold, but this time it’s in the middle of the season vs. the end of the season. He has 5 goals, along with Jamie Moreno, but he hasn’t scored since May 16th. He and Jaime have had injury problems, but both look to be fit for Saturday’s game against Colorado. Both he and Moreno have demonstrated that DC need to prepare for life after both of them in the near future, and the players currently on the roster aren’t going to cut it. I liked Ange N’Silu, but recently, he has shown tactical and mental lapses that aren’t acceptable at this level. Boyzzz Khumalo always shows creative flashes, but at least once a game, he’ll make a decision that will make you question his sanity. I’d really like DC to go out and get a GOAL SCORER from MLS, someone where you know exactly what you’re in for. Fred wouldn’t be bad trade bait in this scenario, but we’ll see.

DC has done well for itself considering the amount of ties, but we all want excellence and this team needs to reinforce itself before it enters my favorite new tournament, the CONCACAF Champions League.

What do you think the team needs to do?

UPDATE: Well the team has addressed none of these areas, as today, they added Danny Szetela on a free transfer from Racing Santander. Follow the coverage here and here.

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?

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?

Do we, A) eek into the playoffs, lose early, lose late, or somehow win with a $300k ball chained to our collective ankle or B) lose, or be eliminated by two victories by NY and KC, and make real changes that need to be made in order for this team to compete in all competitions next year?

There is of course the middle ground I’m neglecting to mention here, that we do well in the playoffs, and still make some changes for next year. But, in my sports watching experience, I’ve come to notice that when a team makes the playoffs and reaps the financial benefits of those extra games, they are less likely to address the real, and sometimes costly decisions that need to be made. In my mind, I’m hoping for a merciful end to this injury plagued “season” and for a number of changes to be made this offseason. What changes? Funny you should ask…

1) Fire Tom Soehn.
Injuries happen, that’s fine. Not his fault. But on numerous occasions, the team quit on him. Other times, he showed unwillingness to alter strategy either out of fear of catastrophe or maybe he didn’t know what else to do. He was short handed much of the season, so I could be convinced that he can get a 4 game stretch at the beginning of next season to show his stuff, but I’d like a successor ready to assume the role should shit hit fan yet again.
2) Pawn our $300k gold plated ankle weight.
Again, injuries. I’ve heard the arguments. But guess what? He’s old, he’s injury prone, and he’s not getting any cheaper or more impervious to injury. Some might argue that Benny is in a similar situation, but he’s much cheaper. His departure leaves a hole in the team that only can be solved by…
3) Bring back Christian Gomez.
He’s riding the pine pony in Colorado. I’m going to bet he didn’t forget how to play immediately. Think he’d rather play for less money, or waste away the last years of his prime on a crap team in a city where people don’t care about soccer? I think it can be done.
4) Spend some money/time, and make smart draft picks.
Maybe we need to get rid of Dave Kasper and steal the FO’s of New England or Houston, but our draftees have been garbage. I’d buy it if it was only 1 year of poor choices, but we’re nearing Matt Millen-esque territory.
5) Blackmail the DC Council, or become drop the DC from United
The time for talk is over. In this next year, I want golden shovels in the dirt. I don’t care where that happens anymore.
6) Protect Santino in the Expansion draft.
At the conclusion of the season I’ll have a full rundown on this, but for now, Quaranta is too good of a bargain to let go. For his production, relative durability and overall inspirational qualities, Tino has proved his worth to the squad, and deserves the stability of a longer term deal. This guy was/maybe still is USMNT caliber, and we need to keep him.
7) Assess the goalkeeping situation
Louis Crayton is pretty good. Is he great? I don’t think so. Is he worth being the 2nd highest paid keeper? No. Show Wells the door or send him to the shrink and find out why he’s such a shrinking Daisy. I like him (in the minority there), and think he still has some value to the team. Loan out Thorpe to a USL side.
Make a decision on the flying Gonzalos.
The juries out here, but Martinez has been the more stable and dependable Gonzalo, so I’d bet he’d stay. Peralta (who I ran into at Kettler Iceplex) showed some mental lapses over the season and was injury prone. I’d give him some time, but I wouldn’t pencil him in as THE CB.
9) The Emilio conundrum
Ready for this? Here’s my solution to this. Sign Emilio to a 1 year contact at the DP level, wait for him to hit one of his streaks, hopefully while we’re playing a Mexican side in CONCACAF, and sell him. This is contingent on our ability to have a replacement ready (can you say, Shevchenko?), but he’s entirely too hot and cold to depend on anymore.
10) The ageless wonder
Sign Moreno to another year. Unless we can clone El Diablo, Moreno IS DC United’s offense, and as long as he can walk, hold the ball up, and pass it, he’s on this team. If you can give him unlimited free headbands instead of money, that’d be excellent, but I’m not holding my breath.

