After the generally disappointing showing in the US Open Cup (Congrats to Seattle), United needs to find the intensity they played with in Chicago. At this point, they also need to punt CONCACAF. As much as I have been a fan of the CL, and I’m one of its stronger proponents, this team can’t handle international play. They can barely handle MLS. This teams needs to be blown up and rebuilt, and after this season, I think we can count on that happening. What needs to happen is a hot run like NYRB experienced last year, and just hope we luck our way into the playoffs.

A bit of bad news to add to the misery…Dejan Jakovic is out with a potential hernia situation (just like Simms and Gallardo). 2-3 weeks is the diagnosis, but you never know. A defense that was already in flux just got a lot less solid.

Potential Lineup
—–Wicks (I think they keep him in here, we’ll see)
–Namoff—–James——McTavish——-Burch or Habarugira
–Olsen——-Simms——-Gomez——-Wallace
Quaranta——Pontius

Do I think that’s what Tommy puts out there? No. But that’s my pick.

Official Predictions
I think DC United takes care of business against an inferior team. 2-1.

- First and foremost, roster moves. The long rumored, and now finally finalized move for David Habaruguira, defender from Anderlecht in the Netherlands. He had throughly impressed Tom Soehn, enough that he had this to say,

“He is pretty versatile, pretty polished,” Soehn said. “His trial was one of the better ones we’ve ever seen; he got better every day.”

I would venture to say that Haba (for short hand purposes) will be put right to work, most likely as cover in Champions League, at least on away matches. I liked this move, because if Soehn is this impressed, we should be in for something decent.

-DC traded Houston a conditional 3rd round pick 2012 (THE FUUUUUTURE) for defender Julius James. A right back by trade, James was traded to Houston in the DeRosario trade. I remember at the time thinking “To be the counterweight in this move, this guy had better be good”. Reports seem to say that even at 25, he’s still pretty raw tactically, and has gotten by on physical attributes alone. Here are some Youtube clips:

Oops, nevermind. It appears the Toronto fans are in love with themselves, and like to take video from the stands showing how original their songs are. So, no luck on showing real game footage.
Having cover at RB is never a bad thing, especially with the congestion we have coming up.

-Ange N’Silu, my boy, has been put on the disabled list, which puts him out of action for at least 6 league games. This move is also known as, “We don’t know what to do with you yet. Maybe you’ll figure it out during practices”. Unlikely. As soon as I bought his practice jersey, it was over.

-As for injury news and suspensions, I give you the Goffster:
*Midfielder-forward Chris Pontius (quadriceps) will not play in Toronto or Honduras. Midfielder-forward Santino Quaranta (hamstring) says he is fine and defender Bryan Namoff (hamstring) is listed as probable. The only other player on the injured list is Boyzzz Khumalo (wrist).
*Midfielder Ben Olsen is suspended for the Toronto game (yellow cards) and midfielder Fred will miss the Marathon match (red card)

-Two additional trialists are in town, with both Tiyi Shipalane from the Harrisburg City Islanders and Adam Smarte with the team. My guess is that they’ll see if Smarte could replace N’Silu. If not, they may keep Ange, otherwise, it’ll be curtains.

- All of the CCL games will be televised, with games with on FSC or Telefutura. So, that’s good.

Any questions?

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

Houston is not considered to be a contender this year, with losing DeRo, and not many more additions. The team is getting older, and not any faster. DC needs to get on them early, and then close the game down. Wicks should be out with a hip flexor, so either we will see the return of the great Louis Crayton, or we see the debut of Milos Kocic and the exploding head of Louis Crayton on the bench. According to Goff, Crayton said he was 150%, but Soehn had his doubts.

In case you’re curious, we’re 2-3-1 all time against Houston, and 2-0-1 at home.

MLS Net preview.

This preview recounts the rainy horrors of last year’s attempts to play Houston at RFK.