Well there ya go. Either way this week plays out, DC has work to do. I’ll be watching, and cheering, with my heart fighting my brain.

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

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?

So here we go.

- Emilio’s 1st touch. As in, he doesn’t have one. I haven’t seen him control one pass sent to him, with the ball squirting away from him every time. If you can’t control the ball, you aren’t going to score, simple as that.
- Emilio’s lack of hustle. I know its nit picky, but Emilio hardly pressures the keeper or defenders on backpasses. Kpene was guilty of this last year, and I would call him out on it too. Only difference now is salary and expectations.
- Gonzalo Martinez’s continued efforts to play the long ball over the top to Niell. Cmon. Seriously.
- Santino Quaranta is not a wing player. Stop trying to make him one. His talent is not crossing the ball. His strength is attacking the defender straight on, or playing behind the forwards.
- All night long, (and I think this is the most important thing) there was no movement off the ball. Moreno would hold the ball up in the attacking third, and people would just stand in place, watching. On free kicks, there was a generally laziness. This won’t cut it, and it demonstrates the lack of leadership in this group for the change not being made.
- Marc Burch. Again, I think he’s out of position, and his left foot is his entire game. He was at his best last year as forward moving defender who could cross the ball in the box when half the team was in the box. Now, he’s being forced to take players on and his lack of a right foot is making it difficult.
- Rod Dyachenko, despite his continual position changes, is not going to cut it. I’m not sure how much he costs, but this should be his last year in a DC uniform.
- Zach Wells was slow off his line at times last night, and it almost results in 2 goals. He wasn’t at fault for either goal, but i’d like to see more confidence back there.
- Lastly, the game was over after the first goal. You saw it in Santino’s face, and you saw it the body language of the rest of the team. Was it Santino’s fault? Possibly. I agreed with his quote saying basically, that I’m an offensive player and I’m just trying to help out back here, and I assumed someone would pick up the trailing guy. Good assumption, Tino. But, not right now on this team.

I don’t have a solution for this malaise. Fire the coach? Maybe. Bring in some new blood? Probably. But this team looks like they’re playing pickup. No one has any idea what the other person is going to do. This is understandable in a team with such a high rate of turnover, but that’s where coaching comes in. This team, if drastic changes aren’t made, will NOT make the playoffs. You can count on that.

Links:
Goff’s gamer.
Dcenter’s take.
United Mania’s take.
DCUMD, with an interesting rating system. I approve.

Links:

WaPo’s preview.
Not quite River v Boca, but…hey.
The Carroll brothers, reunited again. Erroneous!
A Q and A with my boy Santino. (Will I be foolish enough to get his name on my jersey? Time will tell)

This is another occasion of school interfering with my United responsibilities. I’ll be in class until 10, but it’s being Tivo’d. So I’ll be up late tonight watching it.

Feel free to comment here during the game, though that’s yet to happen (I think everyone’s over in Goff’s game threads).

Predictions: With Gonzalo Martinez out with a hamstring, I hope we go back to 4 in the back to avoid a repeat of last week. We can’t play that formation without everyone healthy, that’s just all there is to it. If we play smart, I can see a 2-0 victory, with a strong performance by a refocused backline and a hungry Zach Wells. Goals from Moreno, and Emilio.