OFFICIAL DC UNITED THE OFFSIDE PREDICTION:
Last week, I called the draw and got the score way wrong. For accounting purposes, we’re going to just count the result, and I’ll keep a goal differential between what I thought we’d score, and what we did.
Since thats the case, I’m 1-1 for the season, with a -3 goal differential.
THIS WEEK: Houston 1- DC 2. Let’s go United.

What do you think?

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?

Again, Matt Reis will not be playing, but NE looks to have more of its attacking options with them, including Taylor Twellman (who appears to have been barred from USMNT matches), Pat Noonan, Kheli Dube and Nyassi. Certainly more firepower than United faced last week at RFK.

Go to Behind the Badge for all your prematch reading. Lots of good stuff in there about tonight’s keeper for DC, Louis Crayton. Let’s hope he fairs better on his first astroturf experience than did our old friend, Jose Carvallo.

Predictions: Last away match at Chicago was the very definition of a squeaker, and I haven’t been totally blown away by our defense this year. I have a feeling we fail to get our points tonight, and lose to the eventual Eastern Conference Champion 3-1 (goal by Moreno). I hope I’m wrong. What do you think?

Sidenote: As some of you might now, I’m a huge Chelsea fan. One of my boys was Andriy Shevchenko, who appears to be on his way out of town to AC Milan. I had just bought an away kit with his name on the back. I haven’t even gotten it yet. Today is a sad day.

From what I can gather, DC is using this game as a chance to work back in some players coming off of injury. On turf, I’d have to imagine this is not the ideal scenario for such a rehab plan, but you gotta do what you have to do. Marc Burch, who is not eligible for the Open Cup game on Tuesday due to his Red Card in the Chicago match, will be getting a full 90 no doubt. The surprising news, which came in two days ago, that Joe Vide and Ivan Guerrero are not cup tied (due to the extreme early stage of the tournament that San Jose played, and lost, in) and will be available for selection on Tuesday. This is great news for Tommy, when drawing up a lineup that can stifle the hot Revolution. Not to mention the fact they were hard luck losers last night against Chicago, I have a feeling they’ll be out for blood on Tuesday.

But there I go again, talking about New England, instead of the task at hand. Can you tell that I’m not valuing this game very highly? That said, I wouldn’t mind three points, and I wouldn’t mind seeing Santino in his new forward position scoring. New York is coming off of an ego deflating thrashing at the hands of Barcelona. So, maybe we can pile on a little. Or we could steal Samuel Et’o.

Predictions: Despite DC’s (and mine) mind being elsewhere, I predict a 2-0 shutout on the road, with Zach Wells making another statement. Tino scores the first goal, and Fred gets off the schnide with a laser. What do you think?

Update: Lineups…Zach Wells, Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Pat Carroll, Marc Burch, Fred, Clyde Simms, Joe Vide, Ivan Guerrero, Jaime Moreno and Luciano Emilio

Where’s Tino? Peralta?

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.

Anyway, Superliga. The money tournament having no real basis on anything. Woo. Tickets? More expensive than league matches. Will I be there? Most likely, for the sole reason I can’t stand to watch games on Telemundo. I took three years of Spanish, but they fail me. Aye carumba.

The big questions abound. Will Jaime be ready for the game after his abdominal strain? What about Gallardo? How will the players bounce back after 120 minutes against the Fire on Tuesday? Will Peralta actually start a game? Will they play the same kind of attacking football they played in the beginning of the year in international play? (I hope so) These questions, and more, will all be answered Saturday night.
Now for some linkage.
THE USA today has a preview.
ESPN with their overall Superliga preview.
Bryan Namoff is on my favorite radio show ever, World Soccer Daily.
Ben Olsen details the moves that he has.
Fighting Talker has a two part preview on Superliga, here and here.
Here’s Access United for the Fire Open Cup game…

As for a music recommendation, go see the Brazilian Girls at 930 club after the game on Saturday, as I am doing. Buy tickets here. And below is a sample of the greatness they bring…